In Florida: Soft Whiffs of Memory

Carmela Cammarata's stained brown fingers have a life of their own. Nimbly stretching Honduran corojo tobacco leaves with moistened fingertips, she strips the stems with a flat, semicircular blade. Then she expertly rolls the golden leaves around bunched-up filler into fragrant cylinders that could make a cigar lover cry. Rolling cigars comes as naturally and rhythmically to her as drumming fingers on a kitchen table. "I shouldn't be working anymore," says Cammarata, who has been making cigars for 65 of her 80 years. "But I love to make cigars. In my day it was tobacco, tobacco, tobacco. There wasn't anything else."

...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!