ABU DHABI // Ivette Carnet Garcia expertly rolls the brown leaves around the fragrant tobacco filler. It is an art that takes decades to perfect.
A professional Cuban cigar roller, Ms Garcia ended a 20-day UAE tour yesterday with a demonstration at the Crowne Plaza on Yas Island.
She has been working as a roller for the Habanos factory in Cuba, rolling Romeo and Juliet brand cigars, for more than 20 years. Habanos supplies 99 per cent of the UAE market, where, Ms Garcia said, her demonstrations had been enthusiastically received.
"I have been impressed by the passion of the local people towards the cigar," she said. "They love it."
She begins the rolling process by spreading out the capote leaf, a flexible and more resistant leaf from the middle of the tobacco plant.
For the filling, the ligero leaf, which gives the cigar a strong flavour, is mixed with seco, a lighter leaf that creates the aroma, and volado, which gives the cigar its combustibility.
Each cigar leaf goes through two fermentation processes to get rid of impurities.
In Cuba, cigar rollers must go through a nine-month apprenticeship before working. It can take 20 years to qualify as a "master roller".
Jasim Ahmed, the territory manager of Baqer Moheb Est, which distributes Cuban cigars in the UAE, Oman and Iran, and which organised Ms Garcia's tour, said: "Wherever she goes, she demonstrates cigar rolling in an effort to spread the Cuban tradition in this part of the world."
Ms Garcia defends her art by saying she only demonstrates it in places where "people come to smoke in the first place". "I'm not promoting smoking," she said.
Mr Ahmed said the tour had been well received because "people have had the chance to experience freshly hand-made cigars, especially those who can't go to Cuba".
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
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Article 15
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