Smoking Like a Communist

I will smoke an occasional cigar and prefer a lighter “smoke” provided by Dominican broad leaf tobacco in what is called a “Connecticut” wrapper.

I then remembered that Nicaragua’s President for the past fourteen year (since 2007), Danny Ortega, was leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.

That’s when I recalled Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Nicaragua and his “No Reservations” program that aired in March 2011. While the ordinary people in Nicaragua struggle to survive and some are compelled to scavenge for food in garbage dumps, Ortega amassed a fortune of more than a billion dollars.

Bourdain, certainly held no sympathy for free market economics, but he knew gross injustice when he saw it and severely criticized Ortega.

This came to mind as I realized that my supply of cigars had dwindled to three “Churchill” sized “Connecticut” cigars.

That’s when I noticed how many low cost Nicaraguan leaf cigars are on the market. Tobacco is grown on plantations, but who owns the plantations in Nicaragua?