Vegas Robaina

About

Vegas Robaina Cigars Much in the same way as their sister brand, Vegueros , was created to pay tribute to the famers who grow the tobacco for the Cuban cigars we so love to smoke, Vegas Robaina cigars have a special connection to the agricultural communities which work the fields of Pinar del Rio. Don Alejandro Robaina was renowned throughout the industry for his masterful command of the crops in his fields, achieving a yield which could only be dreamt of by his neighbours and which won him the honour of having an entire line dedicated to his memory. The Robaina family have been growing tobacco in the Vuelta Abajo region since 1845. Don Alejandro Robaina was born in 1919 in Havana itself, returning to the family farm to begin his work growing tobacco at the tender age of only 10 years old. He attested that he smoked his first cigar not long before this, beginning a long relationship with cigars which would last until his death at the age of 91. In 1950, already with 21 years of experience behind him, he took on the responsibilities of running the operation following the death of his father. His prowess as an agriculturalist, particularly in cultivating the finest wrapper leaves available, meant he was able to keep the independence of his farm after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. When most other growers were forced to join cooperative schemes, Don Alejandro was allowed to keep going on his own, allegedly due to him standing firm in front of Fidel himself. Such fortitude is the stuff of legend; the truth of his claims are lost to the sands of time. Most of the biggest Cuban cigar brands, such as Cohiba and Hoyo de Monterrey , have used wrapper leaves from the Robaina plantation. In the 1990s Don Alejandro was named by the Cuban government as the greatest tobacco farmer in the country, and he was often asked to travel the world acting as an ambassador for the Cuban industry. In his later years those travels became less frequent, but a visit to his farm to meet the man h