Comrade Shakespeare – tobacco for the people

It’s a disgrace for the already crisis-ridden Cuban people: the new old, outdated, foolish ruler will soon be grinning over again from the oversized country on the opposite coast. Politically speaking, there was hardly any hope for improvement in Havana as far as the USA was concerned. But the future president is also a violent insult to moral and aesthetic sensibilities when it comes to style and behavior, the conventions of human coexistence and the necessary minimum level of decency.

And economically things remain precarious in the island state. Even the cigar trade, a significant economic factor for Cuba, is recording significant losses. The corona pandemic, bad harvests and natural disasters are having their consequences.

Genosse Shakespeare

As you like it: Every two weeks, Erik Zielke writes about great tragedies, political smear theater and fools from the past and present. He finds inspiration in his comrade from Stratford-upon-Avon.

You can find all columns here.

Nevertheless, among the cigars, those of Cuban origin clearly stand out. And among these, those from the brand with the beautiful name “Romeo y Julieta” are among the best known and most popular in the world. Founded in 1875 by Cuban tobacco farmers as a reminiscence of Comrade Shakespeare, the company was founded almost 30 years later, at a time when Cuba was still participating in the repulsive game played by the rules of the free market, by José “Pepin” Rodriguez Fernandez, a clever man Businessman bought.

Don Pepin, who is not known to have ever read a line of William Shakespeare, knew how to spruce up the place. As an advertising man in his own right, he traveled all over the world to make his cigars world famous. He bought a racehorse and named it – did the gentle and passionate loving Capulet deserve that? –Julieta. “Romeo y Julieta” soon became the market leader.

Britain’s conservative Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was known to be a merciless addict of smoke, also swore by Don Pepin’s products. He, in turn, rewarded the politician and quickly named a particularly lavish cigar after Churchill.

Don Pepin even tried to buy Julia’s supposed home – the Casa di Giulietta, which is still a tourist magnet in Verona today. When the plan failed, he at least opened a stand under the prominent balcony, from where he gave away cigars on a trial basis to Shakespeare admirers from all over the world.

There is little substance left in art, including world literature, if it is left to business people. From Shakespeare’s tragedy, for example, the cliché image of the unhappy young couple in love has been preserved. Sentimentally, one thinks of unfulfilled love and prefers not to know exactly “where citizen’s blood stains the citizen’s hand.” In times of marketability of everything and everyone, literary mastery disappears behind brand value.

After Don Pepin’s death in the early 1950s and after the Cuban Revolution, the delusional fantasies from marketing textbooks were over. The tobacco factory was nationalized. But the cigars, which are still extremely popular outside of Cuba, are still called “Romeo y Julieta”. And with a bit of luck, the cigar rollers in the factory, the torcedores, will hear verses from “Romeo and Juliet” from a professional reader, the Lectora de tabaquería, which even today can be more than just marketable names.

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