Ken gets another paid gig.....

[El Presidente]

Hamlet Paredes And The Master’s Art Of Blending And Rolling Cigars

 

by Ken Gargett

Hamlet Paredes is one of the planet’s great cigar rollers and a great friend of mine and many visitors to Cuba in days gone past. At the time Hamlet was working at, then managing, the Romeo & Julieta factory and subsequently the Partagás factory.

Any visitor to Havana will often find themselves the target of the locals out to sell them black market cigars. You can be sure that the spiel will follow the same lines: that your new best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s uncle is a roller and he sneaks some cigars out of the factory to make a little pocket money. The odds that these cigars are real are about the same as that I will be named MVP of next year’s Super Bowl. Unless you are buying at one of the recognized La Casa del Habano stores or major hotels like El Comodoro you are almost certainly buying fakes.

 

 

CONTINUED

[LLC]

Great article Ken. I dearly miss my visits with Hamlet, be it Cuba or Toronto, it was always memorable. One day I’ll get down to Florida to see him. 

[Puros Y Vino]

Excellent read.  Always a pleasure to hang around with Hamlet.  Here he is with the locals in Toronto at our Cuban hangout the Mambo Lounge (no longer around sadly).  This was back in August 2014.

[Nino]

Great article Ken !!

[rob]

Enjoyed that, thanks, KG.