In Cuban, Dominican and Honduran cigar factories decades ago, a man — El Lector, or “he who reads” — used to sit in a chair in front of the rows of cigar rollers bent over their desks. His job was to ...

At a snug shop in Little Havana, a dozen workers lean over plantation-style desks, bundling crisp tobacco leaves into cigars prized by connoisseurs. A distinctive, spicy scent pervades the factory and ...