In an era where Instagram -worthy moments are currency, savvy hosts deploy interactive artisans to elevate their gatherings. Few amenities bring more gravitas than the services of a live cigar roller, whose craft represents centuries of ritualistic indulgences.
Ernesto Pinero channels three generations of Cuban cigarmaker wisdom. The island remains the benchmark of quality, with its master rollers and soils yielding complex tobaccos. Ernesto, who has a stand at Bonita’s Flamingo Island Flea Market, learned the craft when he was 14.
For him, cigar rolling creates a direct link to his forefathers. His grandfather began planting tobacco in early-1900s Cuba; his dad continued the legacy, opening a cigar factory in 1951 before being forced out of the country by Fidel Castro. “I am paying tribute to my grandfather, my father and a large part of my family,” he says.
Guests gather as the maker bunches filler leaves (grown from Cuban seeds and sourced from Tampa’s Oliva Tobacco Company) and deftly hand-rolls each cigar, using a traditional, crescent-shaped chaveta blade to make micro-adjustments, ensuring a uniform density for an even burn and strong draw. Ernesto can wrap his puffers in leaves of a light and nutty Connecticut, medium-bodied Habano or full-bodied maduro variety, depending on your guests’ tastes.
Partygoers enjoy engaging with the fedora-clad roller as he neatly cuts and lights one cigar after the next and wraps smokes for your friends to take home.
Photography by Brian Tietz
Freshly rolled cigars lined up
Photography by Brian Tietz