21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
The Cigar Maker

During my stay in Vinales, Cuba, I was taken by a local guide to a tobacco farm. The guide called the man there their Maker. He didn't speak a lick of English but stood there and told us in Spanish how the farm was his father's, and his father's before him, and it had been passed down to him. From a young age, he was taught by his father how to rip the leaves off, dry them up, and roll them perfectly into cigars. His favorite trick was sprinkling the tip with honey for sweetness. The photo itself is of the Maker rolling us a cigar in his little hut.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2023
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Vinales, Cuba
Copyright: © Rona Ahdout