When the quality and distribution of tobacco in Cuban warehouses are at their lowest point, the directors of the famous El Laguito factory in Havana promise to roll and export two million Cohiba brand cigars before the end of this year .
The goal will be met “despite the difficulties”, assured the director of the tobacco company, Oscar Rodriguez Carballeira. Attracted by the 55th anniversary of the Cohiba seal, invented by Fidel Castro to entertain foreign leaders and diplomats, this Thursday almost 700 cigar fans attended El Laguito, including journalists and buyers.
The manager indicated that the factory has mobilized its 252 workers, most of them women, to manufacture the planned amount at a rate of 9,000 units per day. According to Rodríguez Carballeira’s comments, not even two years of the pandemic managed to interrupt production at El Laguito.
Although the cigar is twisted in the old republican mansion, the leaf that is processed in El Laguito comes from the highest quality fertile plains in the country: those of the towns of San Juan y Martínez and San Luis, in Pinar del Río, both located in the tobacco region of Vueltabajo, the mecca of the Cuban cigar.
The celebration for the 55 years of Cohiba will not miss the opportunity to raise the largest possible amount of foreign currency
El Laguito was, since 1966, a factory of excellence directly supervised by Fidel Castro and Celia Sánchez. For more than five decades it has been producing, in addition to some twenty well-known brands such as Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás and H. Upmann, the range of cigars premium Cohiba, whose anniversary the Government has decided to celebrate all the way up
This Friday a gala dinner is planned at the Pabexpo fairgrounds, in which the Habanos awards corresponding to 2020 and 2021 will be awarded, in the categories of Production, Business and Communication. That same night the traditional humidor auction will be held, where millionaires from various parts of the world bid to obtain a specialized container to store their cigars, probably signed by Fidel Castro before he died.
Without having the category of the scandalous Habano Festivals, which are based in the Palace of Conventions, the celebration for Cohiba’s 55th anniversary will not miss the opportunity to collect as much foreign currency as possible.
Under the tutelage of Spanish investors, who finance and distribute the product of the Cuban corporation Habanos SA, the tobacco industry continues to be fundamental in the Cuban economy.
Anticipating these celebrations, the Government planned a luxurious hotel facility in Pinar del Río, which is scheduled to open this month. The delegate of the Ministry of Tourism in that province, José Antonio Aguilera, explained that the hotel, located in San Juan y Martínez, will only have eight exclusive rooms, managed by Islazul.
In 2021, Cuba reported 568 million dollars for its tobacco sales. The main and most stable buyers continue to be Spain, China, Germany, France and Switzerland
Customers, who are the same anonymous millionaires who come to El Laguito this year, will enjoy a bar, humidors, specialty shops and a smoking lounge. “The interest is that the tourist comes and shares with the community, and local development is the one that triumphs”, Aguilera pointed out.
In 2021, Cuba reported 568 million dollars for its tobacco sales. The main and most stable buyers continue to be Spain, China, Germany, France and Switzerland.
With the issuance of limited edition vitolas, the prices of the Cohiba brand, an ancient Indian name for the cigar or the ceremony of smoking it, have skyrocketed internationally. A small or medium caliber Cohiba cigar can reach 25 euros per unit in Spanish tobacconists, while top quality vitolas such as the Pirámides Jarra exceed 500, and the Selección Reserva Especial, one of the most expensive, exceeds 730. In the European informal market, these cigars reach 1,000 euros a piece.
Meanwhile, cigar stores in Cuba, where it is necessary to pay with foreign currency, have definitively closed their doors for Cubans, who cannot and do not want to pay the overwhelming prices of the best tobacco in the world.
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