How cigars are produced in Cuba
Despite a slump in sales due to the recession, Cuba continues to be the
world's largest producer of cigars. Could its success be due to cigar
factory readers? BBC correspondent in Havana, Michael Voss, finds out.
The air in H Upmann's cigar factory in Havana's Vedado district is thick
with the sweet pungent smell of tobacco.
It's hot and humid. There is no air conditioning because that would dry
out the precious leaves.
In the long main galley, row upon row of workers sit side by side on
long wooden benches - dozens of men and women all rolling cigar after cigar.
Producing Cuba's famous handmade cigars is a highly skilled but
monotonous job which demands concentration.
There's no time for chatting to workmates - quotas must be met.
At the front of the room there's a raised platform where a lone figure
sits in front of a microphone, reading out loud the official state
newspaper Granma.
Instead of canned music, many cigar factories in Cuba still rely on the
ancient tradition of employing a reader to help workers pass away the day.
Gricel Valdes-Lombillo, a matronly former school teacher, has been this
factory's official reader for the past 20 years.
In the morning she goes through the state-run newspaper Granma cover to
cover.
Later in the day she returns to the platform to read a book.
It's a job Gricel Valdes-Lombillo claims she has never tired of.
"I feel useful as a person, giving everyone a bit of knowledge and culture.
"The workers here see me as a councillor, a cultural advisor, and
someone who knows about law, psychology and love."
Once the newspaper reading is over workers have a say in what they would
like to listen to.
There's a mix of material ranging from classics to modern novels, like
the Da Vinci Code, as well as the occasional self-help books and magazines.
On the day I visited the factory Gricel was reading Alexandre Dumas'
classic, the Count of Monte Cristo, a long-time favourite here.
The book was an old, well-worn, large print edition which looked as if
it had been in the collection since long before the revolution.
Having someone read out loud on the shop floor is a tradition which
dates back to the 1860s.
Back then the reader would have been one of the cigar rollers, someone
who could read and had a good voice.
Diction and drama
According to Zoe Nocedo Primo, director of Havana's cigar museum, each
cigar worker used to give a percentage of his wages to pay the reader.
"In those days they would choose amongst themselves, someone with a good
voice and good diction. They looked for rhythm in the voice so he could
dramatise the reading."
They weren't always popular with factory owners or the authorities.
For years cigar workers had a reputation for being amongst the better
educated and politically active groups.
For a while the practice spread to cigar factories in Florida, as well
as Mexico and Spain.
Today, though, the tradition only survives in Cuba, with an estimated
250 "lectores" or cigar readers employed at factories across the island.
Rafael Enchemendia is a long-time cigar roller who has risen to become
one of the shopfloor foremen.
He says it helps everyone concentrate on what they are doing.
"You can roll a cigar while listening and still meet targets and earn a
living.
"It's very good because you are learning something while working, being
educated in some way about what's happening in the world and in Cuba."
It has also broadened the horizons of many of the workers.
Novel inspiration
"It's entertaining and instructive."
Another cigar roller, Yarima, explained between finishing one cigar and
reaching for the tobacco leaves to make the next one.
She added that she had never read a book at home before starting work here.
Tradition has it that some of Cuba's best known cigar brands were named
after the workers' favourite books.
The H Upmann factory, for example, produces two well known international
brands - Montecristos named after Dumas' book and Romeo y Julieta, after
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
This factory was first opened in the 1840s.
It is now officially called the Jose Marti Cigar factory although the
name H Upmann is still on the factory wall above the main gate.
It was nationalised after the revolution and the former owners left the
country, setting up a rival H Upmann brand produced for the American
market in the Dominican Republic.
The Cuban-made Petit Upmann cigar was reputedly the favourite cigar of
US President John F Kennedy.
Legend has it that the night before he signed the trade embargo he sent
his press secretary Pierre Salinger out to buy every box he could find
in Washington, some 1,200 cigars in total.
Despite the embargo, Cuba remains the world's top-selling producer of
premium hand-rolled cigars.
Some put it down to the quality of the tobacco grown here, others to the
skill of the workforce.
Could it be that another secret to success is the soothing and
concentrating power of the cigar reader?
BBC News - Reading while rolling Cuba's famous cigars (10 December 2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8406641.stm
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