Candon City parades 100-meter long cigar
04/02/2008 | 04:20 PM
CANDON CITY, Philippines – A 101-meter long cigar was paraded Wednesday here as the city marked the end of its Tobacco Festival.
The cigar, said to weigh about a ton and rolled by ten women managdubla or tobacco rollers from Bugnay village, surpassed the unofficial record of the longest cigar which was also recorded in Candon.
The 101.23-meter long cigar was carried by 150 employees of the Candon City Hall and was made from 300 kilos of Burley, Virginia and native tobaccos. About P12,000 were spent in the making of the long cigar.
It was the second time that the city tried to generate interest in its primary product, which is Virginia tobacco.
Ilocos Sur is the top producer of Virginia or Bright Leaf tobacco while Candon accounts for about 40 percent of the Virginia tobacco in the province.
In 2006, the city paraded two 50-meter-long cigars but did not vie for recognition in the Guinness book of records because of the paperwork and the cost.
"We just want something to highlight our city," Candon Mayor Allen G. Singson said.
The Guinness Book of World Records only acknowledge the 20.42-meter cigar rolled in Havana, Cuba by Jose Castelar Caylo under the longest cigar rolled by a single person, Singson said.
The city's Tobacco Festival also featured the a contest for rolling the longest cigar which saw the participation of a 90-year-old contestant.
However, it was won by a relatively young 53-year-old Jean Bautista of Barangay Oaig Daya who rolled 1.3 meters of tobacco in just 10 minutes.
To prove that what she rolled was a cigar, Bautista lit it.
The audience wildly cheered when smoke billowed.
The tobacco rollers of Bugnay is a vanishing breed as smokers of the traditional cigars have abandoned the habit, said Singson. - GMANews.TV
The cigar, said to weigh about a ton and rolled by ten women managdubla or tobacco rollers from Bugnay village, surpassed the unofficial record of the longest cigar which was also recorded in Candon.
The 101.23-meter long cigar was carried by 150 employees of the Candon City Hall and was made from 300 kilos of Burley, Virginia and native tobaccos. About P12,000 were spent in the making of the long cigar.
It was the second time that the city tried to generate interest in its primary product, which is Virginia tobacco.
Ilocos Sur is the top producer of Virginia or Bright Leaf tobacco while Candon accounts for about 40 percent of the Virginia tobacco in the province.
In 2006, the city paraded two 50-meter-long cigars but did not vie for recognition in the Guinness book of records because of the paperwork and the cost.
"We just want something to highlight our city," Candon Mayor Allen G. Singson said.
The Guinness Book of World Records only acknowledge the 20.42-meter cigar rolled in Havana, Cuba by Jose Castelar Caylo under the longest cigar rolled by a single person, Singson said.
The city's Tobacco Festival also featured the a contest for rolling the longest cigar which saw the participation of a 90-year-old contestant.
However, it was won by a relatively young 53-year-old Jean Bautista of Barangay Oaig Daya who rolled 1.3 meters of tobacco in just 10 minutes.
To prove that what she rolled was a cigar, Bautista lit it.
The audience wildly cheered when smoke billowed.
The tobacco rollers of Bugnay is a vanishing breed as smokers of the traditional cigars have abandoned the habit, said Singson. - GMANews.TV
