Douglas Despres

Photographer
     
Tobaccoland
Public Project
Tobaccoland
Copyright Douglas Despres 2024
Updated Jun 2021
Topics Agriculture, Community, Cuba, Documentary, Environment, Family, Farming, Parenting & Family, Photography, Pinar del Rio, Tobacco, Travel

TOBACCOLAND


Harvest season life in Pinar del Rio - Cuba's Westernmost province.

In Tobaccoland, where fine leaves are guided into slow curls of smoke, we witness an old romance between human hands and the soil of the earth.

In Cigar Journal, a respected tobacco industry publication, it's said a cigar touches two hundred hands before it is lit. The arc is long, through early Spring during the planting of seeds, through the cultivation until late Winter, when the leaves are handpicked, brought into the drying houses, hand threaded together to a long wooden beam, then hung up in the rafters to dry for three months. The tobacco is then packed and readied for the government, who dictates all the transaction numbers, as it's standard for them to take 90% of the entire crop. The remaining 10% can used however the farmers like, primarily being sold to tourists. After leaving the farm, many other steps take place before the tobacco is for sale in shops worldwide.

Focus often falls on the cigars, though the real heart is the farming community itself. These moments celebrate that lifestyle.
7,134

Also by Douglas Despres —

Project

Alameda Civic Ballet

Douglas Despres / Alameda, CA
Project

BTS / Behind The Scenes

Douglas Despres / United States
Project

Katherine In Covid

Douglas Despres / Alameda, CA
Project

Standing Rock

Douglas Despres / Cannonball, South Dakota
Project

Artists + Authors

Douglas Despres
Project

Branding + Headshots

Douglas Despres
Project

Couples + Family

Douglas Despres
Project

The Vagina Monologues

Douglas Despres / Alameda, CA
Project

Music + Dance + Theatre

Douglas Despres
Project

Compassion and Choices

Douglas Despres / Oakland
Tobaccoland by Douglas Despres
Sign-up for
For more access