With all of this talk about AI, and how it will be taking over various opportunities — maybe even my writing career someday — I find solace in the fact that the cigar industry, to this day, still does things the same way it always has. Allow me to explain.
Not much automation here
I’ll be talking about this some more, but back in October of 2024, I was able to visit La Aurora in the Dominican Republic. I saw the entire operation, from the tobacco fields and curing barn to the factory headquarters where they roll and produce the brand’s world-class cigars. One thing that stood out to me from the get-go, and throughout the entire trip, was that the operation is manual. From seed to ash, there are people with hands-on, cultivating, caring for, and working the tobacco — not machines.
Now, some of the bigger brands do use machines to create cigars or at various stages along the process, but a lot of those machines are old. So old, in fact, that they have to 3D print custom parts when they break down because they don’t service the machines or carry the parts anymore.
The main point is this: The cigar industry continues to operate the same way it has for hundreds of years, maybe even longer. That doesn’t mean the products have gone stale. There are still so many brands innovating in the industry, and La Aurora is one of them. But the legacy of the craft is what interests me most, and holds true today.
Rewarding hard work
Every time you pick up a cigar and light it, you are rewarding the hard, manual work of the people who had hands-on and helped craft that product. I don’t know of any other industry that has people involved directly throughout the entire product creation process. And if there is, there are fewer and fewer every year with the advent of smart and digital technologies.
Cigars are something of a miracle, and the cigar industry is impressive and should be met with awe — even if you don’t smoke or enjoy cigars. From watching rollers perfectly craft varying Vitolas at their stations, in mere minutes, to seeing the farmers in the fields caring for the infantile tobacco plants, these people love what they do. That love and care are essentially born into every cigar created, from cheap bundled cigars to the most expensive premium cigars you’ve ever seen.
Briley has over 16 years in the publishing and content marketing business. He's been writing about cigars for nearly half that in various forms. What makes him a tour de force is he also smokes them.
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