Joe Louis rolls his own cigar
Premium cigars are usually associated with Latin American countries. Americans have long suffered from the Cuban embargo, precluding boxes of Romeos and Juliets and other quality brands from making their way to the states. Instead hobbyists have made due with the likes of Dominicans and Nicaraguans. True aficionados can recognize the differences in tobacco leaves and appreciate the skills required to roll a top notch stogie.
In other countries, standards are not as high. Burmese cigars, known as cheroots, are widely available and very cheap. They won’t pass for Cubans anywhere, but the locals get by fine. Besides, they are often too busy chewing away at beetle nuts to be able to smoke anyway. If you are picky about your celebratory smokes, then you may want to bring your own. But like the cheap local whiskey, it can’t hurt to give it a shot.
See what other blogs area saying about cigar rolling in Inle Lake:
“Quite a few women are also employed in the hand-made cheroot industry that Burma is famous for. We visited a factory. There were about a dozen women sitting cross-legged on the floor, their tray of supplies in front of them, their hands flying with the grace and precision that comes from years of practice, rolling a perfect cheroot every time, then tying them into bundles of one hundred. Apparently they make about one hundred every hour, eight hundred in an eight hour shift. That’s a lot of cheroots! They are commonly smoked by both men and women.”
–Adventures in Wonderland
