The first puff
Legend has it that the Spanish conquerors of the fifteenth century, in their search for the New World, landed in the Caribbean and found the Taino Indians smoking rolled tobacco leaves. Quickly seduced by the smoke, they built on the formula, and the cigar was born.
Inimitable Habanos
Cuban cigars are specially designated ‘Habanos,’ not ‘Havanas’ as they used to be known. They must be rolled with Cuban tobacco, cultivated in one of five production regions. The best cigars are produced by Vuelta Abajo and Partido.
Hand-rolled
Be sure to visit a Cuban cigar factory. The Partagas brand in Havana has opened their warehouses and workshops to tourists. Balls of pungent tobacco are transformed into sheets, sorted, weighed, measured, and transformed into a silky textured cylinder. Indifferent to visitors and listening to their radio drama, the cigar makers roll the leaves with incredible dexterity, creating a Lusitania or Petit Corona.
Knock-offs and scams
There are more than forty brands of cigars. The Cohiba is a featured favorite of Fidel Castro, who no longer smokes! Other brands include: Bolivar, El Rey del Mondo, Montecristo, Punch, Partagas, Quai d’Orsay, Romeo and Juliet and Upman. The ‘puro’ is a small black cigarillo which Cubans smoke. Beware of scams: do not buy cigars at bargain prices on the street, buy in specialty stores only.
Rum producer for more than 500 years
Plain rum has been produced at Caribbean sugar plantations since the sixteenth century. The number of distilleries has grown to become one of the most profitable industries in Cuba. Made from sugarcane by-products like molasses or juice, it is fermented and distilled. Dark rum gets its amber color from being aged in wooden barrels.
Havana Club
The most prized rum is Havana Club. Most of its production is exported. White or gold, it’s an indispensable component of Cuban cocktails. Cheap rums of uneven quality can be found everywhere. A favorite drink of Cubans, the ‘ron’ can be found at all parties.
Cocktails made in Cuba
Made fashionable by Americans on holiday in Cuba in the first half of the twentieth century and during Prohibition (1919-1933), rum-based cocktails flourished. The most famous is the daiquiri, a mixture of rum, lime and sugar, created at the Floridita bar. Mary Pickford, silent film actress and Seville hotel guest, gave her name to a mixture of rum, pineapple juice and maraschino. The always popular mojito is made with rum, fresh mint, lime, sugar and soda water.
The Cuba Libre
Known and imbibed around the world, the Cuba Libre (Spanish for ‘Free Cuba’) has nothing to do with Fidel Castro, and actually dates back to the first Cuban revolution in 1902. The cocktail contains dark rum, cola, and lime juice, or a wedge of lime.