Just like anything in life the journey is far more rewarding than the destination, I find this especially true with traveling. Being aware of this typically means that I do not have an agenda or day to day plan for my travels but I do usually have some goal that I create my trip around. I mostly want this goal small and almost irrelevant. Sometimes I am able to achieve said goal and sometimes I fail.
I wanted to smoke a true Cuban Cigar. While cuban cigars are not sold in the United States any time I would travel outside of the states I would buy some cubans but this simply wasn't the experience I was looking for. So I set off to Cuba and as soon as I got to the airport my cigar seeking experience began.
I met a man that worked for a store in the states that sold cigars and every few months they would send him to Cuba to bring some cigars back for his high end clients. While he noted I could buy these cigars anywhere and everywhere in Cuba he mentioned that many of the cigars come from tobacco farms in Vinales a few hours outside of Havana. The morning after arriving in Havana I hopped in a old school cab from the 70's and headed straight there. I shared the ride with a German girl heading the same way. After sharing my plan, she decided to join on my adventures and upon arrival in Vinales we joined forces and asked around town about the tobacco farms.
The lady running the house I stayed out said she would have a horse ready for me in the morning and to be ready as it will be an all day affair. We woke up on the morning, ate breakfast, and then the cowboy approached us.
This man had traditional cowboy out from boats with spurs all the way to the western hat. He was joined by two dogs that followed him closely.. He walked us through town, down a trail to find two horses tied to a tree. Upon mounting the horses the man pointed us down the trail. While the man did not join our trip his dogs did and lead the way. Which I initially found a bit odd that he let us take his horses out without him but I soon noticed that these horses were very familiar with this trail and knew exactly where to go so we begun our ride. The dogs would stay in front of the horses chasing pigs, dogs, and other animals off the trail keeping a clear path for the horses.
The trail itself was gorgeous, riding through the tobacco fields with mountains surrounding us in the distance for about 3 hours until we reached a barn. We pulled the horses in to explore when three men came out and before any words were spoken to us they first greeted the horses. They brought us inside the barn where we shared a bottle of rum specifically only found on the farms in Vinales. A rum made from sugar cane with guava, delicious. Inside the barn we were surrounded by hanging tobacco leafs being dried out to soon be rolled into cigars. There were hundreds of already rolled cigars that were unmarked but we were told that soon they will be sent off to the cities to be marked as Monte Cristos, Romeo Julieta, and Cohibas. These cigars were separated and packed in lots of 20-50 wrapped in a bamboo leaf to work as a humidor.
The men began to show me how they rolled the cigars making the process look very simple. One man distributed everyone a cigar and they showed me a bit of local flare where they dipped the end of the cigar in honey for a sweeter taste. We all lit up a cigar and enjoyed a true cuban cigar experience.
I have smoked cuban cigars probably two dozen times all around the world but it was only on the tobacco farms of Vinales, Cuba that I actually felt like I had my first cuban cigar.The journey always outweighs the destination.
Comments