The Land of the World’s Best Tobacco
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is a plant that hails from South America. On November 6, 1492, Christopher Columbus jotted down in his diary: “Late last night, the two men I dispatched to explore the hinterlands came back (…) The two Christians found along the way many people who presented their own people, men and women, with a charred stick in their hands, herbs, to accompany the aromatic smoke the usually inhale.”
This fact took place in the province of Holguin. However, the best tobacco is the one from Vueltabajo, between the Hondo and Cuyaguateje rivers, especially from the plantations of San Juan y Martinez, San Luis, Pinar del Rio and Guane. It's the satisfaction of many, a plant highly coveted for its medicinal properties for it can act as a narcotic, a laxative, parasite killer, antitetanic and in the treatment of bladder paralysis.
Now, it's true that it comes from South America, but there's a Cuban species, the havanensis, that was recovered somewhere between 1915 and 1919, and recognized as the genuine Cuban tobacco, let alone a top quality that gets better and better with each passing year. The growing of this plants takes tons of experience and expertise. Each and every step must be taken like clockwork and with the highest quality standards. That's the only way of achieving the kind of layer that such a top-notch product requires. That's the only way of sending to the cigar factories the finest leaves for the hand-rolling process. The process is wrapped up with the lovely cedar boxes and the rings this island nation feels so very proud of.
The making of a Cuban cigar takes two productive processes: one in the field and the other one in the factory. The first process kicks off at the seedbeds, with the seeds germinating within a week. The tiny plants must be protected from sun expose and five days later, in the second half of October, they are planted in a furrow irrigated with abundant water and sprinkled with organic fertilizer, “(…) especially green fertilizers like cow dung and Paral herb.” Ten days later, the soil is chemically fertilized again, covering the weak stem with land. Two weeks later, more fertilizer is added before the cultivator comes to see it. Insecticides are sprayed on the plants to kill possible bugs –some of them are even picked off by hand. The "unbudding" process begins a month later with the purpose of making the plants get the most of the sap. The process also allows certain aromatic substances to get impregnated in the leaves, so they can get bigger and improve their quality dramatically. Plucking out the surrounding weeds bar this evil grass from stealing the nutrients from the soil. After this toilsome process is over, the leaves of the tobacco plant are ready to be picked up.
First, the Mañanita is picked up. Forty five days later, Libra de Pie (bottom leaves) are recollected. Five or six days later, it's the turn of the Centro Fino, while the Centro Gordo follows suit a week later. Finally, another week goes by and all hands get set to pick up the Crown (top leaves).
All leaves, following the classification process, are knit together in pairs along a wooden rod and they are left to wither away in the sun before taking the rods with the dangling leaves to the tobacco houses. These tall wooden houses and roofed with a variety of materials, are built from east to west in order to make the most of the sunlight. The tobacco or cure houses are a symbol of Pinar del Rio's rural architecture.
Inside the houses, female hands pierce the leaves and tie them up around the rods. The rods are then placed between wooden planks inside the houses and remain there for two or three weeks. When that span of time is up, the leaves are removed from the rod, rolled up in bundles and treated to a fermenting process to make them slough off the excess of nitrogenous matter and resins. This is when the leaves acquire a uniform color, the good-tasting flavor accrues and the aroma beefs up. Finally, the dry leaves are packed up in wooden cases that can accept up to a hundred rods of leaves. The whole bundle is shrouded with thatches, blankets or any other material capable of warding off both heat and moisture. They bundles are tied up with threads of gunny fibers and dispatched to the selection area.
In a huge house turned into a selection area, a good deal of women label and classify tobacco leaves according to their size, look, quality and state of preservation. These leaves are generally chosen in line with layers and inner fibers, and each and every one of them is subdivided in classes and times.
Following a long selection process, the dry leaves are repacked in square bundles, called thirds, and are taken to the nerve removers. Another huge house are used to remove three to four capotes, whose nerves are removed. Once this work is done, the leaves are taken to the dryer, a huge cedar wardrobe divided in shelves whet they rest for approximately a week to ten days for the final cure, according to their classification. When the cure is done, the leaves are wrapped in sewn gunny blankets and taken to the factory to be hand-rolled into cigars, depending on the width and the kind of tobacco being used. The stogies are finally whisked off to the selection room where color distribution is the next step. This is a key part of the process because selectors need to pay heed to 14 different hues and shades. Attention to the shape is also paid. The final steps of the process is the ringing and casing of the cigars, especially in gold-threaded boxes with their respective full-color lithography depicting scenes of the national history and other traditions. The very last step is the labeling of the boxes and the stamping of warranty seals on them.
Among the famous spots that produce top-quality tobacco are Hoyos de Monterrey, at the entrance of the San Juan y Martinez village. A row of royal palms to the right of the town announces the proximity of the world-class plantations. In 1860, these lands were bought by Jose Gener, who built an arch at the entrance of his farm that was declared a National Monument on June 16, 1969. Out of these lands came the brand that has helped put Pinar del Rio on the map as a token of the best Cuban cigars in the world.
Vegas de Robaina, in the Pinar Farm, Barbacoa, in the municipality of San Luis, is a contemporary case in point of what Cuban cigars are actually all about. In this neck of the woods, a farmer named Alejandro Robaina, coming from a family of tobacco planters, has been able to harvest the finest tobacco leaves ever produced in the world. As Mr. Robaina once said:
“(…) in addition to this tobacco I produce, and I'd say that all Habanos, all tobacco across the country, even the worst of it, is the best of the world. So, it tobacco is harmful –that as a matter of fact it hasn't proved that way in my case- the Cuban tobacco is the least harmful of all because we use very little amounts of fertilizers and chemicals.”
Each year, the city of Pinar del Rio celebrates the tobacco festivity, a moment in which pinareños pay tribute to centuries of experience in the art of cultivating tobacco leaves. The city wears its best bib and tucker, and friendly events take place everywhere among harvesters, selectors, hand-rollers, scientists, businesspeople and lovers of the ultimate smoke.
Before getting there, visitors have the chance of dropping by the breeding grounds of alligators. These reptiles, that were once abundant along the shores, are now endangered species. Cuban laws have declared their protection. The grounds let people take a look at their nests and the size of the offspring, even though some of them are born nearly adults. With some previous arrangements, you can watch the freeing of two-year-old alligators, the moment when they're ready to live a life of their own in the wild. These are the largest breeding grounds of western Cuba.
Alter leaving Sabanalamar, visitors move to the plains where the isthmus of Guanahacabibes begins, Cuba's largest lacustrine area with shores bathed both by the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, flowed by the Cuyaguateje River on the easternmost tip. As you walk into the prairie, you notice immediately the irregular shoreline of the Guaniguanico Mountain Range, represented by the Alturas de Pizarras del Sur, packed with lovely pinewoods and coniferous trees. Farther from there and moving to the northwest, a limestone wall meets the eye: the Sierra de Paso Real; in the background, the Sierra de Guane marks off the end of the Sierra de los Organos.
The Laguna Grande Hotel is an interesting place to rest alter a long hike. It offers a dozen air-conditioned log huts equipped with fridges, private bathrooms, radio sets, cable TV, in-room VCR projection, hot—and-cold water service, a restaurant, a game arcade, parking lot and a bar. Despite the humble looks, this is a charming and comfy lodging where absolute silence is the name of the game. The hotel is spotted on the edge of the former Algodonal Lake. As the sun begins the set, a horseback ride along the border of the lagoon puts a perfect ending to such an unforgettable stay.
Guanahacabibes, an aboriginal word that has been spelled differently through the years –Guanacabibes, Guanacahibes, Guanahatabibes- could be translated the place where iguanas live. That's probably one of the few places where only sundials are the only timepieces available. No one seems to be in a hurry and people live in a simple, half-bare and shoeless fashion. This is one of those places where each and every rock, coastal strip, isolated landscape and cave have a history of their own.
It was a refuge of choice widely used by pirates and corsairs, so legends about hidden treasures and sunken vessels off the shores are commonplace.
Due to the many values it has, UNESCO declared it a World Biosphere Reserve in 1987, now boasting the National Park category. Its top natural resources are the gorgeous sea bottoms with superb and abundant marine life, the great flora and wildlife, remote cove-shaped beaches with magnificent scenery in the backdrop.
The abundant and varied forest is by far the island nation's largest forestry reserve, growing on a rugged, uneven land marked by limestone rocks. The variety of ecosystems is amazing: tropical woods that comprise over 60 percent of the territory; sandy coasts where a strip of trees juts out over a sandy dune –the dune protects the coastline and botanical species that grow behind its line, like the bight grapes (Coccoloba uvifera), and the coastal guano (Thrinax radiata, Loddiges.). This is xeromorphous coastal shrub that embraces one of the finest examples of survival by any living species. This plant has managed to cope with extreme environmental conditions and moved out to the higher cliffs. The swamp forest is highly important from a biological standpoint, no matter the small size of it. The evergreen woodlands and the huge mangrove thickets; an assortment of orchids of different types –seventeen species in all. There are also birds galore and this is one of the few spots across the island where you can see the parrot (Amazona leucocephala), the endemic hummingbird (Melisuga elenae), the green hummingbird, the cabrero, the migrating thrush, the barbiquejo (Geotrygon chrysia) our tocororos and the ringdove (Starnoenas cyanocephala).
Among the reptiles, the lizard (Anolis quadricellifer), the endemic iguana and the Santamaria snake are virtually everywhere. In the realm of mammals, the jutia conga and the jutia carabali, the deer and the wild bulls are commonplace.
Guanahacabibes is a lowland with abundant of underground cavities, like the La Barca Cave, teeming with cavern wildlife. Las Perlas shows off major archeological evidence, as well as the Perjurio Cave, that cherishes several piracy legends of its own. The presence of underground rivers and springs of freshwater that flow into the sea go hand in hand with the existence of casimbas or cenotes, with excellent features for cave exploration and scuba diving. Pozo Azul, Laguna del Valle, Poaza Redonda and Juan Claro are some cases in point.
Maria la Gorda, located on the Corrientes Cove, just 9 miles from La Bajada. The tour to this site is simple amazing for the beauty of the shoreline where areas of crags and beaches alternate. Cases in point are Gutierrez, featuring an underground river that flows out just a few yards from the coast; Uvero Quemado, marked by the historic presence of guerrilla commander Ernesto Che Guevara, and a paradise-like beach hedged with bight grapes (Coccoloba unifera, Jacq.), with strikingly beautiful sea bottoms just a few yards away that are incredible for scuba diving.
As you enter the Maria la Gorda Hotel, you are confident that you've arrived in an exceptional place. Its name stems from a female character whose personal history goes a long way back to the times of pirates and corsairs. She was allegedly abandoned on the coast of Corrientes Cape by a bunch of men. This matron with a visionary vision of her own, set up a tavern on the premises to cater to her coastal brethren.
Resting in such a peaceful place is a gift for all who visit the environment. There are 34 air-conditioned wooden bungalows inserted in the lush tropical woods, all with private or shared bathrooms, minibars, cable TV, a restaurant, a bar, a game arcade, stores, international telegraph, fax, safety box, currency exchange, laundry service, car rental, parking lot and medical services.
Scuba diving here is marked by the excellence of its sea bottoms, home of one of the island nation's largest black coral colonies and great biodiversity trapped in the reefs. There several pelagic fish species and it's possible to chance upon caverns, peaceful and stormy sea bottoms driven by water undercurrents, as if strong gusty winds were blowing under the water and were making the sea fans and the seaweeds sway from one side to the other. There are sand cascades that fall into the bottom; a dream world to watch!
This is the right place for the practice of ecotourism, with the possibility of traveling to such incredible spots as Las Canas, caught between a couple of cliffs south of the diving center and a tad beyond, to the beaches of Corrientes Cape.
The Roncali lighthouse, perched on Cuba's westernmost tip, was finally built in 1850. Taking a swim in the warm waters of Las Tumbas Beach, not far from the lighthouse, is a gift to the senses. The Dutch, on the southernmost tip of the San Antonio Cape also features a number of small horseshoe-shaped beaches of calm waters like El Resguardo, Perjuicio, Caleta del Piojo, among others.
Scouring one of the archeological caves, in a region packed with hundreds of them, lets visitor admire the culture of the first islanders, let alone learn about legends or pirates, runaway slaves and hidden treasures that have lent their names to some of the sightseeing sites over the past 500 years. Las Perlas, Perjuicio, La Barca or La Sorda are good cases in point. The word adventure is not enough to describe the scores of surprises that this remote place of Pinar del Rio has to offer.
Maria la Gorda Beach is the perfect setting, like no other place across Cuba, to enjoy the sublime spectacle of a sunset. Watching the sun kissing the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico in a love rendezvous makes your heart beat faster, those lovely and orange-hued afternoons when the sun says goodbye.
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