The Havana

What is the lure of the cigar? It's the "climax of the menu," a "post-prandial treat," "a toy men can suck on for hours without reproach." If these responses sound a bit Freudian, it's because The Havana--a lovingly filmed tribute--mixes a playful sense of humor with a solid history and close-up look at the Cuban king of cigars. The program cuts back and forth between the cigar factories where the Havana is created, the tobacco shops of London where they are enjoyed, and Spain where the Havana is virtually worshipped. In Cuba, only women are allowed to roll Cohiba's (men's hands are too rough), and--in one of the suckiest jobs in the world--test smokers sit in little booths constantly evaluating the wares. In London, on a David Frost program, a man smokes 14 Havana's simultaneously while singing "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," thereby winning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. And, in Madrid, we learn that nothing could be finer than smoking a Havana while watching a bullfight (which comes pretty close to proving the popular theorem that men are pigs). Different from the more consumer-oriented The Pursuit of Pleasure (VL-3/95), The Havana will still appeal to cigar smokers, devotees of Freudian psychology, and those who like to savor a good documentary. Recommended. (R. Pitman)