It seems like it's getting a little more chilly in Cuba... Don't get me wrong, I think daytime temperatures are still in the upper twenties (celsius, obviously), but this night was the third in a row that I've needed a blanket in addition to the light cotton sheets, and was not tempted by either ventilation or air conditioning. Mind you, I'm not complaining. It's actually quite refreshing to not feel incredibly sweaty and sticky every evening :-)
Santa Clara is Cuba's Che Guevara memorial city. His remains are entombed in a mausoleum here (which is closed on Mondays, so I'll visit tomorrow). In 1958, he was responsible for the derailment of an armored train carrying Batista troops and weapons, and for the defeat of these troops, here in Santa Clara. This was one of the key events during the revolution, and just four days later Fidel proclaimed victory. The museum at the location of the derailment has the original bulldozer they used to break the rails:
Did you know that Che was so heavily involved with the Cuban revolution, and that he served as minister of industry later on? I have to admit, I had no idea. But it is fascinating to finally discover why this guy's face made it to so many shirts!
But the highlight of this day was something else: the tour of the local cigar manufactory. It really is a manufactory - everything is made by hand, there is no automation, no machinery, just a few mechanical aids. Even so, they produce 18000 cigars of various brands per day, all of them to be exported.
If you've ever been inside a humidor in a fancy tobacco shop, you have an approximate idea of how it smelled in the factory. I love the smell of unburnt tobacco, so I would've loved to stay a lot longer just to inhale some more ;-)
Cigars are not made from fresh or dried tobacco leaves, but from fermented leaves - I didn't know that. The fermentation process for Cohibas (the best brand, they say) takes three full years. This explains why some cigars are so expensive...
Starting from fermented leaves, the production process for cigars is fairly straightforward: first, the inner part of the cigar is assembled by taking a handful of leaves, or parts of leaves, and wrapping them inside two more leaves. This rough cigar is pressed for half an hour and then goes through quality control. The process continues only if the pressure with which the leaves were rolled is just right - otherwise you wouldn't be able to smoke the cigar. A different type of tobacco leaf is then wrapped around the rough inside to create the smooth appearance of the finished cigar. Photography was not permitted inside, but I manged to sneak out two samples of tobacco:
The smooth leaf at the top is used as outside wrap, while the rougher leaf at the bottom of the image is what makes up the cigar's interior - and most of its taste.
After that, the cigars are sorted by color - solely to produce a uniform look within any box, the quality is supposed to be the same. Finally, a small label is wrapped around each individual cigar, and they are packaged into boxes. I had never noticed before, but cigars like these definitely are small works of art, each and every one of them.
The shop opposite the factory had an impressive selection of the finished product:
Finally, what I found very interesting was that there is a lector in the factory. He reads to the workers, probably to make work in the factory less boring. When I was there, he was reading pieces from the newspaper, but it seemed like he was also taking requests from the workers. His voice is transmitted into all the rooms, so everybody has some kind of entertainment. I'm not sure why they don't just turn on a radio though. Maybe some kind of educational or informational mission?
Santa Clara is Cuba's Che Guevara memorial city. His remains are entombed in a mausoleum here (which is closed on Mondays, so I'll visit tomorrow). In 1958, he was responsible for the derailment of an armored train carrying Batista troops and weapons, and for the defeat of these troops, here in Santa Clara. This was one of the key events during the revolution, and just four days later Fidel proclaimed victory. The museum at the location of the derailment has the original bulldozer they used to break the rails:
Did you know that Che was so heavily involved with the Cuban revolution, and that he served as minister of industry later on? I have to admit, I had no idea. But it is fascinating to finally discover why this guy's face made it to so many shirts!
But the highlight of this day was something else: the tour of the local cigar manufactory. It really is a manufactory - everything is made by hand, there is no automation, no machinery, just a few mechanical aids. Even so, they produce 18000 cigars of various brands per day, all of them to be exported.
If you've ever been inside a humidor in a fancy tobacco shop, you have an approximate idea of how it smelled in the factory. I love the smell of unburnt tobacco, so I would've loved to stay a lot longer just to inhale some more ;-)
Cigars are not made from fresh or dried tobacco leaves, but from fermented leaves - I didn't know that. The fermentation process for Cohibas (the best brand, they say) takes three full years. This explains why some cigars are so expensive...
Starting from fermented leaves, the production process for cigars is fairly straightforward: first, the inner part of the cigar is assembled by taking a handful of leaves, or parts of leaves, and wrapping them inside two more leaves. This rough cigar is pressed for half an hour and then goes through quality control. The process continues only if the pressure with which the leaves were rolled is just right - otherwise you wouldn't be able to smoke the cigar. A different type of tobacco leaf is then wrapped around the rough inside to create the smooth appearance of the finished cigar. Photography was not permitted inside, but I manged to sneak out two samples of tobacco:
The smooth leaf at the top is used as outside wrap, while the rougher leaf at the bottom of the image is what makes up the cigar's interior - and most of its taste.
After that, the cigars are sorted by color - solely to produce a uniform look within any box, the quality is supposed to be the same. Finally, a small label is wrapped around each individual cigar, and they are packaged into boxes. I had never noticed before, but cigars like these definitely are small works of art, each and every one of them.
The shop opposite the factory had an impressive selection of the finished product:
Finally, what I found very interesting was that there is a lector in the factory. He reads to the workers, probably to make work in the factory less boring. When I was there, he was reading pieces from the newspaper, but it seemed like he was also taking requests from the workers. His voice is transmitted into all the rooms, so everybody has some kind of entertainment. I'm not sure why they don't just turn on a radio though. Maybe some kind of educational or informational mission?
