editorial: a smoky business in ny

There is a distinctive aroma of cigars lingering outside Don José Portes’ QCigars on Broadway, Inwood. Seen from the outside - full of people, the hum of their chit-chatting over Latin songs about love, jealousy and betrayal playing on the radio - you’d be forgiven for thinking that QCigars was Cuban. In fact, the owner -

a hoarse voiced friendly man - was born in the Dominican Republic, which he left over 30 years ago to go look for his American dream.

Don José moved to Puerto Rico with his family in 1975 to work for a couple of years, before trying his luck in New York. QCigars opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1990 and now almost his whole family works in the cigar trade. Most of the cigars are imported from the Dominican Republic, manufactured in the Portes’ family-owned factory in Tamboril.

Tamboril also provides the raw materials that another José, Don Germosen, uses to hand-roll Churchill, Premium and Torpedos cigars with their unique aromas and characteristics. He has been rolling cigars for 44 years since he was 12 and now often works long ten-hour days; ten hours he gets to spend at a table together with the aroma and magic of his homeland; ten more hours of his life spent watching people go by from his window on Broadway.

This series was published by The New York Times on Sunday, February 27, 2011:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/nyregion/27joint.html

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/02/27/nyregion/27JOINTss.html?ref=nyregion