The Encyclopedia
94 reference records on brands, factories and the people behind them. Every entry carries a confidence level, and where a trademark is split between Cuba and the New World both versions are recorded separately.
AVO
Created in 1988 by the Armenian-American jazz pianist Avo Uvezian and now owned and produced by Oettinger Davidoff in the Dominican Republic.
Aganorsa Leaf
Founded in 1998 by Eduardo Fernandez as a Nicaraguan tobacco grower, later adding manufacturing and its own brands, formerly sold as Casa Fernandez.
Aging Room
A Miami-based brand produced by Boutique Blends Cigars, founded by Rafael Nodal, known for meticulously aged tobacco and classical-music-themed vitola names.
Alan Rubin
Founder of Alec Bradley Cigar Co. in 1996, named for his two sons, who sold the company to Scandinavian Tobacco Group in 2023.
Alec Bradley Cigar Co.
Founded in 1996 by Alan Rubin and named for his two sons; acquired by Scandinavian Tobacco Group in 2023 for 72.5 million dollars.
Alejandro Robaina
Cuban wrapper grower whose farm at San Luis gave its name to the Vegas Robaina brand in 1997; the only living person so honoured by Habanos. Died 2010.
Arturo Fuente
Founded in West Tampa in 1912 and rebuilt three times after fire and revolution, now the largest family-owned premium cigar maker in the Dominican Republic.
Ashton
Founded in Philadelphia in 1985 by retailer Robert Levin and made under contract by the Fuente family in Santiago since shortly after launch.
Avo Uvezian
Armenian-American jazz pianist who created the AVO cigar brand in 1988 and remained its public figure until his death in 2017.
Bolivar
Havana marca named for Simon Bolivar, known for one of the fullest blends in the Habanos portfolio and rolled at the Partagas operation.
Briones Montoto (Romeo y Julieta Factory)
The Romeo y Julieta factory on Belascoain in Centro Habana, renamed after the revolution and now the rolling home of H. Upmann as well.
CAO
Founded in Nashville in 1968 by Cano A. Ozgener as a pipe and humidor business, it became a cigar brand in the 1990s and is now part of General Cigar.
Camacho
Founded by the Cuban exile Simon Camacho, rebuilt by the Eiroa family around Honduran corojo, and owned since 2008 by Oettinger Davidoff.
Carlos Fuente Jr.
Third-generation head of Arturo Fuente, who proved that premium wrapper could be grown in the Dominican Republic and created Fuente Fuente OpusX.
Carlos Fuente Sr.
Son of Arturo Fuente who reopened the family business in Ybor City in 1946 and led it through fire, revolution and relocation to the Dominican Republic; died in 2016.
Casa Magna
A Nicaraguan-made collaboration between Dominican maker Manuel 'Manolo' Quesada and grower/manufacturer Nestor Plasencia, launched in 2008.
Casa Turrent / Te-Amo
The Turrent family's Mexican house in the San Andres valley of Veracruz, producer of the mass-market Te-Amo brand and the premium Casa Turrent line.
Chateau de la Fuente
The Fuente family farm where Cuban-seed wrapper was first grown successfully in the Dominican Republic, supplying Fuente Fuente OpusX.
Cigars Davidoff, Villa Gonzalez
Davidoff's Dominican manufacturing site near Villa Gonzalez in the Cibao valley, established when production left Cuba in 1991.
Cohiba (Cuban)
Cuba's flagship marca, created for state and diplomatic use in 1966 and sold commercially only from 1982.
Cohiba (Dominican)
The non-Cuban Cohiba sold in the United States by General Cigar, a separate product from the Habanos brand of the same name.
Crowned Heads
A Nashville-based brand founded in 2011 by former CAO executives, operating without a factory and blending at several Nicaraguan and Dominican houses.
Davidoff
A Geneva tobacconist's name that became a Cuban brand in 1968 and, after a public break with Havana, a Dominican house owned by Oettinger Davidoff.
Drew Estate / Liga Privada
Founded in 1996 by Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samel, first known for infused cigars and later for the Liga Privada line; acquired by Swisher International in 2014.
E.P. Carrillo
Founded in 2009 by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo after leaving General Cigar, and produced at the family's Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic.
Eduardo Fernandez
Founder of Aganorsa in 1998, a Nicaraguan grower whose tobacco underpins a large number of boutique brands as well as his own.
El Laguito
The Havana factory created in the mid-1960s to make Cohiba, housed in a requisitioned mansion in the Cubanacan district of western Havana.
El Rey del Mundo
A nineteenth-century Havana marca now reduced to a handful of sizes, with a far larger Honduran namesake sold in the United States.
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo
Blender who built La Gloria Cubana at his father's Miami factory, sold the business in 1999, and founded E.P. Carrillo a decade later.
Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua
Nicaragua's oldest cigar factory, opened in Esteli in 1968, damaged in the revolution, nationalised, and restored to private operation in the 1990s.
Flor de Copan
A Honduran factory at Santa Rosa de Copan, opened in 1976 and now producing Altadis-portfolio brands for the United States market.
Foundation Cigar Company
Founded in 2015 by Nicholas Melillo, formerly head of tobacco sourcing at Drew Estate, with lines drawing on Nicaraguan and Connecticut leaf.
Fuente Fuente OpusX
Released in 1995, the first premium cigar built on Dominican-grown wrapper, proving that shade-quality wrapper leaf could be produced outside Cuba and Ecuador.
General Cigar Dominicana
General Cigar's Santiago factory, producing Macanudo, Partagas, the non-Cuban Cohiba and La Gloria Cubana for the United States market.
Gilberto Oliva Sr.
Leaf broker who founded Oliva Cigar Co. in 1995 and built it into one of Nicaragua's largest manufacturers; died in December 2017 at the age of 86.
H. Upmann
Founded in 1844 by a German banker in Havana, H. Upmann is among the oldest surviving Cuban marcas and the house where Montecristo was created.
H. Upmann Factory
The Havana house that produced H. Upmann and Montecristo for six decades, latterly in a restored Vedado building that has stood idle since 2011.
HATSA (Honduras American Tabaco S.A.)
The first cigar factory in Danli, established in 1964 by Frank Llaneza, and the base of the Honduran Hoyo de Monterrey and Punch brands.
Hirochi Robaina
Grandson of Alejandro Robaina, who runs the Cuchillas de Barbacoa farm in the Vuelta Abajo and has lent his name to non-Cuban blends.
Hoyo de Monterrey
Founded by Jose Gener in 1865 and named for a Vuelta Abajo vega; a separate Honduran Hoyo is sold in the United States by General Cigar.
Illusione
Dion Giolito's brand, built on Aganorsa-grown Nicaraguan leaf and among the first of the boutique labels to trade on named tobacco sourcing.
Jaime Garcia
Master blender at My Father Cigars and creator of the 2008 blend that gave the company its name and flagship line.
Janny Garcia
Daughter of Jose Pepin Garcia and the executive running My Father Cigars, one of the few women leading a major premium cigar manufacturer.
Jonathan Drew
Co-founder of Drew Estate, who built the company from a New York kiosk into one of Nicaragua's largest producers and sold it to Swisher in 2014.
Jose 'Pepin' Garcia
Cuban master roller whose Miami workshop and later Esteli factory reshaped the American boutique cigar market in the 2000s.
Jose Marti
Cuban writer and independence leader whose revolutionary movement was financed largely by cigar workers in Key West and Ybor City; killed in 1895.
Jose Orlando Padron
Cuban exile who founded Padron Cigars in Miami in 1964 and built it into one of the most respected Nicaraguan puro makers; died in 2017.
Joya de Nicaragua
Nicaragua's first premium cigar company, founded in Esteli in 1968, nationalised and bombed during the revolution, and rebuilt by its workers.
La Aroma de Cuba
A revived pre-revolutionary Cuban name, owned by Ashton Distributors and blended and made by the Garcia family in Esteli.
La Aurora
The oldest cigar company in the Dominican Republic, founded in 1903 near Santiago and still run by the founder's descendants.
La Aurora Factory
The oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic, begun in 1903 near Santiago and still operated by the Leon family.
La Corona
A large Havana rolling house in the Cerro district, converted from a cigarette plant around 2000 and carrying a pre-revolutionary factory name.
La Flor Dominicana
Founded by Litto and Ines Gomez in 1994 as Los Libertadores, known for high-ligero blends and for the pressed Chisel head.
La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate
Drew Estate's Esteli factory, among the largest premium cigar operations in Nicaragua and home to the long-running Cigar Safari visitor programme.
Litto Gomez
Former jeweller who founded La Flor Dominicana with his wife Ines and became one of the few Dominican makers growing his own high-priming filler.
Macanudo
Launched as a stand-alone brand by General Cigar in 1971, made in Jamaica for three decades and the best-selling premium cigar in the United States for much of that period.
Montecristo
Registered in Havana in 1935 and now the best-selling Habanos marca; a separate non-Cuban Montecristo is sold by Altadis in the United States.
My Father Cigars
The Garcia family's own brand, blended by Jaime Garcia in 2008 as a tribute to his father Jose Pepin Garcia and made at their Esteli factory.
My Father Cigars S.A.
The Garcia family's Esteli factory, opened in 2009, producing their own brands and cigars for Ashton and Tatuaje.
NACSA (Nicaragua American Cigars S.A.)
Padron's Esteli factory, the family's Nicaraguan manufacturing base since production moved from Miami in 1970.
Nestor Miranda
Co-founder of Miami Cigar & Co., a distributor that brought several Nicaraguan and Dominican brands to the American market.
Nestor Plasencia
Grower and manufacturer born in Cuba in 1949 whose family operations in Honduras and Nicaragua supply a large share of the non-Cuban premium industry.
Nicaraguan American Tobacco S.A.
An Esteli cigar manufacturing operation known in the trade by the initials NATSA; public documentation of its ownership and history is thin.
Oliva Cigar Co.
Founded in 1995 by Gilberto Oliva Sr., built on family-grown Nicaraguan leaf and sold to the Belgian group J. Cortes in 2016.
Oscar Hammerstein I
Cigar manufacturer and inventor turned theater impresario, whose cigar-machine patents funded the opera houses that made him famous; grandfather of Broadway's Oscar Hammerstein II.
Padron Cigars
Founded in Miami in 1964 by Jose Orlando Padron and built on Nicaraguan puro blends and box-pressed formats made at the family's Esteli factory.
Partagas
Founded in Havana in 1845 and one of the oldest continuously produced Cuban marcas; a separate Dominican Partagas is sold by General Cigar.
Partagas Factory (Francisco Perez German)
Founded in 1845 on Calle Industria in Centro Habana; the historic building has been closed since 2011 but the operation continues under its revolutionary name.
Perdomo Cigars
Started in a Miami garage in 1992 by Nick Perdomo Jr. and now one of the most vertically integrated operations in Nicaragua, farming, rolling and boxing in-house.
Plasencia Cigars
The Plasencia family's own-name brand, launched in 2017 after generations spent growing tobacco and manufacturing under contract for others.
Plasencia Cigars S.A.
The Plasencia family's Nicaraguan manufacturing operation in Esteli, one of the largest contract cigar producers in Central America.
Por Larranaga
Traditionally the oldest surviving Havana marca, now a small line kept alive largely through regional editions.
Punch
One of the oldest surviving Havana marcas, named for the British magazine's puppet mascot; a separate Honduran Punch is sold by General Cigar.
Quai d'Orsay
A Habanos marca created in the 1970s for the French state tobacco monopoly and named after the Paris address of the French foreign ministry.
Ramon Allones
One of the oldest Havana marcas, credited with introducing the printed box label, and now a small but heavily collected part of the Habanos range.
Real Fabrica de Tabacos (Seville)
The eighteenth-century Royal Tobacco Factory in Seville, for a time the largest industrial building in Spain and now part of the University of Seville.
RoMa Craft Tobac
Launched in 2012 by Michael Rosales and Skip Martin, producing at its own small Esteli factory, Fabrica de Tabacos Nica Sueno.
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars
Started in 1995 as Indian Tabac by a former Los Angeles attorney, later renamed and built around aged-wrapper blends made at the company's Esteli factory.
Romeo y Julieta
Havana marca founded in 1875 and made famous by Rodriguez Fernandez's promotion and by the Churchill vitola named for its most quoted customer.
Samuel Seidenberg
German immigrant who opened Key West's first "clear Cuban" cigar factory in 1867, two years before Vicente Martinez Ybor arrived on the island.
San Cristobal de la Habana
Launched in Havana on 20 November 1999 and named for the city's founding name, with vitolas named after its colonial fortresses.
Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia
The Fuente family's Santiago factory, established in 1980 after the loss of their Nicaraguan plant and now among the largest family-owned operations in the country.
Tabacalera Filipina (La Flor de la Isabela)
Founded in Manila in 1881 as part of the Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, the oldest cigar company in Asia and still producing handmade cigars.
Tabacalera Oliva de Nicaragua
Oliva's Esteli factory, opened in July 2003 with about sixty thousand square feet of rolling space and a reported capacity of fifty thousand cigars a day.
Tabacalera Palma
A long-established Dominican factory at Tamboril, run by Jose Arnaldo Blanco, producing its own La Galera brand and a large volume of contract work.
Tabacalera Perdomo
Perdomo's Esteli plant, about eighty-eight thousand square feet and known locally as El Monstro, one of the largest cigar facilities in Nicaragua.
Tabacalera de Garcia
The factory at La Romana in the Dominican Republic, generally described as the largest handmade cigar plant in the world and the production base for Altadis brands.
Tatuaje
Pete Johnson's brand, launched in 2003 in partnership with Jose Pepin Garcia and one of the first of the modern boutique labels made in Miami and Esteli.
Trinidad
Created in 1969 as a Cuban diplomatic-gift cigar and withheld from sale for almost thirty years before a commercial release in the late 1990s.
Vegas Robaina
The only Habanos marca named for a living tobacco grower, created in 1997 to honour Alejandro Robaina of San Luis, Pinar del Rio.
Vicente Martinez Ybor
Spanish-born manufacturer who moved his cigar business from Havana to Key West and then founded Ybor City in Tampa in 1885; died in 1896.
Villazon y Cia
The Tampa company built by Frank and Joe Llaneza that carried the non-Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey and Punch brands until its sale to General Cigar in 1996.
Warped Cigars
Kyle Gellis's brand, made at El Titan de Bronze in Miami's Little Havana and at Aganorsa's Esteli factory, known for small ring gauges.
Zino Davidoff
Geneva tobacconist who turned his name into a global cigar brand, first with Cuban production and later in the Dominican Republic; died in 1994.