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The Great Exodus: The Families Who Took Cuba's Cigar Secrets to the World The story of the Cuban cigar did not end in Havana in 1959. It fractured, and its seeds—literal and figurative—were carried in suitcases and memories across the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean Sea. What followed was...

The Cuban cigar is more than a smoke; it is a potent symbol. In the hands of a statesman, it signifies power and deliberation. On the silver screen, it marks the villain, the mogul, or the rebel. From historical icons to fictional antiheroes, the "Habano" has been a constant, smoky...

Nestled in the western province of Pinar del Río, the Vuelta Abajo is not just a tobacco-growing region; it is the hallowed ground, the undisputed epicenter of the finest cigar tobacco on Earth. To compare it to Napa Valley is apt—both are geographically defined appellations where a perfect, alchemical convergence...

Beneath the iconic image of the Cuban veguero tending his field in the Vuelta Abajo lies a quiet, gathering crisis. The very elements that have defined the world’s most celebrated tobacco for centuries—the unique terroir of sun-drenched plains, the specific rhythm of dry winters and wet summers, and the fertile, iron-rich red soil—are shifting....

The galera on the top floor of the Partagás factory on Calle Industria in Havana is still quiet. Daylight is just bleeding through the high windows. Javier, a torcedor of the highest category, Segundo Chaveta, does not yet approach his rolling bench. His first task is at the selection table, under the watchful eye of the rezagadora,...