La Fabrica de Tabacco

            Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to La Fabrica de Partagas, also known as the Partagas Tobacco Factory.  It is located right next to the capital building, literally right across the street.  As you walk up to it, there are men trying to sell you cigars on the cheap but on the down low because they shouldn’t technically be selling them.  Our professor actually had to go across the street to buy our entrance tickets because the government (who has owned the factory since the revolution) doesn’t trust that the people who work there won’t try to rip people off.

            My dad is a big cigar smoker, so I was super excited to see the factory and the entire time I was there I was wishing that I could take pictures to show him.  Apparently, you aren’t allowed to take pictures, I don’t know if it is to keep secret their process or what.  Anyways, a Spaniard originally owned the factory, Jaime Partagas.  It has been around for almost a hundred and fifty years and the cigars that they roll have always been made by hand.  The US is apparently the biggest illegal market for Cuban cigars, but Spain and England are tied for the biggest number of exports.

            The factory produces 25,000 cigars a day, and like I said, all of them are made by hand.  The process is so specialized that for every 100 students who enter in the program to study to be a cigar maker, only 50 graduate.  Apparently, some people do not have the physical capacity in their hands to be a good cigar maker, so they don’t graduate from the program.  Some of them that don’t graduate become leaf pickers, the people who remove the central vein from the tobacco leaf and sorts the leaves by color.  Nothing from the leaf is wasted and the potently fragrant central vein is used to make aftershave and cologne. 

            Every cigar maker has their own specialty, a specific brand of cigar like a Montecristo or a Cohiba that they make every day.  Each tabacanero (tobacco maker) has a certain quota that they have to reach everyday, some have to make 150, some 250, it all depends on your skill level and level of practice.  These highly specialized craftsmen are only paid about 45 dollars a month, but an extra source of income is the three cigars that they get to take home at the end of every work day.  Most of them don’t smoke so they sell them to whomever they can to get some extra money. It was an amazing learning experience and I feel like I can definitely hold my own against my pops now.