1800s: BIRTH OF THE CUBAN CIGAR INDUSTRY!
Until this period, the Cuban tobacco industry had been monopolized by Spain; primarily for raw leaf production. By the 1800s, European Colonial control of the "New World" began to give way to autonomous states and more privatized industry. As a result, the 1800s gave birth to the indigenous Cuban cigar industry and also saw tobacco production and creativity flourish throughout the Americas.
1817: Deregulation: King Ferdinand VII legalizes the free production and sale of tobacco in Cuba.
1827: Don Jaime Partagas establishes Flor de Tabacos Partagas y CompanÃa on the edge of Old Havana.
1850: Innovative Dutch merchant Gustave Bock distinguishes his own cigars by placing a band on them.
1859: Cuban tobacco production doubles since deregulation. Approximately 1,300 handmade cigar factories are in existence in and around Havana.
1895: Cuban Leader of Independence, Jose Marti, incites revolution against Spain by sending the message of insurrection from the U.S. to Cuba rolled in a cigar.
Jaime Partagas (Partagas)
Pepin Rodriguez (Romeo y Julieta)
Manuel Lopez (Punch)
Jose Gener (Hoyo de Monterrey)
Alfredo Nogueira (El Veguero)
J.F. Rocha (La Gloria Cubana)
These men, and others like them, created a technological and economic revolution in the cigar industry. Through passionate experimentation and a methodological control of each step in the agricultural and manufacturing process, these men developed and elevated tobacco growing and cigar making to an art form. Due greatly to their work, cigar production has changed very little since the mid 1800s.
Certified R&D Tobacconists: United States |
|
|
|
|
|
