This Cuban maven –considered the island nation’s third discoverer, right after Christopher Columbus and German researcher Alexander D’ Humboldt– made these interesting quotations about Cuban tobacco, contained in his book “Contrapunteo cubano del tabaco y el azucar” (A Cuban Musical Dialogue between Tobacco and Sugar).

Though the smoke of the Habano was only a part of what Fernando Ortiz wrote for a text of his own that had remained unedited until quite recently and saw the light of day under the title of “Witchery and Santeria of the Whiteys” in an effort to look into the demonology that swept Europe from the 16th and the 18th centuries, his best-known quotations about tobacco and cigars are contained in the aforesaid “Contrapunteo”. The book was first published in 1949 and it since then became one of the most revealing documents about this world-class product, an item that’s presented as one of the undeniable main characters of Cuba’s life and history –together with sugarcane– vested with healing and aphrodisiac properties. Though reading “Contrapunteo” is a must, many readers will find that the remarks of this sage (1881-1969) are riddled with wisdom, analysis and reasons galore about the attributes of Cuban cigars, not to mention the acute insightfulness of one of the greatest connoisseurs of Cuba that ever was. To begin with, a round phrase: “Inside and out, the study of Cuba’s history is basically the study of both sugar and tobacco as major powerhouses of its economy.” “Tobacco is born pure, and pure is both rolled and smoked,” and on he goes, “tobacco has always been arrogant; it was the gala of the Indies conquerors, then the sidekick of sailors during their journeys, of veteran soldiers in faraway wars, of well-off Spaniards returning home from America, of infatuated tycoons, of well-to-do businesspeople, and it grew to become the encouragement and sign of all men capable of affording individual pleasures and showing it off in the face of pleasure-restraining conventionalisms.” “When it comes to tobacco, there’s always of cloud of devilish mystery, and as people say, the devil also works in very mysterious ways,” and to make his point he writes, “tobacco is said to have soon started tempting men. Tobacco turned out to be one of the most beloved, fruitful and universal encouragements of thinking and social life.” “Tobacco had some sort of hierarchy among the Indians, at least during certain ceremonial rituals.” And he comments, “when you smoke, you take a free breath and for a fraction of a second, at least ‘in smoke,’ you wallow back in personal sovereignty.” The author touches the right chord when he says: “The habano is the prototype of the rest of the cigars, the one the others are envious about and eager to imitate.”