A cigar that costs 50 pesos and a box that can reach 1,500 Cuban pesos: this is the reality described by journalist Yuliet Pérez Calaña in a post on Facebook that has resonated with Cubans both on and off the island.
"The Rolo has been unable to smoke for months against his will, because a cigarette costs 50 pesos or more," wrote the journalist, known on social media as Yuliet PC, from the Isle of Youth.
The author recounts that occasionally he offers her 1,500 pesos to buy a box, but he refuses to spend that amount: "He refuses to pay that obscenity."
According to what he said, Rolo eats sugar—"when there's any"—to curb his cravings for a cigarette, and when he manages to get a cigarette, he smokes only half, saving the rest between the cracks of the stones in the doorway.
"Because Rolo is completely sure that worse times are ahead and we need to save for then," writes the journalist.
The journalist herself acknowledges that smoking is harmful. "And I know that a cigarette (...) smokes you, that it's not essential, and that there are people who are worse off: without food, without water, without medicine. I know this. But why can't we have the basics and a little more?"
"Why can't a noble farmer, who only works and helps others, smoke a box of cigars in peace? Why can't a good man even choose how to die?" he asked.
The journalist concluded her post with another question that many Cubans ask themselves in the face of mounting deprivations: "What is the point of life if, in addition to everything we lack, we also have to give up those small guilty pleasures?"
The reactions to Yuliet Pérez Calaña's publication reflect a discomfort that goes far beyond tobacco. "More and more, all the simple pleasures of life, whether guilty or not, are increasingly distant for those of us who still live on the island, and the joy of living seems almost impossible," wrote a user.
Another noted the cash paradox: "At least you still have cash to burn on cigarettes; every month at the Bank of Faith, I pay retirees, and all month long, we are still out of cash."
"Life is smoking us out. Rolled up like a homemade cigarette, made of loose tobacco. Slowly," wrote another Cuban.
The gap between the official and real price of tobacco is enormous. According to Resolution 63/2024 from the Ministry of Finance and Prices, a box of Populares cigars officially costs 30 pesos, but in the informal market prices soar up to 20 times higher, with brands like H. Upmann reaching between 1,200 and 1,500 pesos depending on the province.
The shortages in state-run warehouses are nearly total. A shopkeeper in Havana reported that in August 2026 she only received cigarettes, in September donated beans arrived, and by the start of October she had not received any goods.
The salary context makes the figure even more dramatic: the minimum wage in Cuba is 3,210 pesos per month since July 2026, equivalent to about 4.65 dollars at the informal exchange rate, and covers barely 3.3% of the basic basket estimated at 96,000 pesos per month.
A box of cigars costing 1,500 pesos represents almost half of that monthly minimum wage.
Related videos:
Filed under: