By Vivian Sequera, Associated Press.
The Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 10:47 a.m.
Feb. 23, 2001
HAVANA -- Cigar aficionados from as far away as Israel and Hong Kong visited
tobacco farms and factories and savored new cigar brands this week during an
annual celebration of this nation's world-famous stogies
The yearly Habanos Festival was wrapping up Friday evening with an
elegant "cigar dinner" at the Tropicana nightclub, where diners were
to be served a selection of some of Cuba's finest hand-rolled cigars along with
their meals.
Cuba cigars "are perfect," Irani businessman Manoucher
Houshmand said with a smile. On his first visit to the Caribbean island, the
70-year-old is among about 500 first-time visitors to Cuba at the festival that
began Monday.
"Still, after decades of smoking them I do not see the difference"
between brands such as Romeo y Julieta and Partagas - two of 34 brands sold by
Cuba's state-operated cigar company Habanos S.A.
Cigar enthusiasts from other countries who live in Cuba confirm that
the distinctions between the brands are not as great as they used to be because
of some deterioration in quality since the 1980s. Demand for Cuban cigars has
increased as the old tobacco rolling experts are replaced by less experienced
young people.
That growing demand for Cuban tobacco also has resulted in more cigar
counterfeiting, with the counterfeiters producing cigars from tobacco grown here
and selling them to tourists and exporters as original Cohibas or other brands.
The counterfeits "aren't necessarily bad" because they are
made with Cuban tobacco, said Jean-Ives Martinez, a French journalist and cigar
smoker who has lived here 15 years. But they do not have the same quality that
the vendor promises.
Manuel Garcia, vice president of Habanos S.A., which organized the
festival, noted that all Cuban-grown tobacco is good and insisted that the crop
has maintained its quality over the years. "We produce the best tobacco,
there is no doubt," Garcia said with pride.
But he did admit a growing problem with falsification of his company's
products, as well as the counterfeiting of high-quality cigars from Honduras and
the Dominican Republic.
Precisely to help local foreign cigar smokers learn the difference
among the different tastes, smells and colors of Cuba's best brands, Martinez in
1997 helped co-found 'Habanos Folies,' a club of 18 men who meet at least once a
month for several hours to try new cigar brands and discuss their different
equalities.
But for those who know little of the differences, it is easy to fall
for the tempting offers whispered in the street offering cheap Cohibas -
probably Cuba's best-known cigar brand.
On the 35th anniversary of the brand this year, Cohiba remains the most
frequently counterfeited.
The cigar preferred by President Fidel Castro before he kicked the
tobacco habit in 1986, a box of Cohibas is the most coveted gift for
distinguished foreign visitors.
A box of Cohibas here costs about $500, while the price ranges between
$800 and $1,000 in Europe, said Garcia.
"It's like Rolex, Vuitton, Channel...Cohiba is technically
perfect," said Remy Madelin, a French businessman who belongs to the
Habanos Folies smokers' group.
Because of its high cost, however, Cohiba's production and sales are
not the highest among the various Cuban brands. Last year, just 6 percent of the
Cuban cigars exported last year were Cohibas.
Habanos S.A. is hoping for a comeback by all its brands this year
following a drop in exports during 2000 due to drought. Because of the dryness,
many of the large wrapper leaves used to finish the cigars were rendered too
brittle for use, causing a drop in production.
Cuba had exported 148 million cigars in 1999, but that dropped to 118
million last year, said Garcia.
But there is good news for this year's Cigar Festival participants as
well as other aficionados around the world: Garcia said that Habanos S.A.
expects to export 150 million individual cigars by year's end.
Copyright 2000, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida
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