Cuban tobacco legend Alejandro Robaina dies at 91

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban tobacco legend Alejandro  Robaina, known in international cigar circles for producing the  best of his country’s famous tobacco leaves, died yesterday  at the age of 91, a family friend said.

Robaina, the only Cuban grower with a cigar bearing his  name, had been in ill health after being diagnosed with cancer  last year and had declined in recent days, said friend Sergio  Hernandez, a cigar distributor living in Havana.

He died at his modest home on his 40-acre (16 hectare) farm  near the town of San Luis in Cuba’s Vuelta Abajo tobacco region  near the western city of Pinar del Rio.

A frail Robaina celebrated his 91st birthday at his farm on  March 20 surrounded by two dozen friends and family. He sat quietly in a chair smoking one of his famous cigars.

He told Reuters in a brief interview that the secret to  growing the best tobacco was simple.

“You have to love the land and care for it,” he said.

As the tobacco grows, he said “it talks to you, it tells  you what it needs and you must listen.”

Robaina spent his life mostly on his farm, tending to the  surrounding tobacco fields. But he also travelled the world as  Cuba’s unofficial ambassador for tobacco.

He once attended a function with King Juan Carlos in Spain  where the musician Sting asked for his autograph.