Localization

Museo del Tabaco

There is not any sufficient documentation that specifies the construction date or the first owners of the house that is occupied by the Museo del Tabaco (Tobacco Museum) today, but it is certain that this building belonged to the family of Bartolome Luque in the 18th century, and subsequently passed into the hands of different owners. After a comprehensive restoration, it was inaugurated as the Museo del Tabaco in 1993 to conserve and to show collections linked to the culture generated by tobacco.

A sign of a man, smoking a cigar and carrying bundled tobacco leaves, indicates the entrance of the building. A narrow staircase leads to the museum on the first floor.

At the entrance of the main exhibition hall, a large photo of a tobacco farm in Vuelta Abajo, hung on the wall, welcomes you. There is also a table of the torcedor with its guillotine. Torcedor is the person that twists the cigar. Other pieces, exhibited at the entrance, such as a nineteenth-century press of the La Corona factory, a nice humidor and a big polished wooden ashtray encourage the visitor to enter the museum that in fact has a limited space.

In the center of the exhibition, a wooden dropdown desk cabinet with two wooden chairs constitute the reading corner; it is one of the constant features of the Sala del Tabacos.

The walls are covered with the marquillas (labels) of prestigious cigar brands from the 19th and 20th centuries. The showcases are full of modest collections of ashtrays, pipes, snuffboxes etc., from 17th to 19th centuries. There is also a substantial set of the 20th century lighters in all kinds of shapes and designs, from miniature telephones to a dinky piano and a hand grenade.

The wooden replica of the Cemí de la Gran Tierra (idol of tobacco) is exhibited in a showcase. The Cemí is the oldest sculpture in Cuba (from the 10th or 11th century), discovered by two peasants on Gran Tierra mountains in Maisí, province of Guantánamo, at the beginning of the 19th century. It was carved in black guayacan tree. It was almost 1 meter high and had a long, semi-cylindrical shape, similar to a cigar. Its original is on display in the Museo Antropológico Montané. It represents the image of one of the Gods of the Taínos. Due to the similarity of the figure with a gigantic black tobacco, it is also known as the Idol of Tobacco. It demonstrates the high value that the tobacco had for the Cubans since the period of native Indians.

There is also another collection, composed of a set of pipes and cigar nozzles that were found in Matanzas Bay and in the excavations in the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales. They are made of kaolin and clay.

The vast collection of lithographic stones from the Bavarian region in Germany should be not missed. Lithography was the first printing technique, introduced into Cuba as the art to make tobacco illustrations. Their examples from the 1880s can be seen on the wall.

There is also a shop next to the Museo del Tabaco that was inaugurated in May 1994 (Tienda del Habano or La Casa del Habano). In this cozy shop different brands of cigars and their supplies are sold. There is also a collection of different kind of lighters, snuffboxes, tobacco boxes of brands that no longer exist, marquillas, ashtrays etc.