Cuban traditional reaches Newark
(07/09/08) Newark - Cuban cigar makers are considered to be tne most talented in the world, and Nelda Pozo Jimenez is no exemption.
In Newark's Ironbound section, Jimenez has turned a tiny backroom factory into a
Thriving international business.
"I buy the leaf[s] in Nicaragua, Mexico... different countr[ies]," she says.
"Everyday, every cigar, I test it."
Jimenez and her family have been making cigars for ages, and now she has planted those seeds in New Jersey. The 70-year old Jimenez could have retired long ago, but instead she reports to work at 6 a.m. each morning and tends to her first leafs.
Jimenez's factory on Liberty Street in Newark looks more alike a one-chair barbershop.
Rollers sit so close they almost touch shoulders as they make cigars and talk quietly.
My family [has] a business in 1902-maybe 10 generations, "she says.
