I'm new to the world of cigars but today I was thinking I've never heard of PR or Haiti made cigars. Why not, its in the same area of the world Haiti is even connected to DR.
Why no puerto rican or Haitian cigars?
- Thread starter Mediumrarechicken
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Don Collins is a PR cigar company. I've seen Haitian cigars but don't remember brands. I've never had either.
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Wouldn't any chance of growing tobacco have been ruined in Haiti a while back?
Picked some up a few years ago and they are flavored. Too sweet for me.
I've spent a whole lot of time in Haiti (since 1999)...
Haiti used to produce a lot of tobacco... These days it is minimal though... The country has decimated it's natural resources over the years and much of the land, while fertile, isn't suitable for crops...
There are other obstacles to overcome as well... While labor is cheap.. materials and resources are expensive in Haiti... Infrastructure is largely non existent as well... Once you leave Port Au Prince, the road system is deplorable... skilled labor of any kind is extremely hard to find.. Utilities outside of Port Au Prince are scarce... Much of the country runs on generators (expensive to purchase, keep fueled, and maintained...)...
You've also got a lot of crime.. A less than stable government that is riddled with corruption.. Etc..etc...
Get past all of that... And you still have to overcome a culture that as a rule doesn't take a lot of pride in work.. Or work very hard (there are certainly exceptions to this though...)..
There are a few tobacco farms left in Haiti... And there is a local brand of cigarettes as well as a couple of local brands of cigars... I don't think any of them are exported though...
All that said... One of the best rums in the world is Haitian (15year Barbancourt... Absolutely delicious..)... And I love the country... The north side of the country is beautiful.. There used to be a Club Med near Jacmel that was awesome.. They just couldn't make it work (much of the same reasons listed above)... There are still a couple of other resorts in the area that are decent now... I've actually considered retiring there at one time... (Housing is stupid cheap... And the food is incredible...)...
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Haiti used to produce a lot of tobacco... These days it is minimal though... The country has decimated it's natural resources over the years and much of the land, while fertile, isn't suitable for crops...
There are other obstacles to overcome as well... While labor is cheap.. materials and resources are expensive in Haiti... Infrastructure is largely non existent as well... Once you leave Port Au Prince, the road system is deplorable... skilled labor of any kind is extremely hard to find.. Utilities outside of Port Au Prince are scarce... Much of the country runs on generators (expensive to purchase, keep fueled, and maintained...)...
You've also got a lot of crime.. A less than stable government that is riddled with corruption.. Etc..etc...
Get past all of that... And you still have to overcome a culture that as a rule doesn't take a lot of pride in work.. Or work very hard (there are certainly exceptions to this though...)..
There are a few tobacco farms left in Haiti... And there is a local brand of cigarettes as well as a couple of local brands of cigars... I don't think any of them are exported though...
All that said... One of the best rums in the world is Haitian (15year Barbancourt... Absolutely delicious..)... And I love the country... The north side of the country is beautiful.. There used to be a Club Med near Jacmel that was awesome.. They just couldn't make it work (much of the same reasons listed above)... There are still a couple of other resorts in the area that are decent now... I've actually considered retiring there at one time... (Housing is stupid cheap... And the food is incredible...)...
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There is a decent amount of tobacco grown in PR but 95% is exported. There are a couple smaller factories that roll their own brands but the couple I saw didn't even age them leading to a very pungent heavy smoke. You'll find there don't seem to be a lot of smokers there due to years of negative publicity and anti smoking campaigns by the government.
Thanks for the different answers guys. It's pretty much what I was thinking.
Dave, I will assume you did not venture to Haiti to get rich, so what, may I ask, brought you there? Your post is intriguing
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I envy you MD, I have always had a fascination with Haiti
Dave, I will assume you did not venture to Haiti to get rich, so what, may I ask, brought you there? Your post is intriguing
When I first started going.. I thought I was getting rich lol... I made the best wages I ever had at that point lol...
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Nothing to envy Smoke..
For about $350 you too can go to Haiti (cost of a plane ticket from Miami)... You can get your visa at the airport in Port Au Prince... People can literally get on a plane with no notice and just go...
Most of the decent hotels in the city got flattened by the quake.. And haven't been rebuilt yet...
But there are still some decent places up the mountain, right outside the city, in Bethe and Petionville to stay...
Housing is expensive (still in high demand after the quake).. But food and drink are dirt cheap.. And you can hire a car and English speaking driver for less than $100 a day (including fuel) if you negotiate well
Just don't venture into cite du soliel by yourself (one of the roughest places I've ever been in my life)... and you'll be fine.. (And probably have a lot of fun)
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awesome info thank you!
I had a meetup and mini-herf with a production manager of a cigar company. He works in the DR and he mentioned that from the air, you can physically see the border because of how the natural resources have been decimated.
Absolutely true...
Sadly you don't even have to go into the air... You can see it from the ground at most border crossing checkpoints...
Within a few hundred feet there are noticeable changes in the landscape...
Within a couple of miles the changes are so dramatic it literally makes you sad...
So much potential... And so much in ruin...
Sadly you don't even have to go into the air... You can see it from the ground at most border crossing checkpoints...
Within a few hundred feet there are noticeable changes in the landscape...
Within a couple of miles the changes are so dramatic it literally makes you sad...
So much potential... And so much in ruin...
Hopefully there will be a rebuilding of sorts. But much of New Orleans still lays in ruins as well