Also in this issue:

• Editors' Note
  The Cigar Community
• Out of the Humidor
  Out of the Humidor
• Good Life Guide
  Logitech Revue
• Drinks
  2002 Vintage Champagne
• Good Life Guide
  Black Beauties
• More from this Issue

Cuba's Rising Star

A young farmer from Pinar del Río grows beautiful cigar tobacco on a tiny farm few visitors have seen

David Savona
From the Print Edition:
Paul Giamatti, January/February 2011

Prieto is also proud of his country. When sitting on his wooden porch, one’s eye is immediately drawn across the river to a shrine to Jose Martí, the liberator of Cuba. A bust of the Cuban leader is perched atop a massive chunk of marble, enshrined with words from the Cuban leader and next to a Cuban flag on a pole.

Prieto clearly loves his land. It’s impossible to know which cigars from Cuba bear his wrappers, but leaves grown here obviously go onto some of Cuba’s finest cigars. “I am a humble man, and I know my work is here with all the plants,” he says. The wind, calmer now, whispers through the trees, and the waters of the river continue to flow by as the dachshund catches a bit of sleep in the sunshine. “Everywhere in the world,” says Prieto, puffing on his cigar, looking around the small plot of land that is his favorite place on earth, “there are small areas that are blessed.”

Watch a video of Prieto’s farm

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