Part of the CubaAtlas network
Cuba's tobacco country
The world's most famous cigars begin as leaf in one small corner of western Cuba. This is a cultural guide to where that happens — the Vuelta Abajo of Pinar del Río and the limestone valley of Viñales — and a doorway into those real places in the atlas.
The growing region
Cuban premium tobacco is concentrated in the far west. The Vuelta Abajo zone, around San Juan y Martínez and San Luis in Pinar del Río, is traditionally regarded as the source of the finest wrapper and filler leaf. Just north, the Viñales valley — a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape — grows tobacco between its mogotes using methods that have changed little in generations. The atlas records both as real destinations you can open, map and add to a trip.
Places in tobacco country
Viñales
Pinar del Río
Viñales is a town and municipality in the north-central Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. The town consists mostly of one-story wooden houses with porches. The municipality is dominated by low mountain ranges of the Cordillera de Guaniguanico such as Sierra de los Órganos. Typical outcrops known as mogotes complete the karstic character of the landscape.
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río is a city in Pinar del Río province, Cuba. It is known for tobacco farms, cigar culture, local culture and architecture.
Vuelta Abajo
Pinar del Río
Vuelta Abajo is a geographic region in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It lies in the extreme western part of the island, bordered on the north by the Sierra de los Órganos mountains. It is one of the five tobacco regions of Cuba.
Meliá Cohiba Hotel
La Habana
The Cohiba Hotel is a high-rise hotel opened in 1994, located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba, just off the Malecón and next to the historic Hotel Habana Riviera. The hotel has 401 rooms and 61 suites. The hotel's sharp angles and alternating walls of stone and glass make it one of the more modern buildings in Havana. The Cohiba has a wide range of restaurants and shops, as the Habanos Cigar Store. The Habana Café has a nightly floor show and live music.
Pinar del Río province
Cigars & tobacco — the full topic
See Viñales on the map
What this page is — and is not
This is a cultural and geographic overview. CubaAtlas does not sell, ship, broker or authenticate cigars or tobacco, and nothing here is a purchase, an export service, or a guarantee of authenticity. Buying and importing Cuban tobacco is regulated in many countries; check your own jurisdiction.
Guides & common questions
In-depth answers, one question at a time.
where are cuban cigar tobacco grown
The world's premier cigar tobacco grows in the Vuelta Abajo of Pinar del Rio province in western Cuba. Here is why that soil matters.
vinales valley tobacco cuba
Vinales is a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape of limestone mogotes where traditional Cuban tobacco farming is still practised by hand.
how are cuban cigars made
From vega and curing barn to the hands of a torcedor, here is how a Cuban cigar is grown, cured, fermented and hand-rolled.
famous cuban cigar brands
Cohiba, Montecristo, Partagas, Romeo y Julieta and more: a guide to the historic marcas that make up the world of Habanos.
visit tobacco farm cuba vinales
How to visit a working Cuban tobacco farm around Vinales, what you will see in the fields and curing barn, and when to go.
what are habanos cigars
Habanos means genuine Cuban cigars, marketed worldwide by the state company Habanos S.A. Here is what the term covers and why it matters.
festival del habano havana
The Festival del Habano is the annual Havana gathering of the Cuban cigar world, hosted by Habanos S.A. with tastings, tours and events.
can americans buy cuban cigars
How buying Cuban cigars works for travellers, and the US embargo and OFAC restrictions that limit Americans bringing them home.
what makes cuban tobacco special
Cuban tobacco's reputation rests on the terroir of Pinar del Rio, the climate, and generations of hand skill. Here is what sets it apart.
cuban tobacco harvest season
When Cuban tobacco is harvested and cured: the dry winter-to-spring calendar, staged picking, and the casa de tabaco curing barn.
More in the CubaAtlas network
Related guides across the network — each one its own resource on Cuba.
Cuban Aleaf
Cuban tobacco leaf topic
Cuban Leafco
Cuban tobacco agriculture
Havana Leafco
Havana tobacco agriculture
Puros De Cuba
Puros cubanos — cultura