The Storm

Cuba’s best tobacco grows in a region where hurricanes are common, but one recent storm will never be forgotten

BY DAVID SAVONA

Night had fallen in San Luís, Cuba, on September 27, 2022. Tobacco farmer Hirochi Robaina knew a hurricane was coming, but hurricanes are part of living in Cuba, especially Pinar del Río. In this westernmost area of the country, home to Cuba’s finest tobacco lands, storms are frequent. Robaina did what he always did—he moved his wife and young daughter away from the farm and prepared to hunker down under his ranchón, a tall structure where he has hosted friends and family for meals and cigars for decades. He wasn’t worried. “Through my whole life, I have been through every hurricane. I prepare a few cigars to smoke, have a bottle of rum, have a seat and wait,” he says. After a while, he realized this was not just any storm. “I felt…

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Cigar Aficionado (Digital) - 1 Issue, May/June 2024

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