From our Great Accomplishments of Latrine American Socialism Bureau
In 1958, Cuba was the undisputed king of sugar and cigar production in the whole world. Its reign as sugar king didn’t last long after Castro, Inc. took over, but its reign as cigar king lasted a bit longer. Kiss that throne and crown goodbye.
Those days are now gone for good. Up in smoke, as one can say in English.
Gracias por todo, Fidel. Thanks for everything, Fidel.
From The Spectator
Cuba is no longer seen as the source of the finest cigars thanks to the increasing dominance of its near neighbor, the Dominican Republic,
This year, Habanos SA – the Havana-based business that oversees all Cuban cigar sales – reported 2022 revenues of $545 million, a 2 per cent increase on the previous 12 months (a figure helped considerably by skyrocketing prices of Cuban cigars).
The Dominican Republic, however, broached the $1 billion mark almost three years ago and exports are still growing, making cigars its fifth-largest export after gold, electrical products, textiles and medical equipment (who knew?).
Much of the country’s success has been fuelled by a significant increase in the production of machine-made cigars and there are now more than 50 factories in the country employing more than 120,000 people. But the DR also leads the field in the type of ‘luxury’, hand-made cigars for which Cuba has long been famous, helping Santiago achieve the title of ‘cigar capital of the world’ through premium smokes such as the Davidoff Aniversario, the Ashton Classic and the Arturo Fuente ‘Hemingway’.
The Dominican Republic began to nose ahead of Cuba and Nicaragua during the so-called ‘cigar boom’ of the early 1990s, but its success didn’t happen overnight – the oldest factory, La Aurora, was founded 120 years ago by an 18-year old called Eduardo León Jimenes.
La Aurora is now the biggest commercial organisation in the DR, but it still prides itself on the hand-rolled, doble figurado ‘perfecto’ cigars of which only 100 are made per day. Since Jimenes established the business, the plantations around Santiago have expanded to cover more than 600,000 acres, not to mention the packaging manufacturers, cigar factories, greenhouses and fertilizer producers.
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The only surprise is that this didn’t happen sooner. The Castro plague was bound to take its toll. Yes, it’s a disgrace, not to say a crime, but very much par for the Castro course. I don’t know what the bastard was, exactly, but he was hardly more Cuban than his Argentine bitch “Che.” Again, we ought to be ashamed.