Dominican Rolls the World´s Longest Cigar

A Dominican cigar-maker in Puerto Rico received a big birthday surprise from the Guinness Book of World Records: confirmation that he rolled the world´s longest stogie, breaking a Cuban man´s previous record.

Patricio Pena rolled a record-breaking 19.03-meter-long cigar at a vegetable market in Puerto Rico´s San Juan in January and it has been hanging there in a plastic case ever since with a sign declaring it the world´s biggest. The sign doesn´t lie, now that London-based Guinness sent him confirmation.

He received the notification on Wednesday, his 44th birthday. "I´m so happy, you can´t imagine," Pena said in an interview Thursday. "It was my birthday gift." Guinness spokesperson Kate White confirmed Pena´s feat in an email on Thursday.

Pena displaced Cuba -the king of cigar-making industry- as the home of the world´s largest cigar. The previous Guinness record-holder was Jose Castelar Cairo of Havana, who made a 13.5-meter-long cigar back in August 2003.