Partagàs

About

Partagas Cigars The story of Partagas cigars is one of industry and innovation. Nowadays the thousands of Cuban cigar lovers who make the pilgrimage to Havana every year will almost certainly make a stop at the old Partagas factory, now home to a museum and shop, to learn more about the history of Habanos and pick up some souvenirs to take home. The scarlet red livery of the bands and boxes is famous throughout the world, and the vitolario offered to the modern market one of the most complete. Partagas cigars are famous for their full strength, the power with which they envelope the palette, and the earthy nature of their flavours. They have brought these delights to smokers for more than 175 years. It was in 1845 that Don Jaime Partagas began construction of his factory, directly behind the Capitol building in the centre of Havana. The cigars he made there were immediately popular, due in part to the fact that Don Jaime also owned some of the best plantations in the Vuelta Abajo, and had honed an extraordinary skill for selecting the best leaves with which to roll cigars. His innovation extended to being the first to ferment his tobacco leaves, a process now ubiquitous in cigar production, and experiment with methods of aging the cured leaf to further develop their intensity and flavour. The role of the lector in Cuban cigar culture – employed to read to the torcedores as they work – is know well-known, and the source of brand names such as Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta , but it was again Don Jaime who introduced this practice. Concerned with the moral and education of his workers, he hired his first lectors in the early-1860s. It is a tradition still carried on to this day. Sadly, the contribution of this ground-breaking industrialist was cut short in 1864, when he was murdered on one of his plantations. His son took the reigns of the family business before selling at the end of the century. Ownership changed hands frequently through the first half of the 20 th