Cigar Weekly

Here is the Official Announcement from Habanos S.A.

Habanos S.A. comunica el fallecimiento del destacado productor Alejandro Robaina víctima de una penosa enfermedad. A su experiencia como agricultor hay que agregar su extraordinaria sensibilidad humana y su carisma que lo hicieron mundialmente conocido y merecedor de la condición Hombre Habano del Año 2001.
Habanos S.A. trasmite su más sentido pésame a sus familiares y amigos.

Habanos S.A. painfully communicate the death of Alejandro Robaina as consequence of a long disease. To his experience as tobacco farmer should be added his extraordinary human sensibility and charisma which made him worldwide known and deserving of the condition Habanos Man of the Year 2001.
Habanos S.A. send its deeper condolences to his family and friends.

 

(Reuters) - Cuban tobacco legend Alejandro Robaina, known in international cigar circles for producing the best of his country's famous tobacco leaves, died on Saturday at the age of 91, a family friend said.

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     Robaina, the only Cuban grower with a cigar bearing his name, had been in ill health after being diagnosed with cancer last year and had declined in recent days, said friend Sergio Hernandez, a cigar distributor living in Havana.

He died at his modest home on his 40-acre (16 hectare) farm near the town of San Luis in Cuba's Vuelta Abajo tobacco region near the western city of Pinar del Rio.

    A frail Robaina celebrated his 91st birthday at his farm on March 20 surrounded by two dozen friends and family. He sat quietly in a chair smoking one of his famous cigars. He told Reuters in a brief interview that the secret to growing the best tobacco was simple. "You have to love the land and care for it," he said. As the tobacco grows, he said "it talks to you, it tells you what it needs and you must listen."

     Robaina spent his life mostly on his farm, tending to the surrounding tobacco fields. But he also traveled the world as Cuba's unofficial ambassador for tobacco. He once attended a function with King Juan Carlos in Spain where the musician Sting asked for his autograph.

     In recent years, he passed on his knowledge of tobacco growing to his family, and grandson Hiroshi had taken over most of the day-to-day management of the crop. As his fame grew, Robaina's farm became a favorite destination for cigar lovers from all over the world, and until his health failed he would regularly welcome them into his home or for talks on the front porch.

   ****SNIP****

(Editing by Anthony Boadle)