The Owner of A Little Taste of Cuba Lends His Cigar Expertise to a Play

Myrna K. Bearse

One day Emily Mann walked into A Little Taste of Cuba on Witherspoon Street. And, as owner Jorge Armenteros describes it, "She came in with a sparkle in her eye, thirsty for information and anything she could get her hands on about cigars and cigar making."

Ms. Mann is artistic director of McCarter Theatre and director of Anna in the Tropics, now at the Roger S. Berlind Theatre. This is a play by Cuban-born playwright Nilo Cruz set in a circa-1929 cigar factory in Florida owned by Cuban emigres. Mr. Armenteros, who opened his cigar store in Princeton eight years ago, was brought up in Miami, the son of Cuban emigres.

It was a match made in heaven, or at least in Havana. "The moment Jorge heard about the play he stepped in to help," said Ms. Mann. "He's done everything from providing invaluable resources on the history of cigar making to helping us set up a cigar-rolling demonstration for the cast. He even donated the cigars the actors smoke during the performance."

One of the first things Mr. Armenteros did was help McCarter find an authentic Cuban cigar roller to teach the cast how to make cigars.

Cast members spent an entire day being taught the craft, and everyone walked away with a huge appreciation of how difficult it is, he said. It's a process that takes years to master, so a day is not nearly long enough to learn it. But the cast, being actors, are able to make the rolling look authentic by mimicking some of the body language and details they were taught.

"It's an unbelievable Zen-like craft," said Mr. Armenteros. "It has to do with the way the tobacco feels in your hand, the moisture, density, uniformity, and consistency. Cigar rollers are considered artisans. They do well today even in impoverished countries. It's a skill that not everybody can master."

Mr. Armenteros supplied the cast with material, information, and all the cigars used in the performances. He said the most difficult thing for him was finding cigars that the whole cast would be happy with. "Cigars like anything else in life are taste centered. Everybody has different tastes. They needed several cigars for the play, and finding just the right cigar everybody would be happy with was a challenge.

"There is one terrific scene where they inaugurate a new cigar. Jimmy Smits puts a cigar inside his mouth so the ember is in his mouth, and he proceeds to blow smoke out through the opposite end of the cigar. This would be in Cuban culture a blessing," said Mr. Armenteros, "the way Indians treated smoke as a blessing."

Nilo Cruz's Two Sisters and a Piano was the first play Mr. Armenteros saw at McCarter, and he has gone back several times to see Anna in the Tropics. During production he met the playwright and all the cast members. "They are fabulous, gregarious, down-to-earth people," he said. "I felt very flattered by their gratitude for the work I did. I'm not sure I deserved this."

He worked with the actors quite a bit before the opening, and many cast members came in and out of his shop. But his role now, he said, is fairly hands off, "unless there's a cigar crisis."

Mr. Armenteros saw as both fortuitous and serendipitous that his connection with Anna in the Tropics brought together so many of his passions: theater, cigars, the story and traditions of cigar making, and Cuban culture.

"I grew up as a person raised to believe we were in exile and that one day, we would go back," he said. "I lived with a lot of older family members who held on to that belief. The traditional Cuban experience is to take advantage of all the great things this country offers but hold in the back of your heart and mind that you will one day go back to the motherland."

Art From Cuba

For the past five years, Mr. Armenteros has been importing paintings from Cuba. Art, he explained, is exempt from the embargo and is a legal item to import. He brings the works back and exhibits them in the Princeton area. This year he brought back 168 paintings.

He will talk about Cuban art and exhibit a number of paintings in the Arts Council's WPA Gallery on Thursday, October 2, at 6:45 p.m., as part of the Arts Council's Festival Cubano. The works will be on display until October 24. Following his talk, at 7:30, Jose Diaz and his Company will show how to dance to a Latin beat.

Mr. Armenteros visits Havana several times a year, and calls it a paradoxical city. "It's very sad and very vibrant all at once. It's old and decrepit, and also one of the most beautiful cities you've ever seen. It's full of contradictions."