AlohaStyle
BoM Sept '12 & Aug '13
Doing some googling, I came across this long interview of Alejandro Robaina in 2002... it's one of the most informative and best interview I've seen.
http://www.en.cigarclan.com/index.php/cigars/don-cigar/716-the-old-man-and-the-field
A few things:
REPORTER: Is your tobacco used in other cigars?
ROBAINA: I don't know the precise figures, but they say between six and eight million cigars a year are rolled in outer leaf made from my tobacco. These include H. Upmann, Montecristo and other well-known brands.
REPORTER: Irochi? That's an unusual name for a Cuban, isn't it?
ROBAINA: Irochi was born in Japan, when Carlos and his wife were working there.
REPORTER: Don Alejandro, have you tried cigars from other countries like the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, Honduras? And did you like them?
ROBAINA: I've tried cigars from practically every country that produces them. But since I smoke Cuban cigars, it seems to me that others have less flavour and less taste. But the ones I like the best were Nicaraguan. If they could use our outer leaf,
they would be excellent cigars.
Talking about when Fidel took control of the country and him wanting the farmers to create a tobacco cooperative:
REPORTER: You mean you refused to join the cooperative?
ROBAINA: No, I joined the cooperative as an independent member, and I'm virtually responsible for my own business.
REPORTER: How come, they allowed you to break away from the collective?
ROBAINA (smiling): Basically, no one was forced into the cooperatives. Anyone, who wanted to remain a private farmer could, in principle, do so. Most people joined the cooperative, because it was easier: you got free seeds and fertilizer. But for that farmers had to fulfil the plan imposed from above, which told them how much had to be given to the state. My neighbour almost went bankrupt once. He lost almost the whole of his crop, and he was forced to pay money.
REPORTER: So, to all intents and purposes you lost nothing from the revolution?
ROBAINA: That's right.
REPORTER: You're not being serious are you, Don Alejandro?
ROBAINA: I've got exactly, what I had before almost six and a half arces under tobacco.
http://www.en.cigarclan.com/index.php/cigars/don-cigar/716-the-old-man-and-the-field
A few things:
REPORTER: Is your tobacco used in other cigars?
ROBAINA: I don't know the precise figures, but they say between six and eight million cigars a year are rolled in outer leaf made from my tobacco. These include H. Upmann, Montecristo and other well-known brands.
REPORTER: Irochi? That's an unusual name for a Cuban, isn't it?
ROBAINA: Irochi was born in Japan, when Carlos and his wife were working there.
REPORTER: Don Alejandro, have you tried cigars from other countries like the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, Honduras? And did you like them?
ROBAINA: I've tried cigars from practically every country that produces them. But since I smoke Cuban cigars, it seems to me that others have less flavour and less taste. But the ones I like the best were Nicaraguan. If they could use our outer leaf,
they would be excellent cigars.
Talking about when Fidel took control of the country and him wanting the farmers to create a tobacco cooperative:
REPORTER: You mean you refused to join the cooperative?
ROBAINA: No, I joined the cooperative as an independent member, and I'm virtually responsible for my own business.
REPORTER: How come, they allowed you to break away from the collective?
ROBAINA (smiling): Basically, no one was forced into the cooperatives. Anyone, who wanted to remain a private farmer could, in principle, do so. Most people joined the cooperative, because it was easier: you got free seeds and fertilizer. But for that farmers had to fulfil the plan imposed from above, which told them how much had to be given to the state. My neighbour almost went bankrupt once. He lost almost the whole of his crop, and he was forced to pay money.
REPORTER: So, to all intents and purposes you lost nothing from the revolution?
ROBAINA: That's right.
REPORTER: You're not being serious are you, Don Alejandro?
ROBAINA: I've got exactly, what I had before almost six and a half arces under tobacco.
