2011/11 – Havana : Visit to El Laguito

30 Nov

On the famed staircase in El Laguito

Nov. 2011

Another interesting visit to the holy grail of Cuban cigars, the famed El Laguito, the Cohiba alma mater.

We visited the stripping dept., but this time, one of the most impressing experiences was to visit the Blending dept. where the individual daily “ration” of tobacco was prepared to be given to the rollers.

The packages of tobacco I photographed were destined to become Cohiba BHK 54.

A parcel would be a roller’s daily “ration” and contain tobacco for the roller’s daily minimum quota of 90 BHK 54 cigars.

The insight : I figured out that the market value of that parcel of tobacco would be ca 3.000 € in Europe while the roller would take home a monthly pay of 20 € .

The factory was “down” that day due to high humidity levels in Havana with rain the previous night and that morning plus the high temperatures.

Also, apparently no visits to factories are allowed any longer for the last few months – I have heard about it, but more on an informal basis. Later, back in Europe I would read about it in James Sucklings’ blog :

www.jamessuckling.com/my-blog-visits-to-cigar-factories-over.html

While I watched a truck being loaded with Master cases, I recognized one of the workers as the guy I had played dominoes with a few years back – he and a Russian colleague of him had beaten me and Jimmy during lunch break for a few games.

Nino