Chapter 2: Sugar, Rum, and Cigars - Havana Before Castro

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# Havana Before Castro by Peter Moruzzi

### When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground

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- Previous Chapter: From Spanish Colony to Cuban Republic
- Table of Contents
- Next Chapter: Havana between the World Wars

#### Chapter 2

# Sugar, Rum, and Cigars

These three hypnotic words evoked tropical Cuba in American minds for most of the 20th century. As a corollary to being the world’s largest sugar producer, Cuba became the capital of a major rum industry dominated by distilleries such as Jose Arechabala’s Havana Club and the House of Bacardi. Simultaneously, Cuban cigars – long acclaimed for their rich flavor derived from the unique quality of the island’s soil and climate – were recognized as the world’s best.