As cigars are offered on every street corner in Havana I decide to visit a tobacco factory to see what actually goes on. The only way to visit is by a guided tour and I'm not allowed to take photos.
Partagas tobacco factory has 600 workers and takes on 120 apprentice rollers a year for its nine-month training course. If the apprentices pass the exam at the end of nine months, they qualify as professional rollers. Only 35% of apprentices make it.
The 260 rollers are paid around 45 CUCs a month (which effectively equates to USD 45), double the average Cuban wage. Apprentices earn 12 CUCs a month.
The rollers who work Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 5pm must roll 110 cigars a day or their wages are docked. On average it takes the two minutes to roll a cigar and four days to produce a cigar from leaf to packaged product.
As we walk up the stairs a worker stealthily slips a handful of cigars into a tourist's hand in exchange for a note. Afterwards I ask how much the tourist paid. It was 5 CUCs.
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