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The birthplace of cigars
During my time in Cuba, I easily saw Cubans, both men and women, with cigars between their lips, regardless of social class, whether someone sitting in a classic 1950s Chevrolet dressed smartly or a man in shabby clothes. Perhaps the only difference was whether the cigars they smoked were hand-rolled or machine-rolled, made with high-quality ingredients or just low-quality tobacco leaves.
When you arrive in Cuba, you'll find cigar touts everywhere you go. They usually start with questions like, "Where are you from? Do you want to buy a cigar?"… If you show even the slightest interest in buying, they'll lead you to a small house and say they sell boxes of cigars there at significantly lower prices than the market rate. Of course, there's no guarantee of the quality of cigars sold in such places.
So why is Cuba called the birthplace of cigars?
Around 1492, when the expedition led by Christopher Columbus landed and explored this land, they discovered tobacco plants and began harvesting the leaves, rolling them in corn or palm leaves to smoke. They called it "cohiba." Columbus brought "cohiba" back to Spain—a country world-renowned at the time for its tobacco trade—to promote it. Within just a few decades, cigar smoking became so popular throughout Spain and neighboring European countries that the Spanish decided to establish cigar farms and factories in Cuba in 1676.
By the 18th century, cigar manufacturers were allowed to register their own trademarks, and King Fernando II of Spain agreed to open Cuba to free trade. Tobacco cultivation was concentrated mainly in the areas surrounding Pinar Del Rio province, particularly the Vinales Valley. Under government supervision, cigar quality steadily improved, but the early 1990s marked the golden age of Cuban cigars.
Before long, in 1991, Cuba fell into an economic crisis when the Soviet Union collapsed, drastically cutting Soviet aid and significantly reducing the quality of Cuban cigars. It wasn't until 2002 that tobacco growers emerged from this situation, restoring the quality of tobacco and Cuban cigars to their former glory.
Today, when you visit Cuba, you can tour tobacco farms and cigar factories to see how they make those famous cigars. And there's no better place than the Vinales Valley to discover and buy cigars "straight from the factory" at very reasonable prices.
The process of making a cigar
After nearly three hours in a shared taxi, I arrived in the Vinales Valley, located about 190 km from Havana and the main supplier of cigars in Cuba. In this town, the people are given land by the government to grow tobacco and make cigars. All stages are done manually, from planting the plants and harvesting the leaves to drying, flavoring, and rolling them into cigars. Each harvest, the government collects 90% of the yield to sell to companies, while the people only keep 10% to sell themselves or for personal use.
Riding a horse was a delightful way to get to one of the largest tobacco plantations in the Vinales Valley. I rode along dusty red dirt roads, admiring the lush green tobacco fields and the thatched-roof houses nestled among them. I asked my horseman and learned that this was where they dried the tobacco leaves.
The tobacco plants are harvested about three months after planting. After harvesting, they are taken to drying houses where they are hung on pre-arranged scaffolding and left to dry until the leaves begin to turn a beautiful earthy brown color. These drying houses are regularly checked for temperature and humidity to ensure optimal fermentation. The flavor and color of the dried tobacco leaves depend heavily on the temperature of the drying house; the leaves will have a richer color and flavor when dried at higher temperatures. Since pesticides cannot be sprayed during the tobacco growing process, if any insects or pests appear in the drying leaves, the farmers must remove them manually. This helps preserve the tobacco leaves' original fragrant aroma.
After about three months of drying and fermentation, farmers begin selecting the best leaves to roll into cigars. They base their selection on leaf thickness, color, roughness, size, etc. This process is extremely important as it greatly affects the quality of the cigar, and sometimes it can take them a whole year to complete.
The process of rolling cigars can be done by machine or by hand. The biggest difference is that when rolled by machine, the surface of the cigar is drier and often burns unevenly due to the inclusion of leaf stems and other debris. This makes machine-rolled cigars less valuable. Hand-rolling requires years of experience and extreme meticulousness from the roller to remove even the smallest leaf stems. A well-rolled and aesthetically pleasing cigar usually takes the roller about two minutes. This is why hand-rolled cigars are always very expensive and have a superior flavor. Each cigar brand has its own secret recipe and formula for rolling cigars to create its distinctive characteristics.
When visiting a tobacco farm in Vinales, the cigar rollers only demonstrate the process of transforming loose leaves into a beautifully rolled cigar. In reality, they go through additional steps of beautification, trimming excess parts, and quality control before handing over the finished product. Cuba is renowned for its strict cigar quality regulations, so this inspection process is carried out meticulously, from the cigar's shape and the tightness of the leaf roll to its weight, all adhering to established standards. Cigars that do not meet these requirements are not allowed onto the market.
After demonstrating his cigar-rolling technique, the cigar roller invited me to sample a freshly made cigar. I don't smoke, but since I was already here, there was no reason not to try it. I took a few puffs, pretending to be quite skilled. The cigar smoke didn't bother me like cigarette smoke; it had a pleasant aroma and taste, and didn't cause the burning sensation in my throat or the choking I experienced when I tried cigarettes before.
Why are Cuban cigars always the most expensive?
If you walk into a cigar shop to buy one, you'll easily notice that Cuban cigars are always more expensive than cigars from other countries when compared in the same price range. I think there are two main reasons for this difference.
Firstly, the more famous a brand is, the higher the price you'll have to pay to own its products. And the same applies to Cuban cigars; Cuban cigar brands have been renowned for their quality for centuries.
Secondly, the process of creating a Cuban cigar is very rigorous, involving many steps and requiring high skill from professional cigar artisans. To produce a high-quality finished cigar, it can take one to three years from the time the tobacco seeds are sown, harvested, dried, fermented, screened, stored, and finally rolled and quality-checked. Every step is strictly controlled by cigar experts.
So, you can imagine the amount of manpower and time they have to invest to produce a high-quality Cuban cigar, right? Therefore, it's easy to understand the saying "you get what you pay for" when it comes to Cuban cigars. But to ensure you buy a high-quality cigar, you can visit large cigar showrooms in the city center or buy one at Havana airport before your flight home.
Famous Cuban cigar brands
In Cuba, the only company authorized by the government to sell cigars is Habanos SA. Currently, there are more than 27 types of cigars in Cuba, but the most famous are Cohiba, Montecristo, and Romeo & Julieta.
Cohiba is considered the world's finest cigar brand. Not only is it found in most cigar shops, but its image is also printed on souvenirs. Cohiba was the favorite cigar of President Fidel Castro and was always a gift for distinguished guests in Cuba.
Montecristo accounts for up to 50% of Cuba's cigar production. With a diverse range of flavors from medium to strong, Montecristo suits all cigar lovers. Named after a novel by the French writer Alexander Dumas, Montecristo is considered the most literary cigar in the industry.
Romeo & Julieta has a gentle and romantic flavor, much like the famous love story by the great poet William Shakespeare. This brand is suitable for cigar beginners and those who appreciate elegance.
