Cuba's prime tobacco fields are surrounded by terrain Steven Spielberg considered using as the location to shoot Jurassic Park. Only a handful of skilled farmers really know how to work the land. But even the world's best tobacco growers can't meet the insatiable demand for Cuban cigars, a demand that has quadrupled in the last decade. A demand that's also created a world-wide black market in fakes and an international network of counterfeiters. Far from the sights featured in a tourist guide, a shadowy world of underground commerce thrives in the back streets of old Havana.
Illegal factories produce fake cigars.
As for the raw material, much of it is stolen from the legitimate factories, tobacco leaves swept from the floor, cigar bands, finished cigars, the company seals, and even the cedar boxes. It's risky business. If caught, inside workers can lose their jobs. For Canadian tourists arriving in Cuba, buying cigars on the street looks like a bargain. New laws in Cuba could put these hustlers behind bars for five years.