THE DECLINE OF CUBAN CIGAR MANUFACTURING
Since the late 1800’s, Cuban cigars have been a commodity that is valued by cigar lovers the world over. By the time Cuba had gained independence, Cuban immigrants in the United States had set up shop throughout southern Florida, rolling and manufacturing cigars. The cigar industry was firmly implanted in both countries to supply the burgeoning demand for cigars in the United States. Of course, Cuban tobaccos were not only being used for production in Cuba to be sold to Americans, but it was also being imported into the US for use in domestically manufactured cigars. This trend continued until 1959 when Fidel Castro seized power in the Communist revolt. The end came quickly. On September 15, 1960, the Cuban government nationalized the country’s tobacco industry. Countless horror stories abound. At H. Upmann for example, the militia arrived at 5:30 that very afternoon. The troops sealed the safety deposit box and forbade the owners from entering the factory. All bank accounts, company and personal, were frozen. Most Cuban families that owned or operated the cigar industry fled, with the remainder fleeing when President Kennedy initiated the embargo in 1961 which prohibited the sale of Cuban cigars (among other items) in the USA. Just before signing the embargo, Kennedy had his press secretary Pierre Salinger procure 1000 of his favorite Cuban cigars (H. Upmann Petit Coronas). Production and quality took a nosedive, with many plantations that formerly grew tobacco turning to other staples of life such as sugar or rice. Today, the Cuban cigar industry is merely a shadow of what it once was.
So what happened to all the great cigar makers and their skills following their exodus from Cuba? Many smuggled tobacco seeds out of the country and started over again in new countries that until then had little to no cigar history such as the Dominican Republic. Others took nothing but their talents and experience with them to countries such as Nicaragua and Honduras, and began rebuilding their lives and businesses anew.
One such man, Jose O. Padrón, left Cuba in 1961 after his family’s tobacco farms were confiscated by Fidel Castro. After a brief stay in Spain and a year working odd jobs in New York, he saved enough money to travel to Miami and eventually opened a storefront in Little Havana and turned out 200 hand-rolled cigars a day. Then in 1970, in search of additional experienced cigar workers - a resource in short supply in Miami - Padrón set up his Tabacos Cubanica company in Estelí, now the center of Nicaragua’s tobacco-growing region. The favorable climate and rich soil reminded him of Cuba’s famous Pinar del Río province, where his family’s tobacco farms once flourished. Padron cigars are still being produced there to this day.
Consistently, the quality of cigars from such countries outside of Cuba has improved to the point where they are truly superior, on average, to Cuban cigars (even despite the ideal climate that exists in Cuba). Blending talents, attention to detail, growing and experimenting with tobacco crops, and establishing a talent base of cigar rollers are things that only time can accomplish. Today, despite the myth of Cuban superiority, we are enjoying the fruits of the past 40 years – and when the Cuban embargo ends, with but a few exceptions many cigar connoisseurs will finally see that many of today’s Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan premiums will be established as the world’s finest.
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