Tour of the Cigar Factory

We bought tickets at Partagas, $10 each for the tour. In our book, it said admission was $5, so I was asking if prices had gone up since last year. He thought I said yes I was there la año pasasdo, so he gave me a free cigar (without a label).

The tour was in English and way cool! We even were allowed photo opps! And opp we did. I know boyfriend was a little concerned about me doing too many photos, but I tried to be conservative and selective.

They manufacture (if that’s the word for it) by hand about 40 different kinds of cigars there. Some different brands like Montecristo, Partagas, Romeo and Juliette, Cohiba…and all different numbers. Each type uses different leaves, and a special combination, shape, size, color, technique. Every three days they rotate which ones are being made.

There is a sorting room for preparing and sorting leaves by size, shape, and color. Employees can smoke as many as they want while working, but we only saw the showcase manga lady smoking the Scooby Doo size cigar for photo opps and some workers were smoking cigarettes that our tour guide doled out as we went along. Sharing his wealth.

A reader with a lectern and microphone stands on a stage in the main rolling room reading the newspaper in the a.m. and novels in the p.m. He was just thanking to God as we arrived and going home for the day. Everyone was nicely dressed colorful and accessorized. They were working and talking to one another and seemed used to having photos taken.

We watched them putting the bands on and wrapping Cohibas in a bow and finally putting them in the boxes. Way cool to see!