• Rolling their own: making (and smoking) cigars at Cuban festival

    Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    A man lits his self-made cigar during a cigar rolling seminar at the XIV Festival del Habano in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday.This year focuses on the Cohiba brand and its famous El Laguito factory and the Romeo y Julieta brand. International sales of luxury Havana Cigars rose 9 per cent in 2011 despite the world financial crisis and antismoking laws, according to Corporacion Habanos S.A.

    Adalberto Roque / AFP - Getty Images

    Delegates to the XIV Cigar Festival attend a master class on how to hand roll a cigar, on Wednesday in Havana.

    Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    General view of a cigar rolling seminar during the XIV Festival del Habano in Cuba.

    Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    A woman looks at the product of her efforts during a cigar rolling seminar during the XIV Festival del Habano in Havana.

    See more images from Cuba in PhotoBlog.

  • Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    A photo made available 19 February 2011, shows a Cuban workers transporting tobacco leaves into a building for drying in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on Feb. 17. The Pinar del Rio area produces some 70 per cent of Cuba's crop and is known as the land for tobacco and as the place where the Cuban cigars are produced. The 13th Festival of Cigar will be held on Feb. 21 in Havana and is the most important international event for Cuban cigars lovers. The event will be dedicated to brands Montecristo, Partagas and H. Upmann.

    Tobacco for Cuban cigars is prepared for drying

  • Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

    Hockey great Wayne Gretzky smokes a cigar as he plays in a pro-am event at the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament in Thousand Oaks, California, Dec. 1, 2010.

    A great big stogie for The Great One

    By Rich Shulman

    I always thought of Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, as the epitome of the clean cut athlete. This cigar definitely sends a different message.