Havana , Cuba -- Alejandro Robaina , considered a legend among Cuban tobacco growers , died Saturday , according to Cuban cigar company Habanos S.A. , which produced cigars named for him . Robaina was 91 . He was diagnosed with cancer last year and died on his farm in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio , said Habanos spokesman Jose Antonio Candia . Robaina 's tobacco leaves are considered some of the best in the world . In Cuba , he was called `` The Godfather . '' His deeply wrinkled face smiled out from billboards , T-shirts and boxes of Vegas Robaina cigars , among Cuba 's finest . A box of premium Vegas Robaina cigars can fetch more than $ 500 on the international market . But the man behind the smile was also a simple country farmer who got up at the crack of dawn every day to survey his fields until cancer slowed him down . `` I would n't say I 've triumphed , but I 've done something with my life , '' he told CNN in 2008 . `` The first thing is to love the land , take care of the land . '' Robaina 's family have farmed tobacco continuously since 1845 on the plantation . Under Robaina , business flourished , and the plantation had some of the best yields in the region , producing highly-prized wrapper leaves used for the outer layer of cigars . Cigar aficionados around the globe called him the dean of Cuba 's cigar industry and every year thousands of visitors made the two-hour trek from Havana , hoping to share a stogie and a glass of rum with `` the Don . '' Robaina kept his lands even when many ranches were nationalized after the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro . `` I had a very strong conversation with Fidel 18 or 20 years ago , '' Robaina said in 2008 . `` He asked if I would join a big cooperative since I had so many workers , and I told him no . `` For me tobacco growing had to be in the family , done with love . Because in the big cooperatives , everyone 's the boss , nobody worries as much as the grower . '' Now , almost all of Cuba 's tobacco farms are private , according to the Agriculture Ministry . And they generally take their lead from Robaina , planting and harvesting on the same days he did . `` I like to sow during a waxing moon , and harvest in a waning moon , '' he said . Robaina said he 'd been smoking cigars since he was 10 years old . `` When I get really old , I 'll stop smoking the strong stuff , '' he said . In 1997 , Cuba launched the Vegas Robaina brand , named in his honor . They 're made from the golden wrapper leaves grown on Robaina 's plantation but are rolled in a separate factory . Like most of Cuba 's cigars , they 're largely exported . Because of the U.S. trade embargo , however , Cuban cigars are off-limits in America . Robaina said in 2008 he hoped that policy would end during his lifetime . `` Of course I have hope they 'll open up the market , '' he said . `` Cuba 's willing to send cigars and they 're willing to smoke them . They 're going crazy because they ca n't smoke cigars from here . '' Robaina will be buried Sunday , said Candia .
Robaina , who was diagnosed with cancer last year , died on his farm in Pinar del Rio . Robaina 's tobacco leaves are considered some of the best in the world . A box of premium Vegas Robaina cigars can fetch more than $ 500 . Robaina kept his lands after the 1959 revolution , when many others ' were nationalized .