90-meter cigar for Fidel’s 90th birthday

Havana (AFP) – A Cuban tobacconist finished rolling a 90-meter cigar on Friday to celebrate the 90th birthday of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

“It is 90 meters long, to commemorate 90 years of our comandante,” the maker, Jose Castelar, told AFP.

The cigar is part of the iconic image of the communist former president. He was photographed in his younger days with one in his mouth while dressed in his military fatigues.

“I don’t think he knows about me,” Castelar said. “He hasn’t smoked for years, but the gift we are offering him is the hard work that we have done to commemorate his birthday.”

Castelar made his giant creation aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest cigar for the sixth time.

He and his team worked 12 hours a day for 10 days to roll the cigar, which is the width of an ordinary one.

They rolled it and presented it on long tables in an old colonial fort overlooking Havana Harbor.