Our Story
It must start somewhere. The Torres brand was in fact created here in the heart of Texas. After opening a small tobacco shop in Austin, Texas, Alejandro Torres along with Cuban and Mexican Master blenders created a blend that had a Texas twist. Being born in Texas and being of Latin origin and growing up in the culture and spending many moons in Little Havana, he aquired a unique palate for quality tobacco and its presentation. The endless trips to the San Andres Valley, in Veracruz Mexico where the cigar factories are a perminent land fixture just added to the justification. Relationships were formed and the rest is history. A legacy is born. In honor of his first born son Nicolas Alejandro Torres, he has named his first creation ("Don Nicolas" a premium doble capa tobacco). Check out our products page for more information.
The Dominican Republic, fittingly discovered by Christopher Columbus, a cigar man himself, is the largest producer of cigars in the entire world, making it known as "Cigar Country" and leaving stogie lovers everywhere to search for their passports, book their flights, and come to a place that captures the true culture and essence of tobacco.
The Dominican Republic is a nation possessing the burdens of economic hardships. From recessions, to inflation, from trade deficits to fraud, the citizens of the Dominican Republic have seen more economic turmoil than most. Nonetheless, their tobacco industry has helped to keep them afloat, with cigars from the Dominican Republic rivaling Cubans for procurement of the title of “Best Cigar.”
Cigars from the Dominican Republic stand in the corner, quietly ashing and giving Cuban Cigars a look of intellectual composure, the question about whether the elusiveness of the Cuban Cigar plays into some of its greatness must be posed. Does the difficulty of procuring Cuban Cigars make them a sweeter smoke, as if a reward for an accomplished challenge? But, even with this question and the mysterious mystique that Cuban Cigars possess, some cigar connoisseurs still believe that in the fight of Dominican Cigar versus Cuban Cigar, it is the Cubans that get burned.
However, because many Cubans fled their country during Castro’s rise to power, taking with them their knowledge and their tobacco seeds, many of the cigars produced in the Dominican Republic literally do have Cuban roots. This, undoubtedly, gives the cigars some commonalities, but, because they are grown in different soils and on different lands, the cigars also maintain some differences.
This is the ideal growing environment the country possesses, giving cultivators the ability to be versatile in their creations. With more than 600,000 acres of tobacco plants nationwide, the Dominican Republic is able to produce a cigar that will fit just about anybody’s taste.
The majority of the tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic is cultivated in the northern part of the country, in close proximity to Santiago. Because of this, Santiago is known to many as the “Capitol of the Tobacco and Cigar Industry.” With climate full of warm weather, and the occasional tropical wind, it’s an ideal place for tobacco growers and cigar makers to establish roots.
Over the past two decades, the people of the Dominican Republic have spent a great deal of time improving the quality of their cigar tobacco. The tobacco plants are carefully managed and cared for, leaving no leaf unturned in the quest to produce cigars of the highest quality. The entire process is highly involved and highly evolved – a process that can take up to three years from beginning to end.
In keeping with its reputation as the “Cigar Country,” the Dominican Republic is the birthplace of cigars from some of the world’s most popular brands. Among these are Arturo Fuente, La Aurora, Leon Jimenes, Cojimar, and Montecristo. But, the Dominican Republic, relying heavily on tourism for economical increases, doesn’t simply produce cigars and send them on their way. Instead, they have a whole cigar world in their cigar country.
From gift shops specializing in souvenir cigars to famous cigar factory tours, from cigar shops to cigar museums, the Dominican Republic offers the cigar loving visitor an experience they won’t soon forget. With all the cigar-related activities, this country assures that the excitement and enjoyment won’t be extinguished.
For the true cigar lover, the Dominican Republic must be on the list of places to visit. A country that not only values the intricate details involved with cigar making, but also shares those details and experiences with the visiting public, this country is sure to add a flavorful experience to all that cross into it!
As early as 2000 years ago, the Mayas and their predecessors cultivated tobacco under the hot Mexican sun. Tobacco has had an important role to play in the mythology and medicine of differ-ent Indian nations and cultures. The often-portrayed Jaguar god is found allowing himself a good cigar just the same as the Mayan ruler did in the Temple of the Cross in Palenque. In Mayan mythology, the clouds were considered the smoke which the gods blew over the earth, and shooting stars in the nocturnal sky were embers which fell from the divine tobacco rolls. Though Columbus recorded with astonishment the strange custom of "drinking tobacco" in the New World, it was how-ever the conquistador Hernán Cortés who brought the aromatic leaves to the Spanish royal court at the beginning of the 16th century. Tobacco was soon discovered as a good source of revenue for the Spanish Crown and in the 18th century there were also numerous Spanish warehouses and tobacco collecting stations in Mexico. At this time, the San Andres Valley in the province Veracruz at the Gulf of Mexico became famous.
San Andres Valley
The Mexican Association of Cigar Manufacturers is concentrating their marketing activities under the quality seal of "San Andres Puros". The manufacturers Tabacos la Victoria, Hoja Real, Puros Santa Clara, La Veracruzana, Nueva Matacapan Tabacos (Turrent) and Puros Irene pledge to foster quality, prestige and tradition. After the US market, where the cigars from Mexico are al-ready well-established, Europe is now the point of focus. For Mexico, tobacco is an economic factor not to be underestimated: approximately 250 planters are employed in cigar production alone, with a total of more than 5,000 employees at the tobacco farms; the factories provide work for 1,100 people.