Do the Cubans smoke?

[MIKA27]

DO THE CUBANS SMOKE?

www.miamiherald.com

The elderly cigar maker sits at a rustic table next to a tobacco field and a barn filled with hanging rows of aging tobacco and meticulously selects the brown leaves, rolling the most tender ones carefully for the center of the world's most celebrated tobacco product: the Cuban cigar.

But here in the province that's the heart of the tobacco-growing region, as in Havana, it's largely tourists who light up. Very few of the Cubans themselves smoke cigars. The economics of smoking, given the locals' low, government-set salaries, put cigars out of reach for most people, making the iconic Cuban cigar something that's produced for foreigners – for export and for tourism.

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who for years was always puffing on a Cuban Cohiba cigar, gave them up in the mid-1980s. A ferocious anti-smoking campaign by the government in the last 10 years also has had an impact. But it's really about the cost.

Rolando Robaina, a taxi driver from Vinales, a town in the tobacco region, gives his visitors two cigars as a goodwill gesture on a trip from Havana, then offers to sell them more. As for himself, "No, I don't smoke," he said.

"The only people I've ever seen puffing on cigars have been in cigar factories, and even in Pinar del Rio, someone might smoke for the theatrical side of things," said Bill Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of Florida who's an expert on Cuba and has been there a dozen times since the 1990s. "It's a luxury good."

John Kavulich, a senior policy adviser with the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said it came down to: "Do you have money for lunch or for a cigar today?"

With salaries that average $17 to $20 a month, even a cigar that costs the equivalent of a dollar in Cuba's currency is out of reach. There are low-quality cigars available for less, but they aren't popular.

Archibald Ritter, a Cuba expert at Ottawa's Carleton University, said that until about 10 years ago cigars were included in every Cuban's monthly ration card – five a month at reduced prices.

"People would get the ration and then re-sell it," Ritter said. "Everybody became buyers and sellers. It was sort of an ironic and counterintuitive approach – turning people into mini-capitalists."

Cigars are one of Cuba's few exports, along with nickel, sugar and shellfish, but they've been a constant source of revenue, as well as of pride. "It remains a status symbol," said Jose Azel, a professor at the University of Miami. Cuba exported about $240 million in cigars last year, according to Rafael Romeu, the president of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, a Washington nonprofit organization. That's only 4.5 percent of Cuban exports.

"It has more of a symbolic role," Romeu said. "It's a brand for Cuba."

And a brand that's especially coveted in the United States, where Cuban cigars have been the high-profile product in a 50-year economic embargo of communist Cuba.

"There's always the nature of a taboo," said Gordon Mott, the executive editor of Cigar Aficionado, a New York-based bimonthly magazine. The magazine, which always features a story or an item on Cuba, is a big proponent of the Cuban cigar. "Based on our tasting reports, Cuban cigars are better today than at any point in the last 15 years," Mott said.

[bolivr]

Thanks for posting this Michael. It is true from what I saw there in April. Many more people smoke cigarettes unfortunately. And the point about turning folks into mini capitalists, yes that is survival whether it is cigars or taxi driving or whatever. To me it was a disappointment to see so few smoking good cigarros.

[Ryan]

I've seen palettes of thousands of peso cigars leaving factories. Relobas, Colosos, Creditos etc. somebody's smoking them.Other than on farms in Pinar del Rio, I do see locals more often smoking cigarettes than cigars.In Havana, other than people working in the industry or somebody trying to make an impression, I can't remember seeing any Cuban under 60 smoking a cigar.

[bassman]

Don't know who smokes more ciggies, folks in Cuba or China.

[Paul3]

An interesting articles by the Herald though I'd like to know what setting they observed people who were or were not smoking. I know plenty of cigar smokers, but never have I seen them smoking as the walk down the street (due to time required and local law) or between meetings. Simply too much time required to step out for a "smoke break" with a cigar. Curious what the percentage of smokers to non-smokers is in Cuba compared to other countries and then to compare numbers between countries that produce cigars and those that don't.

[canadianbeaver]

Interesting article. Seems by the photos we see ladies and workers are often smoking, as well as shop owners.

From this article we get the impression that all Cubans, or at least most, are living hand to mouth or below the poverty line. The CA issue on Havana told a different story where at least some society was rejuvenated ?

[gigabyte056]

I have been only once to Cuba, seen quite a lot of cigar smoking going on.

Those were peso cigars so obviously not the quality we look for in cigars but some are better then the crap i've seen smoked as cigars.

Don't forget the source of the article and the target audience, Miami is not the place to look for unbiased opinions.

[tdlfoto]

I have been only once to Cuba, seen quite a lot of cigar smoking going on.

Those were peso cigars so obviously not the quality we look for in cigars but some are better then the crap i've seen smoked as cigars.

Don't forget the source of the article and the target audience, Miami is not the place to look for unbiased opinions.

+1

I've seen many Cubans huffing cigars, including workers on farms. Not saying its the land of milk & honey, but I think the bias of the article is fairly evident.

[CaptainQuintero]

Don't forget the source of the article and the target audience, Miami is not the place to look for unbiased opinions.

+2

That was my overwhelming feel of the article too.

[Nino]

Interesting article. Seems by the photos we see ladies and workers are often smoking, as well as shop owners.

From this article we get the impression that all Cubans, or at least most, are living hand to mouth or below the poverty line. The CA issue on Havana told a different story where at least some society was rejuvenated ?

Lisa,

very courageous to mention CA as a source that Cuba was rejuvenating itself ... in fact, any Cuban young and able is trying to escape the island any which way.

The examples that CA's HAV issue had were for some new Paladares in HAV that have come up despite the govt's effort against them and cater mostly for the foreign moneyed crowd.

Of course, if the govt. fires 1 million state employees because it can't pay them, it better give them some source of income or a way out, so far Cuba can't decide what to do or which way to go and is in political limbo which causes even more young & talented to leave asap before losing their youth & talents.

Fact : Most Cubans are living hand in mouth, at least the 90% without any access to CUC's ( cookies = foreign currency ).

Poverty line : Imagine living on 20 US$ a month from your work.

Ladies, workers and shop "managers/staff" ( not owners, the state is the only owner ) smoke because they can do so for free - otherwise they couldn't.

I have been only once to Cuba, seen quite a lot of cigar smoking going on.

Those were peso cigars so obviously not the quality we look for in cigars but some are better then the crap i've seen smoked as cigars.

Don't forget the source of the article and the target audience, Miami is not the place to look for unbiased opinions.

The Relobas, Credito, etc. cigars for the domestic market are good enough to be smoked, but will never approach "our" quality standards and we'd never waste our time and energy in a forum if we had only these domestic cigars to smoke.

As for source & target - why blame the messenger of factual news we try to ignore ??

Fact is that with an average salary of 15-20 US$ nobody on the island can afford to smoke the cigars we smoke, to drink the Rum we drink, the coffee we like - let alone buy any daily neccessities we consider "basic" unless he's "connected" or gets support from the outside.

I'd rather think it's "cause & effect".....

[canadianbeaver]

I meant no disrepect and I have never been to Cuba. I certainly am an example of one who only smokes the finest Cuba has to offer (compared to the general population that is).

As for the CA article, it was the equivalent of a paid junket to Vegas. It did look beautiful though.

L

[Scdalak]

Great Article, although i found it ironic the cigars pictured appear to be that of the Dominican R & J Line....

[Colt45]

As for the CA article, it was the equivalent of a paid junket to Vegas. It did look beautiful though.

I thought the last CA Havana issue was one of their best issues ever. Perhaps it was nothing more than a junket - perhaps they are nothing more than tourists,

just like anyone not born and raised in Cuba, who travels there, is a tourist.

Many countries cater to and rely on tourism in some way, shape, or form. That Cubans are not allowed / can't afford to participate as we can elsewhere

is another topic.......

[zathan]

Interesting article. Seems by the photos we see ladies and workers are often smoking, as well as shop owners.

From this article we get the impression that all Cubans, or at least most, are living hand to mouth or below the poverty line. The CA issue on Havana told a different story where at least some society was rejuvenated ?

Although smoking premium CC is out of reach for most Cubans, their monthly ration is only good enough for about two weeks. The price for basic products is quite high compared to their monthly salary which is roughly $20 CUC. For example, at the super mercado there was 1 frozen turkey and it was $61.40 CUC. 3 month salary for a turkey. Diapers were $2 CUC a piece. A beer is $1 CUC one day's work for a beer. But you should see them at the beach. In the summer, when the kids are on vacation from school, buses from the whole province of Matanzas bring people to the beaches of Varadero on the weekends. The whole city is invaded by surrounding Cubans and to be honest, they drink massive amounts of beer and rum and they shop and eat at the snack bars in the city.

Their standard of living is well bellow ours no doubt but their communist governement gives them so little, it's not enough so they need to find alternative ways to earn... and they do.

[MIKA27]

Great Article, although i found it ironic the cigars pictured appear to be that of the Dominican R & J Line....

Hi.

The picture is actually of a rare 'Pre embargo' R&J's hence why they look different. Please read the below article, I myself used the picture from the below article for this original post:

$16,000 Box of Pre-Embargo Cuban Cigars at Auction

A rare box of pre-embargo Romeo y Julieta Cuban cigars stars in Christie's Fine and Rare Wines and Vintage Cigars sale in London this Thursday.

Expected to fetch up to $16,000, the box of 100 cigars from Winston Churchill's favored brand, labeled "Selección de Luxe", was originally purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York prior to the enactment of the U.S. embargo against Cuba in 1962. The mint condition cigars in a wooden presentation case consist of 25 Petit Coronas, 25 Coronas, and 25 each of two sizes of Perfectos. Also featured in the luxurious sale are several cases of vintage Krug champagne, headed by a couple cases of Vintage 1985 estimated at about $3,000 each.

[Nino]

Hi.

The picture is actually of a rare 'Pre embargo' R&J's hence why they look different. Please read the below article, I myself used the picture from the below article for this original post:

$16,000 Box of Pre-Embargo Cuban Cigars at Auction

A picture of very rare - no make that : ultra very rare different looking Dominicans ........