Cuban cigar makers are considered to be the most talented in the world, and Nelda Pozo Jimenez is no exception.

In Newark's Ironbound section, Jimenez has turned a tiny backroom factory into a thriving international business.

"I buy the leaves in Nicaragua, Mexico ... different countr[ies]," she says. ?Every day, every cigar, I test it.?

Jimenez and her family have been making cigars for ages, and now she has planted those seeds in New Jersey. The 70-year-old Jimenez could have retired long ago, but instead she reports to work at 6 each morning and tends to her leaves.

Jimenez?s factory on Liberty Street in Newark looks more like a one-chair barbershop. Rollers sit so close they almost touch shoulders as they make cigars and talk quietly.

"My family [has] a business in 1902 - maybe 10 generations," she says.