Cuba’s tobacco country: A photographic journey

Raul Valdes Villasusa, 76, smokes a cigar as he collects tobacco leaves on his farm in Vinales in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. Farmers earn money from the government for their tobacco crop and keep a small portion for their own use.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Raul Valdes Villasusa, 76, smokes a cigar as he collects tobacco leaves on his farm in Vinales in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. Farmers earn money from the government for their tobacco crop and keep a small portion for their own use.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Jorge Luis Leon Becerra, 43, waits on his oxcart for workers to bring their freshly picked tobacco leaves before taking them to a warehouse for drying at the Martinez tobacco farm in the province of Pinar del Rio.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Jorge Luis Leon Becerra, 43, waits on his oxcart for workers to bring their freshly picked tobacco leaves before taking them to a warehouse for drying at the Martinez tobacco farm in the province of Pinar del Rio.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

A picture of revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara decorates a wall inside a state-run warehouse where workers select tobacco leaves.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

A picture of revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara decorates a wall inside a state-run warehouse where workers select tobacco leaves.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

A worker takes a break under drying tobacco leaves at the Montesino tobacco farm, which has been in the same family for three generations and is one of the most renowned Cuban tobacco producers.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

A worker takes a break under drying tobacco leaves at the Montesino tobacco farm, which has been in the same family for three generations and is one of the most renowned Cuban tobacco producers.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Marcelo Montesino, 92, and his son Eulogio Montesino, 55, dry tobacco leaves on their farm. Eulogio, who says his father has the “health of steel” thanks to eating farm-grown organic food his entire life, hopes to one day create a cigar brand named in his father’s honor.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Marcelo Montesino, 92, and his son Eulogio Montesino, 55, dry tobacco leaves on their farm. Eulogio, who says his father has the “health of steel” thanks to eating farm-grown organic food his entire life, hopes to one day create a cigar brand named in his father’s honor.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

A classic American car passes the Francisco Blanco tobacco farm in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

A classic American car passes the Francisco Blanco tobacco farm in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Workers use both a horse-drawn cart and classic American car to transport freshly collected tobacco leaves to a barn in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. The tobacco leaves will be hung to dry for almost two months before being sent off for cleaning and eventually rolled into cigars.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Workers use both a horse-drawn cart and classic American car to transport freshly collected tobacco leaves to a barn in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. The tobacco leaves will be hung to dry for almost two months before being sent off for cleaning and eventually rolled into cigars.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Women select and clean tobacco leaves inside a state-run warehouse in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. After the central vein is removed from each dried leaf, they’re dipped in ammonium and water and dried again for at least two months. The more years the leaves are allowed to dry, like wine, the more valuable they are considered by cigar enthusiasts. Such cigars are called “reserve” cigars.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Women select and clean tobacco leaves inside a state-run warehouse in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. After the central vein is removed from each dried leaf, they’re dipped in ammonium and water and dried again for at least two months. The more years the leaves are allowed to dry, like wine, the more valuable they are considered by cigar enthusiasts. Such cigars are called “reserve” cigars.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Residents travel in a former school bus to the center of the town of Vinales in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, where tobacco farming is the main crop. Despite the flood of visitors since Cuba and the U.S. re-established relations, some aspects of life in the province’s central Vinales valley have changed little.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Residents travel in a former school bus to the center of the town of Vinales in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, where tobacco farming is the main crop. Despite the flood of visitors since Cuba and the U.S. re-established relations, some aspects of life in the province’s central Vinales valley have changed little.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

A tobacco worker spends the late afternoon grazing his horse on the roadside after his workday on the Yoandri Hernandez tobacco farm in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

A tobacco worker spends the late afternoon grazing his horse on the roadside after his workday on the Yoandri Hernandez tobacco farm in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Yoberlan Castillo Garcia, 30, dries tobacco leaves inside this barn on his family’s farm in Vinales. The barn, made of dried palm leaves and wood, is also where the family parks a motorcycle and horse riding equipment.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Yoberlan Castillo Garcia, 30, dries tobacco leaves inside this barn on his family’s farm in Vinales. The barn, made of dried palm leaves and wood, is also where the family parks a motorcycle and horse riding equipment.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Raul Valdes Villasusa shows tobacco that was grown without artificial fertilizers on his tobacco farm, inside a building where leaves are dried in Vinales. His farm forms part of a co-op of tobacco farmers who sell their crop to the government and keep a small portion for themselves.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

×

Raul Valdes Villasusa shows tobacco that was grown without artificial fertilizers on his tobacco farm, inside a building where leaves are dried in Vinales. His farm forms part of a co-op of tobacco farmers who sell their crop to the government and keep a small portion for themselves.

Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

VINALES, Cuba – Unseasonably heavy rains have damaged Cuba’s tobacco crop and raised questions about iconic cigar brands that some aficionados hope will not suffer from declining quality amid higher demand.

And while foreign sales rose healthily last year, Cuban cigar industry officials say they have seen little impact on domestic sales from a boom in tourism that has brought hundreds of thousands of new visitors to Havana.

That may be partly because while some tourists visit official cigar stores, many others buy pilfered or counterfeit substandard smokes on the street, further damaging the image of the Cuban cigar.

Still, the industry’s problems haven’t kept farmers in Cuba’s tobacco country from benefiting from the tourist boom by converting their farms into tourist attractions, where busloads of foreign visitors can delight in meals of roast pork, rice and beans and rum drinks.

The Montesino farm in Pinar del Rio province has been in the same family for three generations and is one of the most renowned Cuban tobacco producers.

Each day, it receives tourists on group visits organized by state tourism agencies. Foreigners by the hundreds receive lectures about Cuban tobacco along with a meal and cocktails.

Despite the flood of visitors, some aspects of life in the province’s central Vinales valley have changed little. Parents take their children to school on bicycles. Farmers haul tobacco leaves to be dried on ox-drawn carts. Tobacco workers nap under racks of drying leaves.

Workers say they’re eager to see more benefits of Cuba’s increasing links to the outside world since the start of new relations with U.S., without losing the placid lifestyle of the last half-century.