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PINAR DEL RIO CITY IS BASED ON TOBACCO PLANTATIONS. THIS LAND CELEBRATED ITS 150TH ANNIVERSARY LAST YEAR AND ITS SOCIO-ECONOMIC DYNAMICS ARE BACKED UP BY TOBACCO GROWING, SINCE HARDWORKING TOBACCO PLANTERS SETTLED DOWN ON THE BANKS OF THE GUAMA RIVER AND TURNED THE SETTLEMENT INTO A DISTINGUISHED ECONOMIC CENTER

Vueltabajo is a historic-cultural region. It is the land of the best tobacco on the face of the earth. Diligent tobacco growers cultivate the precious leaf, a one-of-a-kind treasure because of its quality, combustibility, taste and aroma, the essential raw material for cigars.
Pinar del Rio, the capital of Vueltabajo, celebrated in 2017 the 150th anniversary of the city title awarding, given by the Queen of Spain Elizabeth II on September 10, 1867, because of the contributions received from tobacco-related activities and worldwide fame of Habanos, made with leaves from tobacco plantations in San Juan y Martinez, San Luis, Pinar del Rio and Consolacion del Sur.
The brown tobacco conquered Europe with the enchantment of its smoke rings and the demand of these acclaimed Habanos. Habanos are so purely Cuban that they stand for symbols of our culture and our nation’s heritage.
Why is Vueltabajo so special that it has been labeled as the land of the best tobacco in the world? Its potential is buttressed by the unrepeatable combination of four key elements:
• The soil at the south prairie is fertilized and irrigated by the essence of majestic Guaniguanico Hill, from Rio Hondo to Cuyaguateje.
• the climate provides a harmonious stability in tobacco plantations, with oscillating and combined temperatures.
• the variety of quality and resistance, which give birth to the aromatic leaf, by applying science, from San Juan y Martinez’s Experimental Station.
• women and men, this decision-making entity blessed with olden culture of work and experiences, capable of feeling how plants and leaves grow, as commented by Mr. Alejandro Robaina, in tobacco plantations covered by cheesecloth, which provide wrappers touched by the prodigious hands of women as part of a meticulous and intense making process.
Pinar del Rio city’s socio-economic dynamics are backed up by tobacco growing. Hardworking tobacco growers settled down on the banks of the Guama River and turned the settlement into a distinguished economic center. Such famous tobacco plantations as Las Taironas, Las Delicias, La Campana, Villamil, San Mateo, Rio Feo, El Cangre, became highly-demanded centers focused on the making of Habanos.
Capitals and interests came together to develop the West Railroad, from Havana to Pinar del Rio (1857-1894). It was an iron road for tobacco, in which the Marquis of Pinar del Rio, the Marquis of Las Taironas, such families as the Partagás, the Pedroso and the Cifuentes, poured their capitals into it to take the cargo directly to Havana-based factories.
Pinar del Rio city sits on tobacco plantations. It is surrounded by an internationally-renowned and traditional group of tobacco plantations. The Guash Palace, built at El Conuco plantation, is the utmost property. Official regulations were issued by the City Hall to stop the sowing in the urban center in the early 20th century.
Vueltabajo’s most original drink, Guayabita del Pinar, has strong ties with this growing. When going into the tobacco plantations in cold mornings, planters used to drink it.
As in previous editions, the upcoming Habano Festival will keep the grand tours around the tobacco plantations of Vueltabajo, which is like a journey into the origins of Habanos. It’s highly interesting for visitors to take a closer look at how tobacco leaves –the ones used for the filler, binder and wrapper layers that ultimately make up any Habano- are grown and harvested.
During the visits, those attending the Habano Festival learn about the selection and stripping process leaves must endure, as well as about a few secrets at the experimental station, an entity that guarantees and safeguards the quality of seeds of every Cuban black tobacco species.
What’s more, visitors can feast eyes on jaw-dropping scenery dominated by tobacco plantations and curing barns, by early-bird planters and workshops.
An aroma and tender green harvest time precedes the noble Habano, which boasts Vueltabajo’s binder and goes out to enthrall the world, with plenty of Cuban identity, a symbol and synthesis of the tobacco growers’ hardworking culture.