Inside a Little Havana cigar rolling business in the heart of Cuban Miami, Maria Sierra's gnarled fingers perform the same dance they did for more than three decades for Havana's famed El Laguito cigar factory.

Maria Sierra rolls cigars at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. She cuts a teardrop from a broad tobacco leaf then glues, wraps and twists it onto the end of a near-finished cigar, forming the small fan that's the signature of high-end Cuban cigar rollers.

Cigar rollers work at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Cigar Aficionado, the industry's leading glossy magazine, recently highlighted Miami's cigar industry describing the city as a "a new hot spot for creative cigarmakers."

Maria Sierra, 64, looks up as she pauses from rolling cigars at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Sierra, at age 18, was one of 30 Cuban women selected from thousands to learn the craft from Fidel Castro's personal cigar roller Eduardo Rivera. Women entered male-dominated factories at the urging of Cuban revolutionary Celia Sanchez, a close confidant of Castro's in the 1960s and 70s.

Maria Sierra selects tobacco as she rolls cigars at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. "We would start with one little cigar and they would watch over us very closely, removing those who didn't do well enough," said Sierra, now 64. "A group of 30 or 40 women would come in to learn and after a couple of days only one or two were left. "Sierra is one of 10 rollers working at El Titan de Bronze (The Bronze Titan), a Little Havana store named after Antonio Maceo, a general in the war for Cuban independence from Spain.

Yaremi Rodriguez tests the draw on cigars at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. In Miami, Cuban rollers are prized for their rigorous training. Unlike rollers in other cigar-producing countries, each is responsible for his or her cigar, from start to finish.

Owner Sandy Cobas holds cigars in the humidor at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. "We're basically a boutique," said Cobas, whose father Carlos opened the small shop about 20 years ago. "We don't produce in mass quantities and the cigars are done exactly like they are in Cuba."

Yamil Becker stacks cigars he has rolled at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida. In 2012, the bulk of the nation's cigars came from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras, with imports from those countries totaling almost $600 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Maria Sierra, 64, operates a jack to compress rolled cigars in molds at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store. In Miami's specialty cigar factories, bunches of cured tobacco sit in black garbage bags in walk-in humidors to keep them pliable. They're marked with the country of origin - from Brazil to the Dominican Republic - and whether they are to be used as the cigar's filler or final wrapper.

Niurka Perez affixes a band on a cigar at the El Titan de Bronze cigar factory and store.