Day 4
We were up bright and early for a little Cuban Coffee and a Cuban Cigar before hitting the road back to Havana. The first stop was the El Laguito Factory, the birthplace of Cohiba which was in 1968. A palace of a building, looks kind of like an old Southern Mansion which was unquestionably the most impressive looking cigar factory from the outside thus far for sure. This is where Cohiba, Behike and Trinidad are apparently made but I soon learned that this is not the case anymore, everything is made everywhere… I’ll get into that in what I will now call “my shocking conclusion” at the end of day six.
Upon arrival we noticed that it too was closed for repair apparently (No Admittance). Both the Partagas and Cohiba factories were closed for repair… is it possible? Or…or… is production down? Production of Cuban cigars in 2013 was close to 100 million cigars worldwide, just about where they have been for many years but production for Cuban cigars in 2014 was only 75 million. It’s now 2015 and both the Partagas and Cohiba factories were closed for repair. The Partagas factory looks like it could use plenty of repairs but this factory (El Laguito) was gorgeous in my eyes… but we can’t go in so we must move on.
The next stop was to the H.Upmann Factory. I noticed the small H. Upmann hanging sign from a flagpole over the entrance of the factory but couldn’t help but notice the larger lettering on the top face of the building that says “Cuesta Rey & Company. This was apparently the Cuesta Rey Cigar Company, but is trademarked by J.C. Newman in Tampa Florida in the U.S. and apparently all over the world including Cuba. This is now known as the H. Upmann Factory.
We all went for the full factory tour which includes every aspect of the process including seeing them unloading a bus filled with bales of tobacco from the farms we has passed in Pinar del Rio. I snap a quick shot of the bale and label stitched on top to get it translated because this could answer some of my questions.
As you can see here, Bale number 129 was grown in Pinar del Rio, harvested in March 2014 and baled July 2014, and we know it was delivered to the factory today (March 2015), 1 year after it was harvested. It weighs 128 lbs. (59 Kg) but what kind of tobacco is it? What priming? I’ll get back to that in “my shocking conclusion”.
This factory is hot inside, apparently the air conditioning was not working correctly. Actually… it was never installed. Not very many places were air-conditioned in Cuba. If there was a wet t-shirt contest going on that day in the H. Upmann Factory, I believe I would have won, and everyone else would be the loser because they had to witness this. Just saying!
As I said, every aspect including cigar sorting by size and color, bunching and rolling, sorting, banding and packaging. There were no aging of the cigars that I could see, they were made and packaged… period. As all Cuban cigars come without cello so this was not a step, they went right into the boxes and sealed shut. In the packaging area, a handful of people were packaging many brands at the same time. This again was the H. Upmann factory but I did not see any H.Upmann cigars being made, packaged, smoked or sold. Actually just about everything but H. Upmann. Kind of weird don’t you think?
Next, we moved into a private area for cigar tasting. We were joined by six factory workers who taste cigars as part of their job (good work if you can get it). They wanted to include us and explained to us exactly how and why they do this. Apparently for every 1,000 cigars made, someone must sample from that batch to make sure it is up to standards. Little booths are set up here for tasting, much like a little voting booth. We set up on a large table and awaited instructions.
They handed me a pyramid shaped cigar that I immediately recognized as a Montecristo #2 and a sheet to fill out. Name… (I nailed that one too) and five multiple choices ranging from 1 – 5 (5 being the excellent and 1 being “malo” which means bad). The questions were on Draw, Aroma, Strength, Combustion and Taste. No mention of flavors, they just want to know if it smokes good or not. Is it acceptable to what a Montecristo #2 should be?
They even had a glass of rum with us and we talked not about the cigars, but their life and our life. I shared pictures of the snow and ice in New England and they shivered and smiled. It made them happy they were warm, I on the other hand was still sweating. The people of Cuba don’t have a whole lot, but nice weather is certainly something.
The tasters have a regular assignment in the factory but they get to stop for an hour or so every day and come into this room and smoke and evaluate. This is a perk and they seemed honored to be part of it, as we were. This was an awesome experience to evaluate the cigars with the very people who do it every day. I believe we learned from each other and enjoyed each other’s company despite the language barrier. As for my assessment of the cigar I smoked, I will save that too for “my shocking conclusion”.
We stopped into the factory store, loaded up on more cigars and boarded 1950’s Chevy Taxi’s to check into the hotel and freshen up before heading out to dinner.
Dinner was another Taxi ride to a place near the beach, actually near the embassy, a restaurant that had lots on the menu but we were told to order just one thing… what everyone comes to that restaurant for… slow roasted chicken in blood orange juice. This is what I selected as the best meal of the trip, I just don’t know what it was called. We smoked, we drank, we ate and we laughed… what a day, what an adventure!
I headed back to the hotel after what I thought I would make a quick stop at Sloppy Joes for a cocktail but as usual we closed the joint. Actually, Sloppy Joe’s was one of the few places that did not allow smoking, but considering I hit my 8 cigar average for the day already, I actually accepted and embraced the break and just drank. I did get propositioned by 3 hookers on the street on the way back so that might make up for it.
Off to bed (alone… I don’t go for that) for some needed rest. We have another early start in the morning.
Yesterday: A Trip To Robaina.
Tomorrow: Day Five
