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The tobacco
plant originally came from South America.Even though it is impossible to state exactly when it was
brought to the largest island in the Antilles, it can be said that that
happened between 3000 and 2000 B.C.
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The aborigines considered tobacco a miraculous medicine and an essential
element in their religious, political and social ceremonies. It was a part
of their agriculture and an inseparable adjunct of life. Europeans were
introduced to this planta source of great physical and spiritual pleasure
when they first reached the Americas. It didn?t take long for the Old Continent
to develop a veritable passion for it. As was only to be expected, Spain
had the most smokers who were also the first to be subjected to terrible
punishments for smoking. The habit later spread to Persia, Japan, Turkey
and Russia, where the cruelest punishments were established. Curiously,
as bans on smoking gained ground, tobacco was increasingly used for medicinal
purposes. On April 11, 1717, King Philip V established a royal monopoly
on tobacco-growing in Cuba a decision which has gone down in history as
the Estanco del Tabaco. Tobacco-growers who opposed the onerous law lost
their lives.
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The monopoly
remained in effect until June 23, 1817, when a royal decree did away with
the monopoly, permitting free trade between Cuba and the rest of the known
world as long as it was through Spanish ports. No slaves were used in
tobacco-growing. Sugarcane wasn?t such a delicate crop, and slaves could
be used in its cultivation and harvesting, but, as Jose Marti said,
tobacco plants had to be handled as carefully as if they were fine ladies.
Immigrants from the Canary Islands worked in the tobacco fields, laying
the foundations for a very special breed: Cuban farmers. The 19th century
provided the final reaffirmation of Cuba?s tobacco production. Suffice it
to say that, in 1859, there were nearly 10,000 tobacco plantations and around
1300 cigar factories in the capital. Cuba entered the 20th century in very
precarious conditions, for its devastating wars of independence had just
ended.
Tobaco & Cuban Cigars
A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of
dried and fermented tobacco one end of which is ignited so that its smoke
may be drawn into the smoker's mouth through the other end.
The word cigar is from tha Spanish word
cigarro, which the Oxford British Dictionary suggests is a variation
on cigarra, Spanish for "cicada" due to its shape, especially that
of what is now called the perfecto. Other sources have indicated
that it may be derived from the Mayan word sikar, "tobacco."
Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities
in such nations as Brazil, Cameron. Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras,
Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United States of America. Cigars
manufactured in Cuba are widely considered to be without peer, although
many experts believe that the best offerings from Honduras and Nicaragua
rival those from Cuba. The Cuban reputation arises from both the unique
characteristics of the Vuelta Abajo region in the Pinar del Rio Province
at the west of the island, where a microclimate allows for high-quality
tobacco to be grown, and the skill of the Cuban cigar makers.
Origins and History
The indigenous inhabitants of the islands of the
Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica have smoked cigars since at least the 900s
AD, as evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan
archaeological site in Uaxacton, Guatemala, decorated with the painted
figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar. Genoese explorer Christopher
Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of smoking to Europe.
Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492
journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have disembarked
in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming
the first European cigar smokers.
In the 19th century, cigar smoking was common
while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. The cigar business was an
important industry, and factories employed many people before mechanized
manufacturing of cigars became practical. Many modern cigars, as a matter
of prestige, are still rolled by hand; some boxes bear the phrase Hecho
a Mano, "Made by Hand", as proof.
Revival of interest
During the mid- to late 1990s in the United
States, numerous cultural phenomena caused the popularity of cigar smoking
to skyrocket. Lavish dinner events, or "smokers", were held in virtually
every metropolitan area of consequence across the United States.
Celebrities, radio and television talk-show hosts, politicians,
blue-collar workers, and even a large number of women were drawn to the
allure of the cigar. The sudden resurgence in cigar smoking created demand
that was difficult to supply. Additionally, the significance of the U.S.
trade embargo on Cuba ? imposed some 30 years earlier, before many of the
new aficionados were born ? suddenly became very evident. Cigar retailers,
a good number of them new establishments looking to capitalize on the
craze, could name their price on virtually every type and brand of cigar.
Some even refused to sell any one customer an entire box at a time,
regardless of the fact that only a very few could afford to, as a courtesy
to their other customers.
In the rush to meet demand, the quality of many
premium cigars suffered for brief periods of time. Eventually, consumer
demand so far outpaced supply that many of those who took it up had to
cease the practice altogether. For many, this was mainly due to either
lack of supply or overinflated prices. For others, the newness of the fad
had simply worn off. By 2005, cigar prices had descended to reasonable
levels, and supply of the best brands is abundant for those who continue
to enjoy cigar smoking, even in the face of public scrutiny and
disapproval.
Manufacture
Tobacco leaves are harvested, and aged using a
process that combines use of heat and shade to reduce sugar and water
content without causing the large leaves to rot. This first part of the
process, called curing, takes between 25 and 45 days and varies
substantially based upon climatic conditions, as well as the construction
of sheds or barns used to store harvested tobacco. The curing process is
manipulated based upon the type of tobacco, and the desired color of the
leaf. The second part of the process, called fermentation, is carried out
under conditions designed to help the leaf die slowly and gracefully.
Temperature and humidity are controlled to ensure that the leaf continues
to ferment, without rotting or disintegrating. This is where the flavor,
burning, and aroma characteristics are primarily brought out in the leaf.
Once the leaves have aged properly, they are
sorted for use as filler or wrapper based upon their appearance and
overall quality. During this process, the leaves are continually moistened
and handled carefully to ensure each leaf is best used according to its
individual qualities. The leaf will continue to be baled, inspected,
unbaled, reinspected, and baled again repeatedly as it continues its aging
cycle. When the leaf has matured according to the manufacturer's
specifications, it will be used in the production of a cigar.
The creation of a quality cigar is still
performed by hand. An experienced cigar roller can produce hundreds of
exceptional, nearly identical cigars per day. The rollers keep the tobacco
moist-- especially the wrapper, and use specially designed crescent-shaped
knives, called a chaveta, to form the filler and wrapper leaves quickly
and accurately. Once rolled, the cigars are stored in wooden forms as they
dry, in which their uncapped ends are cut to a uniform size. From this
stage, the cigar is a complete product that can, to the best of anyone's
knowledge, be kept indefinitely--under the proper conditions. (Indeed,
Sotheby's recently auctioned off cigars kept in the damp basement of an
Irish castle for centuries. Reportedly, they still smoked well.) Cigars
are known to have lasted for decades if kept as close to 70 degrees
Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), and 70% relative humidity, as the
environment will allow. Once purchased, this is usually accomplished by
keeping the cigars in a specialized wooden box, or humidor, where
conditions can be carefully controlled for long periods of time. Even if a
cigar becomes dry, it can be successfully re-humidified so long as it has
not been handled carelessly.
Some cigars, especially premium brands, use
different varieties of tobacco for the filler and the wrapper. "Long
filler cigars" are a far higher quality of cigar, using long leaves
throughout. These cigars also use a third variety of tobacco leaf, a
"binder", between the filler and the outer wrapper. This permits the
makers to use more delicate and attractive leaves as a wrapper. These
high-quality cigars almost always blend varieties of tobacco. Even Cuban
long-filler cigars will combine tobaccos from different parts of the
island to incorporate several different flavors.
In low-grade cigars, chopped up tobacco leaves
are used for the filler, and long leaves or even a type of "paper" made
from tobacco pulp is used for the wrapper which binds the cigar together.
Historically, a lector or reader was
always employed to entertain the cigar factory workers. This practice
became obsolete once audio books for portable players became available,
but is still practiced in some Cuban factories. Legend has it that it was
because of one of these lectors' choice of reading material that one of
the best known brands earned its name. At the H. Upmann factory in Havana,
the lector had the custom of reading the works of Alexandre Dumas. So
loved were Dumas' works by the workers, that they asked the factory owner
to let them produce a cigar as homage. The new cigars were branded
Montecristo, in reference to The Count of
Monte Cristo, and the boxes that carried
them bore the image of six swords, in reference to
The Three Musketeers.
The Montecristo brand continues to be one of the most popular in the world
to this day. (See Cigar Brands).
In fact, the Montecristo brand was created when
Alonso Menendez purchased the Particulares factory in July 1935, as Min
Ron Nee documents in "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution
Havana Cigars." In that book, he reproduces an August 1935 issue of Habano
magazine which announces the purchase of the factory and the launch of new
cigar brand, Montecristo. (The first Montecristo cigars were made in the
Particulares factory, not H. Upmann. The magazine does not mention the
romantic story of the workers demanding an homage to Dumas. The logo--six
swords surrounding a fleur de Lis--was designed by a British cigar
importer John Hunter Morris and first appeared in print in August 1936.
The cigar was made, for a time, in the H. Upmann factory, after Menendez
bought it in 1937.)
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The Managements Team
Informational
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