Spanish cigars
Hand rolled in Puerto Rico
Benjamin Boone
The Taino Indians cultivated tobacco leaves in ancient festivals called Sik'ar.
Later certain tobacco products became known as cigars, the choice luxury of Europeans. When the King wanted his cigars, a company in Puerto Rico was there with a charter from Spain. That was two hundred years ago.
Now, from a storefront in Old San Juan, Don Collins, a division of the Puerto Rico Tobacco Corporation, sells cigars to a global clientele.
Don Collins is an exclusive shop that carries just ten kinds of cigars, on display in wood and glass cases. The cigars represent the favorites, which include Double Corona, Piramide. Corona Grande, Panatela, Lonsdale and a tiny pirate cigar called Quilambo..
On weekends you may fine hand rollers sitting at tables rubbing tobacco leaves and turning them into cigars.
Don Collins now has a table devoted to hand rolling. You can see all the parts that go into cigars and someone demonstrating the craft with deft fingers.
Inside the shop you may also meet Arlene Torruellas, vice president of administration for Puerto Rico Tobacco Corporation, a personable woman, who has helped develop Don Collins into the landmark it is in Old San Juan.
If you're fortunate, you may even be introduced to Edward Collins himself, the namesake of the Don Collins brand. He will explain how to smoke and store your cigars. He says cigars are for special occasions. He might also reveal he smokes only about one a month, when his priest from the church down the street comes to hear his confession.
Tobacco outside the United States must be sprayed with a non-harmful sonic fumigation and left to quarantine in a warehouse for three months. Sometimes Customs takes too long to return for the cigars.
That's why there are some bad cigars Don Collins guarantees its cigars for two years and will replace a cigar- without question. Perhaps this commitment to its product is the reason sales are up forty percent and the company is selling as many cigars as it can make.
Photo: Arlene Torruellas at Don Collins on Calle Cristo in Old San Juan.
virginvoices.com photo by Benjamin Boone.
Benjamin Boone recently quit smoking his hand rolled cigarettes. But he looks forward to savoring a special cigar.
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