Those who love cigars know that Honduras is one
of the world's best places to make them. After all, this Latin American country
has been a prime tobacco-growing location for centuries, and its cigar industry
boomed again after 1959, when many longtime Cuban cigar makers fled the Castro
regime for neighboring countries-including this one. No wonder that Honduran
cigars-including those from La Fontana, Camacho, Carlos Torano and La
Libertad-sell better than any others in the United
States, with the exception of the Dominican Republic.
But how many of us know much about this rich,
fascinating country? Like the other Latin American countries which might be
said to form the world's "cigar belt"-Cuba, the Dominican Republic,
Nicaragua, Brazil, and Mexico-Honduras's past affects its position as a
producer of fine tobaccos-and just possibly its future.
Honduras is, first of all, a proud and epic country: the Mayan Empire,
during its classic period (150-900 CE), built cities near the present-day site
of Copan,
bequeathing a set of ruins that beguile archaeologists and inspire visitors. Christopher
Columbus "discovered" this country-already rich in lived history-on
his fourth voyage of 1502, and even the story behind the country's name is
romantic. Columbus, it is held, on reaching the Bay Islands
near present-day Honduras's
coast, whispered the words "Gracias
a Dios que hemos salido de esas Honduras":
"Thank God we have emerged from those depths." "Honduras"
means "depths," literally and metaphorically.
Honduras was run by the Spaniards until 1821, when
it, along with the other Spanish American provinces of the Spanish Empire,
gained independence. Border disputes with other Latin American countries,
especially El Salvador, have
led to intermittent fighting through the years, and the country has suffered
under bouts of political oppression, particularly during the 1980s (when
extrajudicial executions, torture and "disappearances" became frequent,
albeit not as common as in neighboring Nicaragua). Honduras remains a developing country,
especially after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 (which also
destroyed much of Nicaragua):
according to then-President Carlos Roberto Flores,
the superstorm destroyed half a century's worth of economic gain and
developmental progress in less than a week. Seventy percent of that year's crop
died-a small loss for smokers, who depend on the country for its sublime
tobacco, but a barely-survivable one for the nation's small farmers.
But the country did survive. In
recent years it's even boasted an annual growth rate of seven percent-one of
the best in Latin America. (Still, half the
population remains in poverty.)
Along with the cultural and
personal strength that allowed Hondurans to survive such a disaster, the
country is also strong in another kind of resource: ecological ones. In less
than fifty thousand square miles, it contains over six thousand species of
plants, two hundred kinds of reptiles, and seven hundred bird species. In the
Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve-added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites in
1982-it boasts one of the world's great rainforests. These areas may
hold the key to greater understanding of evolutionary and biological history,
or to new drugs. Like several other Latin American countries which depend
largely on farming, yet are blessed with ample ecological resources which must
be maintained, the country has faced and will continue to face a difficult
balancing act in deciding how to use, without exploiting, its environmental
riches (which include the soil in which its excellent tobacco is grown).
Given tobacco's importance as a cash crop-it gives Hondurans something to
sell to the United States, and it also gives them a certain leverage with other
Latin American countries, as tobaccos of all types flourish in its soil-it's
not surprising that Honduras is not following in the anti-smoking footsteps of,
say, Brazil. Percentages of smokers are still relatively high (in the low
thirties for men, a rate comparable to that of the US) and public smoking regulations
are fairly light (you can't smoke on the bus or in the hospital, basically).
Perhaps this is one tobacco-producer that smokers should consider seeing
firsthand. After all, with its considerable natural beauty and light regulation
of smoking, this could be a cigar lover's paradise!
About CigarFox
CigarFox provides you the opportunity to build
your own sampler of the finest cigars that include cigar brands like
Montecristo, Romeo & Julieta, H Upmann, Macanudo, Cohiba, Partagas, Gurkha
and many more. Choose from more than 1200 different cigars! Other cigar
products include cigar humidors, cigar boxes, and cigar accessories like Zippo
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