The Loveliest Haven for a Habano
Cuba’s tobacco culture is likened to traditions that have been passed on from one generation to the next. Among them, the craftsmanship of humidors and other elements attached to any good smoker’s rituals and belongings have left memories worth recalling.
From the onset of the Habano Festival auctions in 1999, the practice has given the lucky bidders the chance of laying their hands of spectacular cigars from the finest Cuban brands, but also walking away with magnificent artworks carved by the island nation’s handcrafters. Humidors are indispensable parts of the realm of cigars and their faithful consumers. These gems –built with an assortment of materials– reach quality pinnacles thanks to the toilsome job of their makers who are determined to provide the very best and loveliest haven to those tokens of good taste and elegance called Habanos.
On the eve of the 15th Habano Festival, we now share with our readers the experiences of three artisans with longstanding careers linked to the world’s best cigars.
Raúl Valladares:
Cuban Tobacco Means Culture
When he learned the Habano Award of the Year image had been put out to tender, Valladares didn’t think twice. “It was about being in the right place at the right time,” he said before fessing up for the first time ever the circumstances he learned about that contest.
“I was sitting in a gallery, talking with a group of artists and next time you knew someone mentioned the tender. I asked around a little on where I was supposed to take my draft project or sketch to. It’s been 17 years since then. I remember I got into my studio and sat down to figure out how I could represent a great smoker, given he had to have special characteristics. First, he had to be very elegant and he had to be smoking, and so the awardees could feel closer to that image, every time they would look at it. It had to be made for the three categories –business, communication and production. It looked kind of hard to show those details in a 2D project, so I took the chance and built a silver sculpture.”
With his statuette in hand, Valladares went to the agency that has issued the tender. He was uneasy because at that time he was far from being a celebrated artist and his means were scarce –he had put all his eggs in just one basket by coming up with a 30-cm-plus piece.
“Just picture this: the first Habano Man toured the city on a bike, strung behind my back. That same statuette that’s so coveted and famous now. The first Habano Oscar, now in the hands of Mr. Pedro Perez (chairman of Tabacalera S.A. at that moment), strolled the streets of Havana under those conditions, just to get to its destination. Those are very fond memories of mine.”
Before going into other topics, Valladares insists on a detail, which is not tiny at all: “The Habana Men are all handmade, one by one. I mean, there’s no cookie-cutter mold or cast. They are built using olden silversmith techniques and every time I make them I feel the same tenderness and respect, as if it were my first time ever.”
In addition to having this magnificent statuette under his belt, this handcrafter has engaged in the making of humidors.
“A humidor is a container for habanos whose function is to store, preserve and keep the right humidity level for the cigars, which is Cuba’s top premium product. As a matter of fact, tobacco means culture, it’s a product rolled by the hands of genuine craftsmen, yet it is in fact a commercial item and I’ve always relied on the premise of turning humidors into genuine works of art. I mean, sculptures, and around the world the prevailing concept says that art and the market must be as far apart as they can possibly be,” he explains.
“I’m not a humidor maker. I don’t make them just for sale, and I only build those to be sold off in the auctions. Many times I’ve been working on one for a whole year and nearly half of my humidors have been donated because I know well where the funds raised in the auctions go to, which is Cuba’s public healthcare,” he adds before letting us in on his preferences. “I’ve always felt very comfortable making the Cohiba humidors. In addition to being the flagship Habano brand, its design is so beautiful, pop and futurist, and those are features that fit in with my working style. The Cohiba humidors have brought me so much happiness and satisfaction, countless happy moments. I’d like to show my appreciation to those who, in the most generous way possible, buy these artworks to help our country.”
However, the one he’s put more passion, love and effort into was the Vegas Robaina humidor he respectfully built for a man who was a friend of his: Alejandro Robaina, a man whose history he tried to reflect during a one-year process following the great tobacco planter’s passing. Unfortunately, the humidor didn’t go under the gavel, but Valladares still sees it as “the most beautiful I’ve ever made. That’s what art is all about: it brings happiness and sadness,” he says in an unhesitant mood as he dreams of just another tribute to the late Robaina.
Now with the upcoming edition of the Habano Festival round the corner, he comments: “All my ancestors have been in the tobacco business or have been related to the world of Habanos. They wanted me to follow in their footsteps, and of course I grew up inside cigar factories and among cigar rollers, yet I decided to become a silversmith and a sculptor. Habanos and their festivals make up nearly 50 percent of my artistic career, even though my work also deals with other topics, like futurism, ecology and surrealism. But when September comes around, I set out to think and work on the basis of Habanos and their festivals.
“It’s as if it were an unbreakable substance. Either the statuettes, the humidors, the accessories or the fair’s booth projects, and everything indicates it’ll continue to be this way as long as I’ve got the strength and the sense to carry on.”
Ernesto Aguilera:
The Art of Protecting a Work of Art
“We’ve been given an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of putting our art next to the world’s finest tobacco, of making our humble cultural contribution to the development of these humidors that, in the same breath, make a social contribution of their own because the funds raised by Habanos, S.A. go into Cuba’s public healthcare system,” explains Ernesto Aguilera, who’s at the helm of a team of artists and handcrafters that has been working for over a decade in the making of furniture aimed at preserving that exceptional product.
“It’s been important to be able to let our fantasy take off around such a culturally-rich, history-laden world. The Habano Festival is a renowned annual event attended by boldface names from around the world, people coming from all fields, all gathered by the mystical attraction they feel for an enthralling and passionate world whose main character is no less the Habano,” he says as he recounts a few experiences that have paved the way for this work in this topic. “It’s been quite a challenge from the creative standpoint. We’ve been bound to abide by the brands’ codes, the tobacco culture, Cuba’s rich history; we’ve had to come up with ideas that go beyond the mere recreation of a logo, because we’re working for a work of art itself, bearing in mind that each and every cigar is rolled by hand. My team and I have enjoyed this so much. It’s actually been a blessing and the key to success is in the fact that we’ve had a ball every step of the way,” he insists.
Among the humidors that have brought him more satisfaction, the ones ordered for the Punch and Montecristi brands stand out. “They left a nice aftertaste in my life, only compared to the aftertaste a good Habano leaves. Building those pieces was quite an adventure for me. Somehow I feel like I kind of perform those characters, as if it all came out of the magic of the entire building process,” Aguilera admits.
Nonetheless, the biggest challenge of all was the making of furniture for the Cohiba brand. “It forced us to do some research and get prepared, and the lesson we learned is that you cannot be entirely satisfied with what we do.”
There’s no doubt that inconformity is a good road to success. “It’s the basis for the continuation of development, but we appreciate very much the opportunity to represent such a prestigious brand. The fact of building those pieces of furniture with built-in remote control, using a mechanical system that lifts drawers for the convenience, pleasantry and pride of the customer, is really something.”
The works commissioned to Aguilera and his team hinge on the fusion of three techniques: cabinetmaking, marquetry and silversmithing. “The latter has played a major role in our designs, especially if we bear in mind that I was trained as a handcrafting silversmith.”
“When we discovered wood, then we moved up one solid notch. We discovered wood’s amazing qualities, just like a girlfriend we’re still getting to know and making passes at,” he goes on to say as he initially thought that metals, due to their value, could exert far more influence than wood. “It didn’t turn out that way,” he concludes and underlines that even now he tries to use “the three-technique fusion depending on our projects, feeling far more respect for wood and its language. She’s like the mother of this entire process. As a value added, I must say we use olden wood –some of them are 50 or even 100 years old– and that definitely puts a stronger spin on our pieces, adding a unique character in terms of colors and textures.”
This raw material –in some cases was owned by Cuban families– is whipped into newer shapes in the furniture built by Aguilera.
“We learn from our project with each passing day. We keep the talk going with our pieces and they tell us about newer and bolder ways of reflecting our culture in all of them, yet never ignoring the fact that they’ll end up being the functional home to just another work of art: Cuban tobacco, whose birth harks back to the veins of our soils and whose end purpose makes us all respect its grandeur and distinction,” he adds.
Julio Garrido: Rubbing Elbows with the Elite of the Habano Realm
“Attending the Habano Festival has been tremendously important to me as an artist and handcrafter, not only from a financial standpoint, but also for the promotion of my work because it has put it on the map, where it can be watched and updated. An opportunity like this gives you the chance to rub elbows with the elite of those who create works like yours, and that lets you take a closer look at the level you’re in.”
That’s how this creator defines his bondage with the realm of Habanos and the festival, an event whose attendance means “recognition to the work of each and every one of us and to our job.”
The author of exquisite humidors that go up for sale in the yearly auctions organized within the framework of the event, he admits to be very pleased with all of them because he’s put part of his talent and heart into them. “There are endeavors and sacrifices, sleepless hours poured into the design and the execution of an artwork, a lot of love that at the end of the day can be recognized and admired.”
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