Hi everyone,
I'm starting a new series of articles that I think will be unique in the world of online cigar forums and resources. I'll be presenting stories, accounts and newspaper articles from the early days of tobacco and cigar production on Cuba. We're talking pre-pre-pre-Embargo with some references going back as far as the middle of the 18th century. While some of the issues we think about in relation to Havana today seem mysterious (product quality, marketing, pricing, authenticity, production, rolling, etc.) they have actually been around for well over a hundred years.
One of my objectives is to provide some deep, historical perspective on an aspect of our hobby that most contemporary devotees associate only with Cohibas and OFAC. There is, in fact, a tremendous amount of fascinating background to the Havana cigar.
So hang with me as I give this concept a spin!
In this first article, we see that concern about the basic quality of the leaf is something that is as old as tobacco farming itself. Here, the issue is in regard to land and soil maintenance and is analogous to the situation in the wine grape growing regions of Bordeaux, France. That is, how can the soil provide nutrients to monoculture crops consistently and over time scales of centuries. Can soil run out of the key nutrients that contribute to a characteristic product? Can these products be put back in by artificial means such as chemical fertilizers?
"Deterioration of Havana Tobacco" - Bismarck Daily Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota, Friday, September 25, 1885
Smokers who can appreciate the Cabanas Excepcionales or Partaga Conchas, will read with melancholy interest the story that a British consul general has to tell in his trade report on Cuba. According to him, "the intelligent smokers with sensitive palates" can find no cheap cigars in the "Spanish Ireland." and but very few, indeed, of what one buys in Europe or elsewhere for "real Havanas" have any claim to connection with Cuba. In fact, if one hopes to find an enjoyable cigar, even in Havana, he must be prepared to pay at least $12.50 per 100.
Good Havana tobacco, it appears, is getting scarcer every year. Not more than 10 per cent of the tobacco crop of Cuba can be rated as "first class" in quality, and, sad to relate, there has been no really fine-flavored, aromatic leaf harvested since 1881. The principal reason for all this, we are told, is that the soil is getting worn out and the plantations are suffering from the collapse that has followed an excessive dose of guano and other stimulants administered by the growers in order to meet the demands for a "permanently good article."
Wilkey
I'm starting a new series of articles that I think will be unique in the world of online cigar forums and resources. I'll be presenting stories, accounts and newspaper articles from the early days of tobacco and cigar production on Cuba. We're talking pre-pre-pre-Embargo with some references going back as far as the middle of the 18th century. While some of the issues we think about in relation to Havana today seem mysterious (product quality, marketing, pricing, authenticity, production, rolling, etc.) they have actually been around for well over a hundred years.
One of my objectives is to provide some deep, historical perspective on an aspect of our hobby that most contemporary devotees associate only with Cohibas and OFAC. There is, in fact, a tremendous amount of fascinating background to the Havana cigar.
So hang with me as I give this concept a spin!
In this first article, we see that concern about the basic quality of the leaf is something that is as old as tobacco farming itself. Here, the issue is in regard to land and soil maintenance and is analogous to the situation in the wine grape growing regions of Bordeaux, France. That is, how can the soil provide nutrients to monoculture crops consistently and over time scales of centuries. Can soil run out of the key nutrients that contribute to a characteristic product? Can these products be put back in by artificial means such as chemical fertilizers?
"Deterioration of Havana Tobacco" - Bismarck Daily Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota, Friday, September 25, 1885
Smokers who can appreciate the Cabanas Excepcionales or Partaga Conchas, will read with melancholy interest the story that a British consul general has to tell in his trade report on Cuba. According to him, "the intelligent smokers with sensitive palates" can find no cheap cigars in the "Spanish Ireland." and but very few, indeed, of what one buys in Europe or elsewhere for "real Havanas" have any claim to connection with Cuba. In fact, if one hopes to find an enjoyable cigar, even in Havana, he must be prepared to pay at least $12.50 per 100.
Good Havana tobacco, it appears, is getting scarcer every year. Not more than 10 per cent of the tobacco crop of Cuba can be rated as "first class" in quality, and, sad to relate, there has been no really fine-flavored, aromatic leaf harvested since 1881. The principal reason for all this, we are told, is that the soil is getting worn out and the plantations are suffering from the collapse that has followed an excessive dose of guano and other stimulants administered by the growers in order to meet the demands for a "permanently good article."
Wilkey
I was just explaining this to some college kids who live here in Del-a-What, France. 
