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Handcrafted pleasures
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One of the oldest
industries in Cuba relies on thousands of skillful
hands to offer a world of divine pleasures
BY VIÑAS ALFONSO—Special for Granma International—
PERHAPS most citizens of the
world, with a lighter in their hands and poised to
enjoy the delicacies of a cigar, do not stop for a
second to think about the long history that the
exquisite fragrance of a cigar treasures, elaborated
for the solace and pleasure that have gained many
aficionados and notable people from diverse eras.
As an absolute king in the most
elegant halls, as well as in the most intimate
gatherings, Cuban tobacco’s history goes back half a
millennium.
From its introduction into Europe
several centuries ago until the present day, tobacco
has been one of the main crops from this large
island of the Caribbean. With a well-deserved
reputation overseas, there is no country on the
planet where Cuban tobacco is not known, sought
after or praised because of its sublime qualities in
the highly-pursued pleasure of smoking.
To say Habano is to say Cuba and,
moreover, evokes the picturesque meadows of Pinar
del Río, where the best tobacco in the world is
produced. Those who have been there, if only once in
a lifetime, will know the exact spots where this
plant from the Solanaceae family has
established itself as the queen, after an intricate
process from seed to smoke, offering the world its
exhilarating aroma, excellence, and the opportunity
to converse among friends, with the bluish columns
of smoke as an omnipresent companion, prompting
laxity and predisposing the spirit to enjoy an
ineffable sweetness.
Without a shadow of a doubt, it
can be said that the entire agrarian history of the
island of Cuba was built on three large columns:
tobacco, sugarcane and the sites dedicated to the
production of food for towns and cities, for fleets
and smugglers.
Eduardo Torres Cuevas, who
provided the aforementioned information in his book
Historia de Cuba (History of Cuba), clearly
specifies details on the locations and peculiarities
of the crop: “Some of the ranches specialized in
tobacco cultivation. This was one of the products,
native to the island, that was rapidly assimilated
by the Spanish. Changes in the origin of Spanish
immigrants, now primarily farmers from the Canary
Islands and northern Spain, brought about the
creation of the campesino class; that is to say,
those who cultivated small parcels of land by
themselves. They also utilized slave labor, but to a
lesser extent than sugarcane plantations. Their
farms were called vegas because the farmland
was plotted along dried up riverbanks in sandy and
fertile areas, formed by the banks themselves.”
A HISTORY OF HANDCRAFTED
PLEASURES
With respect to handcrafted
items, there is perhaps no other product on the
planet that can be compared to Habanos. Describing
all these skills, even if briefly done, would
convert this chronicle into a lengthy rosary of
operations that, from the sowing of the seed itself
to the manufacturing of cigars which are later
caressed by the fingers of the most demanding
smoker, could serve as a technical dictionary for
the elaboration of cigars.
From the furrow to the lips,
there are countless manual operations that lead to
the birth of a Habano that, banded and kept in its
handsome case, dilates the pupils, entices the taste
buds and reflects the satisfaction and sweet smile
of pleasure on the face of its devotees.
No complex structures or helpless
machinery in a universe where iron and other metals
reign. There are no shrill sounds: this millionaire
industry does not rely on motive power. Instead,
this handcrafted pleasure comes to us through a
bridge of creative hands.
Entering a Habano factory is like
entering a temple where the liturgy of handcrafting
skills rules. And long before reaching the factory
itself, the leaf has already been in touch with
human beings many times, in the cleaning and
selection sections.
In his book Pinar del Río
(published
by Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 1946),
historian Emeterio S. Santovenia brilliantly
explains the intrinsic relation between human being
and tobacco.
Santovenia points out:
“the vegueros
(tobacco
farmers)
of Pinar del Río, Cubans as well as natives from
Spain and the Canary Islands, applied a very
sophisticated cultivation method to this unique
plant from the region. In truth, the farmer who
managed a vega
(tobacco
plantation)
had to work
-
a work of art and of time
-
with intelligence, love and virtue:
intelligence to rigorously guard the growth of the
plant, and love so as not to feel the fatigue and
desperation caused by the vicissitudes of the
harvest.
”Intelligent, loving and virtuous
were the artisans from the riverbanks, handling the
unusual chaveta
(knife
used in cigar making)
that were used to produce the best tobacco in the
world.”
Is there anyone who could better
define the great relationship between human being
and tobacco than this historian, who was also born
in the west?
The same could be said about the
intelligent, loving and almost mythical relationship
between thousands of tabaqueros
(cigar
makers)
who, like miracle-workers
with the skills of a goldsmith, offer a divine
pleasure to the world, the taste of a good cigar. |
