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“NINETY MILES, IT’S NOTHING!”

New edition of Smoke magazine heads to Key West

Los Angeles, November 15 – Remember this famous moment from the Oscar-winning “The Godfather. Part II” from 1974?

“Ninety miles! It's nothing! Just one small step, looking for a man who wants to be President of the United States, and having the cash to make it possible. Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel.”

That’s the character of Hyman Roth speaking to Michael Corleone in Havana as the new year of 1959 approaches. Roth’s reference to ninety miles is to Key West, the largest town in the chain of islands off the Florida coast that played a key role in the development of the U.S. cigar industry.

That heritage is well explored by writer Loy Glenn Westfall in “Cigar City U.S.A.” in the Fall issue of Smoke magazine. Reading that title, most people would think of Tampa’s Ybor City region, but Westfall notes that Key West’s claim dates from 1868, fully 18 years before Vicente Martinez Ybor arrived in Tampa in 1886 and created the Ybor City legend.

Ybor wasn’t breaking new ground, however, as Eduardo Hidalgo Gato had founded his own cigar empire in Key West ten years earlier. And Gato was a latecomer.

A Cuban revolt against Spanish control in 1868 resulted in a draft by Spain to create a local army to put down the fighting, but many Cubans simply left the island and headed north. Key West – them known as Cayo Hueso – was the closest spot.

With so many Cubans arriving, it wasn’t long before what was a sleepy town of less than 500 in the 1860s came Havana north. Westfall wrote, “Seemingly overnight, the island was transformed into a wild, Wild West boom town, Cuban style.”

And with the Cubans came cigars, very much a status symbol in a time before the mass availability of cigarettes in the U.S. And from Key West came a new kind of cigar, made from all-Cuban leaf and known as “Clear Havanas.” As early as 1872, an article in The Tobacco Leaf stated that the Key West versions were “equal in every respect to the finest cigars imported from Cuba.” And why not? The cigars were made in a tropical climate close to Cuba, of all-Cuban tobacco and by Cuban-born workers!

By 1873, some 1.35 million cigars were being made by 8,000 Cuban emigres. In 1876, Eduardo Gato – who had left Cuba in 1869 for New York – came south and established the Gatoville section of Key West on the eastern end of the island. He built “not only a factory of his own but a thriving industrial community which offered worker cottages, a street line, a hospital and even baseball teams.”

The romance of Key West’s Cuban heritage is being rediscovered today, both by the local population and by tourists. Westfall’s story is a great introduction, so that you’ll know what to look for when you visit!

And there was a lot more in the new, Fall issue:

• A lengthy story on actor (and cigar hound) Joey Pantoliano included his greatest “hits;” the top five ways he’s been wiped out in many film and television roles he’s created over a noteworthy career. • Naturally, there had to be a cigar tasting and the 32-brand field found some Fall treats among cigars you might not have tried yet.

Of the 32 cigars tasted, a surprising 20 earned scores of 9.0 or better on a 10-point scale from a panel of 20 smokers. At the top of the heap were these x cigars:

> 9.6: Alec Bradley MAXX The Fix (5 x 58 from the Dominican Republic), suggested by one reviewer as suitable for “novice or veteran” smokers.

> 9.5: Diamond Crown Maximus Double Belicoso No. 10 (6 x 54 from the Dominican Republic), a new shape in this high-profile line from the J.C. Newman Cigar Co.

> 9.5: Hoyo de Tradicion Epicure (5 1/4 x 50 from Honduras), a blend in the Hoyo de Monterrey line that one reviewer wrote “really pops in the beginning.”

> 9.4: Avo 787 Perfecto (5 7/8 x 50 from the Dominican Republic), the much-appreciated new blend in the Avo line.

> 9.4: Perdomo Habano Presidente (7 x 56 from Nicaragua), much-praised for its rich taste and dark maduro wrapper.

> 9.3: Carlos Torano Cameroon 1916 Churchill (7 x 48 from the Dominican Republic), of which the best comment was “My only complaint is that it ended too soon.”

> 9.3: Puros Nivana Torpedo (6 1/2 x 52 from the Dominican Republic); one reviewer praised it by writing “A medium-bodied cigar with buttery smooth flavors. The finish had a hint of roasted sweet peppers.” No word on whether a side salad came with it!

Scoring a 9.2 was the under-the-radar La Tradicion Cubana Petit Torpedo from Luis Sanchez, whose Miami factory burned down earlier this year, but kept production rolling at his new Dominican plant, the Tabacalera Sanchez-Romay. The Camacho Corojo Diploma (5 x 50 from Honduras) also scored a 9.2.

And one of our favorites that somehow never seems to get a break, the Battleground Mysterioso line, also scored well at 9.1 for its Dream size (6 3/4 x 50). Brand owner Michael Tarnowicz collects strong ratings (also for his Old Powder Keg line) like most people collect supermarket coupons; maybe someday he’ll tell people!

There were two Cuban cigars in the tasting, both of which scored 8.7: the Hoyo de Monterrey Edicion Limitada 2007 Maduro Regalos (5 1/4 x 48) and the Cuaba Generosos (5 x 43 perfecto).

And there was a lot more in the magazine designed to cover “life’s burning desires:” river rafting in Idaho, off-the-beaten-path places to smoke in Miami, an interview with Christian Eiroa of Camacho Cigars, a look at Australian wines and Burt Sugar’s favorite sports quotes. Here’s a doozy from former Green Bay Packers star Paul Hornung:

“Never get married in the morning because you never know who you might meet that night.”
~ Rich Perelman

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