Official vists to factories banned?

[gigabyte056]

I read this at Nino's blog.

Nino's

Is it in effect now as well?

I really wanted to visit the Partagas factory, was offered to visit El Leguito as part of "trade" but declined.

[Colt45]

Is it in effect now as well?

I don't know, but in JS's blog, the Habanos co-president makes visits without "invite" sound permanently off limits.

For now....

[khomeinist]

Sounds good to me. Let the employees work in peace....

[sg1234]

Cubatabaco is closing the factories to the general public. As Shlomo said, if you have connections -- or even a connected tour guide in Havana -- you should still be able to gain entry to the factories with an appointment.

Think about it. Busloads of tourists (who for the most part didn't care/know much about cigars) were being dropped off at Partagas every day and distracting workers. I understand and agree with this decision. It's going to be better for aficionados in the future who manage to get in. There will be fewer tourists to swim through and definitely a more enjoyable experience.

[FrankBlack87]

wow those pics on that page from ninos site in el leguito are so bad ass. wish i was there.

[LLC]

Partagas factory is closed as right now for renovations. Hopefully when they reopen it will be open to the public.

[nick17]

this sucks i wanted to see the factories

[compitaveggie]

I was there a week after they closed the factories. They lied about the reason then, and they lied about the reason now. Then it was closed because renovations, yet they closed tours to ALL the factories, even the ones that were not being renovated or affected. Now they say because it distracts the workers...BULLSH*T. I went to most factories and they ALL had the same explanation, a week before auditors came in and shut tours down because of a financial disagreement between Tabacuba and Habanos. This came from multiple workers at different factories. The workers themselves think this is extremely stupid. If you have ever been to Cuba you know how well Cuban workers are at ignoring you if they want to . The tours that I have been to, a few rollers are trying to sell you cigars in the factory and the rest, the majority don't even acknowledge you're there.

JS even thinks that the real reason is not the distracted workers. CA even mentions they beleive that they will allow tours again.

From what I heard back then was that there was still going to be some movement in management in Habanos. Now more rumors are surfacing that state just that. Just rumors at the moment. I know that many here don't agree with JS on much but I agree with him on that this might still be linked to the whole anti-corruption campaign headed by the government. There is sooo much money being lost by side deals.

As mentioned before tours are still available with invitation. I was still given the option to have tours ( because of a friend) but declined as I had already done it before and I went to the factories for the cigar stores not the tours. The downside with "invitation only" tours is that if the days you're on vacation are off limits for "invitations" or if they clamp down further on visits making it even harder to get a tour.

I honestly think tours will reopen to the general public at some point. I will be going in a year and a half with my bestfriend and this is super high on his list, I really hope by then things are squared away so I wont have to ask for favors from my friend. Personally I hate to ask for favors and not know 100% if it will happen.