Excelencias from the Caribbean & the Americas
And tobacco settled down in Havana
FROM THE SEAPORT OF SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LA HABANA, THE FINEST PREMIUM CIGARS SET OUT TO CONQUER THE WORLD
There is no doubt that ups and downs are part of the road that leads to universality. So it happened with Habanos. What occurred to Rodrigo de Xerés and Luis de Torres —two seamen who traveled with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and were known as the first Europeans that saw Indo-cuban natives smoking the leaves of the Nicotiana tabacum— was an irony of fate. When they returned their homeland, Rodrigo packed several leaves with him and started smoking publicly. It shocked those who saw him and therefore, he was reported to the Holy Office and convicted to serve six years of his life in prison because “only Satan can bestow men with the ability to expel smoke from the mouth.” By the time he was released, the smoking habit had spread out in most parts of Europe, especially among the royalty and clergy.
In the mid-17th century, Canary Islanders, Andalusians, and Galicians —all from Spain— were the first farmers dedicated to tobacco plantations, which were usually settled near the rivers. Among the first three tobacco plantations recorded throughout history from 1641 on, there was one located on the banks of the Almendares River, the other two were settled near the Arimao and Caracusey rivers in central Cuba.
Although tobacco was widely criticized in Europe, the first factories were built by Spain in 1676. Then, other European countries did the same. In 1717, King Philip V enforced the law that gave origin to the levy, ordering that Cuban cigars could only be bought by the Spanish crown. Such restriction upset tobacco farmers in Cuba who disobeyed the orders from Spain and sabotaged the plantations of those who kneeled to such intimidating directive, and even encouraged riots in the 1720s. In Havana, especially in the neighborhoods of Jesús del Monte, Santiago de las Vegas, and Bejucal, successive riots took place. The Royal Tobacco Factory in Seville, Andalusia, came into operation under strict monopolization in 1731. In 1739, certain operating licenses were given to the Royal Company of Commerce of Havana. The main stockholder was the Governor General of Cuba himself, Guimes de Horcasitas…after a brief period of trade freedom when the British seized Havana in 1762, it was not until 1817 that King Ferdinand VII ends the abusive levy. However, the cigar production managed to reach 1830 with tobacco leaves arriving from Cuba, especially in Seville's cigar shops. Linked to this trade is Carmen, the star in the homonymous opera in the early years of the 19th century. This opera belonged to the realism movement and the author was French Georges Bizet, with libretto and performance in French language. Carmen was based on the novel written by French Prosper Merimee, who was influenced by the narrative poem Los gitanos (1824), written by famous Russian man of letter Aleksandr Pushkin. Gitana, of ferocious nature, manola-type woman, was immortalized by its peculiar plot and the outstanding musical piece named “la habanera de Carmen,” L'amourest un oiseaurebelle (Love Is a Wild Bird).”
In the early years of the 18th century, there were already in Cuba refined products derived from tobacco; namely, rapé — dried and powdered tobacco snuff that people sniffed causing “elegant” sneezes; common practice in the past until the implementation of the aforementioned levy in the second half of the century. On the other hand, “the Cuban tobacco industry reached, back in 1840, the early stage of its manufacturing process, characterized by the largest number of wage workers and the size of the factory. There was a brief time between craft manufacturing and modern industry that covered the following 30 or 40 years until the emergence of the first factories. (…) In 1859, there were 1,295 cigar factories and 38 cigar shops in Havana, employing 15,000 workers” (2). There were also a lot of chinchales (small family-owned tobacco stalls where tobacco leaves were rolled and processed) and whose name had likely to do with insects.
Here, a summarized chronology detailing the progressive blossoming of cigar factories, essential from that moment on in the economic, social, and cultural life of the Large Island of the
Caribbean: Hija de Cabaña y Carbajal (1819); Porlarrañaga (1834); Punch (1840); H. Upmann (1844); Flor de Tabacos de Partagás, La Corona y Ramón Allones (1845); Sancho Panza (1850); Hoyo de Monterrey (1865); and Romeo y Julieta (1875) (3). And now, details on the main brands of cigar factories:
H. Upmann: Founded on March 1st, 1844, under the name of Real Fabrica de Tabacos H. Upmann, San Miguel Street No.75, Centro Habana municipality. With official license issued by the Captain General of the island, Mr. Leopoldo O'donnell in May 1844. Promptly renowned worldwide, this brand has won 12 gold medals in international events held in Paris 1855 and 1867; London 1862, Port 1866, and Moscow 1872. (4). Before becoming a star musician, Francisco Repilado (“Compay Segundo”) worked as cigar maker in this factory for almost two decades.
Partagas: Young Catalonian entrepreneur Jaime Partagás y Rivell (1816-1864) founded, with the assistance of his fellow countryman Juan Conill, a small factory in Havana in 1827. His determination, paired with the support of stockholders, allowed him to foster in 1845 the company La Flor de Tabacos de Partagás y Cía., Industria Street No.60, Centro Habana municipality, Havana. His progressive success had to do with the feasibility of having access to the best raw materials at the time and paying close attention to the cultivation techniques as well as the fermentation and aging processes of the tobacco. Later on, this factory changed its name to Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás, name given perhaps due to the top quality and prestige the factory earned as the Habanos supplier for several aristocrats in many European nations.
La Honradez: Opened by Gibraltarian Jose Luis Susini y Rioseco, descendant of a tobacco-grower family in 1853, in the corner of Cuba and Sol Streets, in front of the Santa Clara Convent, Old Havana. American writer Samuel Hazard (1836-1876) described it in his costumbrist book Cuba a pluma y lapiz (Cuba with Pen and Pencil), published by Hartford Publishing Company and printed by Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A, 1871, as Real e Imperial factoría de La Honradez. This industry devoted entirely to produce cigarettes (fine-cut tobacco intended for the rolling of cigarettes) and the first steam machinery was put into operation. It was able to produce up to 2.5 million units on daily basis. Besides, Susini had the brilliant idea of mixing the packing of his products with collectible pictures and postcards from different themes. In this regard, Hazard quoted the comments of the then Secretary of State W.H. Seward: “I am deeply impressed by the fortunate way with which the owner has mixed the production of the West Indies with the American invention, the European talent, and the Asian industry.”
Romeo y Julieta: It was founded on February 1876 with the authorization request made by Inocencio Alvarez and José García in a property located in San Rafael Street No.87. Soon after Alvarez and García broke up, Inocencio decided to move the factory in 1899 to a very old building —former headquarter of brother Allones brand's La Eminencia— in Animas Street No.129. Around 1900, Alvarez sold his Romeo y Julieta to Prudencio Ravell, who had already bought the cigarette factory La Honradez, former property of José Luis Susini. Back in 1903 Asturian José Rodríguez Fernández, aka Don Pepin,
who had amassed experience in the tobacco field, negotiated with Ravell the purchase of Romeo y Julieta. He then built a huge building where there was once a bullring, covering Padre Varela (Belascoaín), Concordia, Virtudes, and Lucena Streets. The ticket office, for more than half a century, was used to sale tickets to bullfighting lovers and the money raised was used to pay workers.
HAVANA'S ORIGIN OF CIGAR FACTORY READERS
According to historical accounts, the trade of cigar factory reader began officially in the former factory El Fígaro in 1865, in Havana. It first started as educational supplement even though it had hundreds of detractors and suffered temporary ban from colonial authorities as they cited workers were distracted and their production dropped. There are references that outstanding Spanish man of literature, Ramiro de Maetzu y Whitney, worked as cigar factory reader in a factory in Havana, 1891-1894. Afterwards, he was part of the '98 Generation (made up of prime men of Spanish literature, and the Group of Three along with Azorín and Pío Baroja). In 2012, this peculiar trade was declared Cuba's National Heritage.
IT IS ABOUT NAMES, BUT WATCH OUT…!!
You usually find the word cigar instead of tobacco or Habano outside Cuba. One lexicographical version confers such name to the resemblance to the cicada —winged insect of the Cicadidae family— with tobacco leaves once rolled. Cigarrón is the name given in Andalusia to either grasshoppers or cicadas. Another version highlights that the first seeds of tobacco that arrived in Spain from the New World were sowed in the outskirts of Toledo city, area known as Los Cigarrales due to the name of the aforementioned insects, a plague for the city. Meanwhile the term Habano, applied to hand-rolled cigars with a very Cuban approach and whose beginning corresponds to Havana more than two centuries ago, has to do also with the fact that this craft jewel departed from the Port of Saint Christopher of Havana to take on the world. Therefore, Habano is worthy of a well-deserved Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO).