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Tobacco is a generator of universal pleasure and an object of interest among specialists and consumers keen on finding the prudent limits for its adequate consumption. Within the assortment of possible visions about it, heritage is one that meets the eye: tobacco construed as a game changer in a universally-rooted cultural outlook.
The Caribbean, and mainly Cuba, leads the way in terms of product quality and presentation around the world, and many visitors arriving in the island nation are enthralled by the magic of a successful product and the culture linked to both its production and consumption.
In order to move on further beyond and cotton on to the basics, a visit to the Museum of Cuban Historic Ambience in Santiago de Cuba will do the trick. The facility showcases a dining room outfitted with a smoker’s chair, a genuine token of how comfortable puffing on a cigar should really be after having a hearty meal that was wrapped up with a shot of rum or a good cup of coffee.
The “three musketeers of pleasure” in terms of taste and scent –cigar, coffee and rum- hold a close complicity in Santiago de Cuba. With over five centuries under its belt, the city goes stronger as an outstanding reservoir of Cuba’s intangible heritage. Santiago de Cuba is always ready to whet the senses as it provides visitors with a chance to feast eyes on its peculiar landscapes, let alone when it puts its proverbial musical heritage at the disposal of all. Coupled with that, there’s cuisine recreation and great smelling sensations as cigars, coffee and rum line up as one.
And today’s reality has a lot to do with the daily life of our ancestors, who used to enjoy the city’s charms following a meal or a family reunion, after a business negotiation or on the heels of a meeting among friends. Puffing on a cigar was always the finishing touch in a laidback atmosphere for both men and women. It stood for peace of mind, concentration and enjoyment.
Tradition stands tall and that’s why the city is armed with a mighty arsenal that represents each and every one of them. There are locales to wallow in a good cup of coffee and to smoke a top-quality Habano, things that are always willing to cater to patrons with top-of-the-line service as they please the most demanding preferences. Some of those places are the Casa del Tabaco at the Casa Granda Hotel, La Barrita de la Fábrica de Ron, the store next to the Cigar Factory, among others.
History is tasked with keeping that tradition alive, a tradition that’s embraced in the concept of recognizing the persistence of the Vuelta Arriba tobacco, in eastern Cuba, the coffee production from that same region since the 19th century –it garnered international recognition by the hand of its coffee-related archeological heritage- and the extra quality of the rum distilled in Santiago de Cuba.
The exceptional character of the tobacco hailing from Vuelta Abajo is revered all around the globe, a region blessed by the gods that’s the pride of the Cuban people. Its aroma wafts up and stays like a perfume that oozes out both confidence and wellbeing. Those of us who live on the east side of this long and narrow island nation, embrace that tobacco with coffee and rum of our own; not in an attempt to pollute or dissolve, but rather to strengthen and make sure that when we stand together in a customized blend, unmatched ecstasy can be achieved, an ecstasy as mixed as the races that abound in the Caribbean. These are the peoples that assimilated the inflow of so many cultural migrations that today engulf the values of their diversity, beauty and peerless allures at a world scale.

OFFICE OF THE SANTIAGO DE CUBA CITY HISTORIAN
Public Relations & Design division
Tel: (+53) 22 669249
ciudadculturalsantiago@occ.co.cu
internos.occnet.cu