​​This is a sad and unfortunate truth. 

 

This is, we believe, the single most important factor contributing to the decline in commercial Cuban cigar quality.

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A reminder of Cuban cigar truth #2 (above), a particularly incompetent Marxist-socialist government controls all parts of habanos production after purchasing the once-fermented leaf from the finca.  I want to drive home this point because there is a corollary implication that may not be evident: the finest Cuban puros are still made on the finest fincas in Vuelta Abajo today using the exact same methods as were employed for the last 200 years.

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Let me expound on that a bit: single-fermented leaf is purchased by the government, and at least two more years of fermentation and aging remain before the leaf is rolled into a habanos.  This particularly inept Cuban government is precisely the reason why poor quality control has been the bane of the most storied cigar brands since 1959, and is the reason why it is still plaguing many of those once-venerated brands today. 

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There are two distinct watershed moments where the quality of habanos declined significantly... the first was in 1959-1962, during the "nationalization" of once-privately owned Habanos brands, and the second was during the 1990s, also known as "the cigar renaissance."  Let's take a closer look at some empirical evidence starting with the more recent cigar boom in the 1990s, and a more gradual but troubling trend that has followed since:

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In the 1990s, poor quality control was the cigar industry headline.  This was exacerbated by the explosion of world-wide demand for cigars (and habanos), resulting in plunging quality standards in order to make a quick buck on the backs of undiscerning cigar smokers.  Without enough quality leaf, labor, and management available to fulfill the demand, the only way to meet that demand was to cut corners.  Rather than harnessing scarcity to drive higher prices and buzz in the marketplace to drive even more demand (as the most exclusive luxury brands are wont to do), the Cuban government flooded the market with substandard product, betraying the last vestiges of quality in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.  Thus lower quality leaves were mixed with higher quality leaves to make more cigars; less experienced torcedor and torcedora were employed in the factories to increase throughput.  Poor patchwork decisions were made all across the industry, and they have yet to be repealed.

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Another phenomenon that has not gone unnoticed is that the distinction between Habanos brands is less and less pronounced to experienced aficionados.  In other words, Cuban habanos are tasting more and more like each other.  This is, in fact, one of the most prevalent complaints about habanos today. 

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"Getting Borges to talk about how Cuban cigars are created stems from a simple, straightforward question: Does Cuba try to maintain a specific flavor profile for each of the country's major export brands?

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In the past, seasoned smokers claimed they could tell a Montecristo from a Partagás, or an H. Upmann from a Romeo y Julieta. They assigned the major Cuban brands distinct characteristics: Hoyo de Monterrey was a medium-to-light blend with some herbal notes; Montecristo had a core of coffee and spice; H. Upmann was a lot like Montecristo (perhaps with less power but more finesse); Romeo y Julieta produced a medium-bodied cigar, with cocoa-bean flavors in its benchmark Churchill; and Partagás (especially in the Serie D No. 4 and Lusitania sizes) presented power and spice with long, earthy finishes. Other brands, such as Bolivar and Ramon Allones were often called out as very powerful cigars.

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But today, many smokers think those distinctions have been lost, and Cuba's tobacco monopoly, Habanos S.A. has homogenized all the brands toward a common flavor profile."

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You may be wondering why or how this could be happening.  Cigar Aficionado explains the genesis of this issue, in another article:

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"Furthermore, no single farm is associated with a cigar brand, as they often used to be before the Cuban Revolution in 1959... 

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​In the old days, factories producing specific brands had formulas for the blends that included place names, or farms which supplied the factory directly with tobacco.  But no longer.  Today, cigar tobacco, after it has been cured on the farms, is processed and sorted in regional warehouses and then shipped around the country to factories where it is needed.  Cohiba, according to some reports, still receives tobacco from a select group of farms; many speculate about which farms supply the bulk of tobacco for Cohiba but there is no officially sanctioned public list.  If you are lucky enough to get inside a loading dock or receiving area in a Cuban cigar factory, you may see tobacco bales with codes and even some place names but there’s no guarantee that the factory will get the same mix of tobacco next year or the year after."

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Additionally, less known to aficionados is that all 27 brands of Cuban-labeled cigars, including the finest habanos, ferment their leaves utilizing chemicals, catalysts, and manipulated methods to ensure a homogeneous mass-produced product.  Yes, even the Marxist-socialists realize that time is money, and a homogenized process simply reduces the considerable "go-to-market" expenses.  This may be shocking to some, but even the flagship Cohiba brand is not immune to this heartbreaking reality.

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Distinct flavor profiles and portfolios, once the hallmarks of distinction across habanos brands and vitolas, are now a victim of a socialist mentality that is sucking the last remaining vestiges of dignity from each leaf.   The Cuban government is improving the effectiveness of their homogenized fermentation and aging processes, conforming flavors and aromas more efficiently than ever.  The sad implication of this truth is that it is an absolute necessity, as well as an absolute certainty, that every government factory labeled habanos contains leaf from multiple fincas, and even from multiple leaf-growing regions outside the finest fincas of the Vuelta Abajo.

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To understand this more fully, it is important to know that tobacco farmers are the only legally authorized land-owners in all of Cuba... yes, you read that correctly, but we will wait a few moments for you to re-read that previous statement.  How, in the name of Karl Marx, did tobacco farmers become more equal than others?  Soon after the exodus of the Cuban upper class upon Castro's ascent to power, much of the brain-drain included brand owners of the most famous Cuban cigar brands to include Cohiba, Romeo & Julieta, Montecristo, and others.  The owners of these brands fled to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and brought their brands with them.  Castro's Marxist-socialist government laid claim to the brands as their own, and so today, we have Cuban Cohiba AND Dominicano Cohiba.

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But the Cuban government quickly realized they have no knowledge of the cultivation and production of their most cherished and lucrative product.  The only meaningful (and long-lasting) way to incentivize long-term sustainability and stabilization of the habanos industry was to keep those with the knowledge (tobacco farmers) by offering ownership of the land itself.  

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That aficionados still believe that habanos are the pinnacle of Cuban cigars is, I believe, as sad a commentary on their lack of discerning judgement as it is a scathing one on Habanos S.A.'s management's ineptitude.  But so-called "aficionados" who pay luxury prices for Marxist-socialist government products and who are incapable of discerning the difference, well, "rock on, because that's close enough for government work."