By Jay Amberg Bloomberg Lifestyles. Cigar News. Mon, 10 Jul 2000, 12:10pm EDT. Bloomberg.com
Havana, July 6 -- After a week in Havana, it's clear that the winter shortages of Cuban tobacco leaf used for manufacturing large cigars have lasted well into summer.
In the factories and the cigar shops, the workers and sales people bemoan the fact that there are very few large cigars being rolled and even fewer for sale.
``We still have significant problems with the `capa' (the wrapper leaf),'' said Enrique Mons, manager of the new La Casa del Habano at Club Havana in Miramar, a suburb of Havana. ``The Gran Coronas, Prominentes, Julietas, Piramides and Robustos are all difficult to locate.''
Cid Gordon, assistant manager, said if there was a silver lining regarding the current leaf shortages it had to do with the season.
``Now is not the `high season' (for tourism) in Cuba, so we are lucky that the demand in our store for the big cigars isn't what it would be if this were January or February,'' Gordon said. ``Right now, most of the big cigars that are being produced are for export to Europe and Canada.''
A recent visit to the spacious La Corona factory in downtown Havana, arranged through Peter Lloyd, a Welsh cigar merchant and owner of A.E. Lloyd & Sons, confirmed what both Mons and Gordon said.
While the La Corona factory employs an elite crew of cigar rollers, the production of big cigars was limited to some Cohiba Esplendidos and Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas.
You can't tell just by looking at a roller's bench which specific brand is being made, though you can get a pretty good idea by seeing what boxes are being readied downstairs.
I was told the production of Punch Double Coronas, Churchills and the whole line of San Cristobal de La Habana were basically shut down.
In fact, what might surprise some aficionados is that the brand of cigars hardest to find in Havana is the San Cristobal.
``It's true, San Cristobal is one of the most sought after cigars in Cuba right now because there are so few around,'' said Tania Pedroso, a former worker at La Corona and a cigar buyer for A.E. Lloyd & Sons in the U.K. ``This cigar had limited production to start and the next round of
production isn't yet ready.''
Even if one could secure a box of Double Coronas or Churchills, the cigars available are all too young to smoke anyway. Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas and Cohiba Esplendidos being boxed all bore the ``JUN00'' code (June 2000).
Most disturbing was the telltale green hue to some of the wrappers on the Hoyos. For the most part, the Cohibas were darker and better looking, but I didn't smoke one so I can't offer any comment.
I'd estimate that in the main rolling gallery there were only two or three rollers working with wrapper leaf large enough for Prominentes (Double Coronas).
In the sorting and stripping rooms it was evident the large leaves required for the larger (vitolas) were extremely scarce.
I was told the factory was operating at less than 70 percent of capacity, but the production of large cigar sizes was significantly less.
The situation was the same at Partagas and Romeo y Julieta factories and Cubans familiar with the tobacco leaf shortages who asked not to be identified said it could be many more months before the production of big cigars is back to where it used to be.
While the shortages are most acute with the largest sizes, the manufacturing of the factory shapes called Corona Gordas, Campana (Belicoscos) and Hermoso No. 4 has also been slowed.
As reported by Bloomberg in March, a severe outbreak of blue mold (a fatal fungus) in the Vuelta Abajo significantly shortened the 1999 harvest of cigar tobacco, causing the recent shortages of wrapper leaf.
While Cuba's February tobacco harvest, mostly the new Habana 2000 wrapper, was exceptional, the leaf is still being processed, with only small amounts now reaching the Havana rolling galleries.
Cuba's agricultural experts claim the Habana 2000 is much more disease resistant to blue mold.
At February's Habanos SA International Trade Fair, Cuban tobacco officials heavily promoted Habana 2000. A huge multiscreen video presentation featured Pinar del Rio's famed tobacco farmer, Don Alejandro Robaina, touting the new plant as he took viewers on a tour of his farm where Habana 2000
has all but replaced Corojo.
``This whole shortage will sort itself out, but until it does, the market for large cigars will suffer,'' Mons said. ``The good news is this: When the wrapper is ready, there are very good supplies of binder and filler to make cigars with.''
Mons also said while the market for the largest Cuban cigars is suffering from the leaf shortages, there are a lot of good and reasonably priced small cigars available, some boxes with a year or two of aging.
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