H. Upmann  (established in 1844) - production in Dominican Republic.  In 1843, German banker Hermann Dietrich Upmann moved to Havana where he catered to tobacco dealers and manufacturers.  He bought his own cigar factory in 1844 and created promotional cedar boxes with his cigars that he handed out to promote his banking business.  His nephews took over in 1914 but the family lost the business coming out of WWI.  In order to protect his business, the licensed Upmann agent for the United Kingdom bought the business and built it up before selling it to Montecristo in 1937.  President Kennedy famously bought 1,200 Petit Upmann cigars before signing the Cuban embargo in 1962, after which the company relocated to the Dominican Republic.

Plasencia (established in 1865) - production in Nicaragua.  Eduardo Plasencia left the Canary Islands in 1865 to grow tobacco in Cuba.  His Nephew Sixto joined him in 1890 and had his own farm by 1898.  Sixto’s son continued on until they lost all with the Cuban revolution of 1959.  When Castro seized the farms in 1963, the family made their way to Nicaragua.  The family business was back on track until the Sandinista revolution in 1979 forced the family (led now by Nestor, 4th generation) to restart again, this time in Honduras.  In 1985, for the first time, they launched their own line of cigars.  By 1990, politics changed in Nicaragua and the family was re-granted about 30% of their original acreage.  With a fifth generation now involved, Plasencia has 5,000 acres of tobacco farms and hand rolls 35M cigars a year.

Romeo y Julieta  (established in 1875) - production in Dominican Republic.  There really was a Romeo and Juliet, real lovers who lived and died for each other in Verona Italy.  Shakespeare’s adaptation was popular as a story read to cigar rollers while they worked, so two partners launched the Romeo y Julieta cigar line in Cuba in 1875.  Pepin Rodriguez acquired the company in 1903 and took things to a whole new level.  As a world traveler, he promoted the Romeo y Julieta brand everywhere he went.  He even attempted to buy Juliet’s family home and convert it into a cigar lounge.  When the family declined, he opted to replicate the famous balcony in his hometown of Havana.  Romeo was a go to cigar for Winston Churchill and prospered until the Cuban revolution forced its move to the Dominican Republic.

Oliva (established in 1886) - production in Nicaragua.  Melanio Oliva started growing cigar tobacco in Cuba in 1886.  His son Hipolito took over the family business, followed by his grandson Gilberto who continued on until being forced to leave after the Cuban revolution.  Gilberto relocated to Nicaragua, but was forced to leave after the Sandinista revolution.  He traveled the world taking various cigar related roles until returning to Nicaragua in 1995 where he launched his own cigar line.  The Oliva facility has been in Esteli, Nicaragua since 2003 where Melanio’s great children are still active.  Oliva uses cutting edge technology and sensors to monitor each step from the field to the final roll.

Arturo Fuente (established in 1912) - 30M cigars annually; production in Dominican Republic.  After the Spanish American War, Arturo Fuente, Sr. left Cuba in 1912 and started a cigar business in Tampa.  Twelve years later a fire wiped out the business.    After a 22 year hiatus, he relaunched again, this time rolling cigars along with his wife and kids on the back porch of their home in Ybor City.  In 1958, Arturo’s son Carlos took over and after just four years, the Cuban embargo hit.  While this knocked out their supply of tobacco, it opened people up to non-cuban tobacco.  They moved production to Esteli, NIcargua, but that plant was burned down in 1979 during the Sandinista revolution.  From there they made one more move to the Dominican Republic.  Add a devastating hurricane in 1989 and a major fire in 2011.  The Fuente family pioneered the use of broadleaf tobacco and use cognac barrels to age tobacco for some of their higher end cigars.

Montecristo (established by 1935) production in Dominican Republic.  In the early 1900’s, cigar rollers would chip in together to pay a ‘lector’ to read to them while they worked.  One of the favorite stories of the day was The Count of Monte Cristo.  In 1935, Alonso Menendez bought a cigar factory and launched Montecristo cigars.  Two years later he bought H. Upmann cigars.  The business continued to grow until 1962 when the Cuban Communist Party seized the company assets, and Alonso fled to the Canary Islands with all of $7 in his pocket.  He rebuilt the business, initially under the MonteCruz brand before being able to reclaim the Montecristo name, ultimately ending up in the Dominican Republic.

Cohiba is the name Taino Indians used to refer to the cured, rolled tobacco they were smoking when Christopher Columbus returned to Hispaniola in 1496.  Today, Cohiba is synonymous with luxury cigars featuring refined Cuban seed long-filler tobacco.

Select Cigars

Drew Estate.  Several of our Select Cigars including  are affiliated with Drew Estate, the leading innovator in cigars.

Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samuel were frat brothers in college and started out by selling cigars from a 16 square foot kiosk at the world trade center.  They went on to build Drew Estate Cigars, the industry’s leading innovator based in Nicaragua.

Acid by Drew Estate.  Acid cigars are known for their fruity and floral flavors resulting from the tobacco being infused with essential oils and herbs.  Drew and Samuel named the line after sharing workspace with Scott “Acid” Chester.  

Aging Room.  A wildly popular boutique brand that needs no introduction to the experienced smoker, Aging Room cigars are crafted by famous cigar master Rafael Nodal and his experienced team of blenders and rollers in the Dominican Republic.

Deadwood by Drew Estate.  Vaughan Boyd, of Deadwood, South Dakota wanted a cigar line that appealed to the motorcycle riders that flocked to nearby Sturgis every year.  The flavor centers around pipe tobacco.  It's not an infused cigar, but the cap has strong notes of caramelized sugar.  If you have a sweet tooth or if you want to minimize the after-taste people often get from a cigar, then Deadwood Fat Bottom Betty might just be the fit. 

Avo Uvezian went from handing out free cigars at his performances to creating the Avo brand of cigars, today a part of the Davidoff of Geneva portfolio.  Avo offers a luxury line of mellow to medium cigars.

La Gloria Cubana traces its brands roots back to Cuba in 1885.  True to its name, the cigars center around a cuban-seed core for a richer, fuller bodied smoke.

Macanudo is an iconic brand with mellow, straightforward, mild mannered cigars that are a nice fit for new or casual smokers.  

Perdomo was resurected by Nick, grandson of the original Perdomo cigar maker who started back in 1930.  Perdomo is well known for quality cigars at affordable prices.

Rocky Patel started over 25 years ago making a modest 100,000 cigars a year growing to its current level of 30M with factories throughout Central America.