HAVANA (Reuters) - Cigar aficionados who see Cuba as the Mecca of smoking are dumbfounded by a Cuban smoking ban they say has let down the cause for smokers' rights worldwide.
Still, the hundreds of cigar lovers and retailers who showed up at the annual Habanos tobacco industry festival were grateful for a reprieve that allowed them to light up freely for the week.
Smokers puffed away at opening night in Havana's Museum of Fine Arts and stubbed out their Montecristos and Cohibas in flower pots and on the floor in the absence of ashtrays.
"Nobody could believe Cuba would ban smoking. It's like Spain banning wine," said Jose Luis Flores, a sommelier at a top restaurant in Toledo, Spain, who attended the event sponsored by Cuba's famed tobacco industry.
"It's a bad idea to prohibit smoking in Cuba. If you can't smoke here, where can you smoke?" he said.
"Everyone is puzzled by the ban, because Cuba produces the best tobacco and the best cigars in the world and we look forward to coming here to smoke freely," said Jimmy Ng, manager of The Cigar Divan in Singapore. He was glad an exception was made for the festival he described as a "walking humidor."
Cuban president Fidel Castro (news - web sites), once a cigar-chomping revolutionary, gave up cigars in 1986 and now says tobacco is poison and boxes of cigars are best given to one's enemies.
