Roller categories

[El Presidente]

I thought you may find this interesting.

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There are officially 4 categories from 6th up to 9th . The Sixth category comprises the rollers that are making cigars for national consumption.

Apprentices in the school don’t belong to any category although they are being evaluated according to their individual abilities in the first three months of learning. Later on, some other examinations are taking place in the following months just to see how far the skill as a good roller goes. If it’s a good one (with chances to be better) they are taken to the rolling room and are supervised by an experience roller. Those who are not skilled enough despite the training, are then tested with easy to roll vitolas and their performance re-evaluated. If they are good, then they pass to the 7th category. As time goes by they are evaluated again to see if they posess the skills and passion to go higher. Those who are deemed suitable are then classified capable to roll the vitolas belonging to the 8th categories. They are called rollers 8th.

Just a few who show extraordianary skills are taken to roll Cañonazos, Julietas, Figurados, Double Coronas, Panetelas and A’s being known as 9th rollers. They have to prove their skills everyday and are constantly assessed.

[Ken Gargett]

has this been reassessed lately or was it always like this?

also, do you think we could find out how many rollers are 8th or 9th, or at least the %?

[El Presidente]

» has this been reassessed lately or was it always like this?

» also, do you think we could find out how many rollers are 8th or 9th, or

» at least the %?

Level 7 was once the highest but this was changed (still finding out exactly when).

As for your second question we would need to find that out when in Havana. It is not the type of information anyone would like to put to e-mail.