Paper short abstract:

The examination of the different roles played by Cuban cigars in a wide range of touristic situations shows the importance of considering them as crucial mediators, whose actions need to be recognised and retraced in order to gain a more 'object-inclusive' understanding of tourism.

Paper long abstract:

In the course of their journeys, tourists are confronted with extra-ordinary objects, unusual and novel 'things' which they can hardly take for granted, and whose complexities acquire a mysterious and 'opaque' character. Some of these objects become focal 'talking points', legitimized 'tourist spots', sometimes even 'emblems' of a given destination, and act as protagonists in tourist interactions, images, and narratives. Such is the case of cigars in Cuba, certainly among the first objects that tourists come to associate with this Caribbean island as one of its' central features. A privileged tourist object, cigars act as powerful mediators in a wide range of situations and interactions. More precisely, the multiple layers of Cuban cigars - from heterogeneous tobacco leaves to the holographic stamps of their packaging - their complex properties and wide-ranging connections - from the manufacturing skills of tobacco farmers and cigar makers to the evocations of Che Guevara's and Fidel's favourite brands - act as resources which both tourists and Cubans deploy in variegated ways and from different perspectives. For instance, cigars can help Cubans catch the tourists' eye, giving shape to relationships between them, or may generate processes of informalization/formalization and authentication connected to cigars' brands or the sellers' status, producing 'cheatings' and 'good deals'. The action of cigars as mediators between Cubans, tourists and other entities such as 'money', 'authenticity' and the 'State', contributes to shape and transform not only the relationships between these various elements but also their own qualities and properties. The examination of the different roles played by Cuban cigars in a wide range of touristic situations and interactions shows the importance of considering such tourist objects as crucial mediators, as multi-layered and complex protagonist whose actions should be recognised and retraced in order to gain a more 'object-inclusive' understanding of tourism.