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Vuelta Abajo, Habano’s Birthplace Land

AMONG THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN CUBA ARE THE FIELDS OF VUELTABAJO, A TRUE POSTCARD OF THE MAN-AND-AHALF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE END OF THE YEAR AND THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR WHEN IT IS COVERED WITH PLANTS OF THE BEST TOBACCO IN THE WORLD

BY: EXCELENCIAS STAFF WRITERS PHOTOS: EXCELENCIAS ARCHIVE

Pinar del Rio is Cuba's westernmost province. Its capital is 127 km away from Havana, and from there it's only a 30-minute drive to the Vuelta Abajo (D.O.P.) tobacco plantations along the road that leads to San Luis and San Juan y Martinez, the epicenter of the cultivation of the leaves used to make Habanos.

The characteristics of the soil, the climate, a deep-rooted culture of plantation management and the centuries-old tradition of the vegueros, combine in a very particular way in the area, recognized for centuries as the best land of dark tobacco in the world, the cradle of Habanos and the only place that defines it in its essences from its very origin.

Following the route of the best tobacco in the world to its place of origin is one of the mustdo experiences if you are visiting the Caribbean island, not only for lovers of Premium cigars, but also for those who enjoy community and sustainable tourism.

The region where the districts of San Juan y Martínez and San Luis are located is known as Vuelta Abajo, but it is important to know that there are also differences in soil and natural conditions, and therefore districts, extensions or sites that are to some extent superior to others, among whose borders are located the so-called Vegas de Primera, a category endorsed by the Tobacco Research Institute for the lands where the leaves for Habanos are grown.

These are vegas that have their own special style of work and cultivation, where the veguero is also a reference of skill and success, something like a rural patriarch, possessing all the secrets of the field and of tobacco.

As there are two different ways of cultivating it, on both sides of the road one can see vegas of tobacco in the sun, of intense green color; and others that grow covered by a thin white cloth to screen the sun, which, while favoring the growth of the leaves, prevents them from becoming fibrous, rough or thick.

The cap is extracted from the covered vegas, very delicate, fine and soft-textured leaves, used in the manual twisting for the finishing and elegant final appearance of these centenary kings of good taste and glamor, the work of the patient dedication and experience of Cuban tobacco growers from the field to the industry.

The exceptional qualities of the soils, sandy, loose and rich in minerals, together with a relative humidity of more or less 70% and the much cooler temperature during the first months of the year -as decisive complements for this crop-, have defined that nowhere else in Cuba, let alone in the world, a similar raw material is produced

The open-air fields, on the other hand, cover the largest surfaces and provide the different leaves that make up the filler of a Habano, as well as the capote, used to wrap that preliminary set -the ligada-, and that case by case responds to an ancient dosage that distinguishes and differentiates each traditional brand of Habanos and their vitolas.

The exceptional qualities of the soils, sandy, loose and rich in minerals, together with a relative humidity of about 70 percent and the much cooler temperature of the first months of the year -as decisive complements for this crop- have defined that nowhere else in Cuba, let alone in the world, a similar raw material is produced.

After their "short happy life in the fields", parodying the title of one of Hemingway's stories in his book Snows of Kilimanjaro, the leaves harvested in the fields must rest suspended from fine wedges in the tobacco houses, those giants of Cuban rural architecture that are discovered at every glance in the four cardinal points of Vuelta Abajo.

Then they will undergo a first fermentation and a long road of years will begin for them, mutating or transforming, until they complete the evolutionary cycle that took them from foundation to become Habanos. But that is material for another article.

Sumario

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2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://revistasexcelencias.pressreader.com/article/282888029262256

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