David Savona

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Puzzles and Cigar Barns

Posted: 01:06 PM ET, February 27, 2009

Cigar barns can be pretty darn big. They can also be pretty darn expensive. Making a sizeable one out of wood, the way it’s done in Connecticut and in Nicaragua, can cost $250,000 if you’re building it in the Dominican Republic. As my brother would say, that’s a lot of ‘scarole, especially in this economy.

So here’s a flash of genius from Daniel Núñez and the folks at General Cigar Co.—why build a new one when you can move an old one?

Check out the tobacco barn in this photo. It’s huge and it’s solid. I bet you never would imagine that it was moved 1,000 miles. Take a look.

That’s right—the big barn was originally constructed in the Talanga Valley of Honduras. General acquired the farm when it was awarded the cigar division of UST in 2004 to settle a lawsuit over smokeless tobacco (long story.) The farm was dormant, the cigar barns empty, when Núñez and his people decided to take it apart, number each board, and reassemble it here in Mao, the Dominican Republic. General has done the same thing with old barns from Connecticut, tractors, pipes and greenhouses.

After touring the farm, Daniel and I drove ot the highest point on Copata, which has a very large gazebo with views of the entire 1,200 acre farm. That was moved to, from another part of the Dominican Republic. “Are you good at puzzles?” I asked Daniel, who laughed heartily.

It’s a very impressive farm, and you have to applaud the ingenuity of utilizing assets that had long been written off the books and were otherwise going to waste. Who knew you could move something so large?

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