Cigars - Arturo Fuente Cigars

To truly get to know the Arturo Fuente family, we must travel back to 1800 Cuba, to a time when tobacco growers were not only cultivating tobacco, but they were also cultivating a new way of life.

Four generations ago, Arturo Fuente learned from his father the art of growing, blending, and rolling tobacco. It was an art Arturo took to heart and one he would soon pass onto his son, a virtual prince in an up and coming cigar empire.

Carlos Fuente, the son of Arturo, was brought up in a place historically known for cigars: Ybor City near Tampa, Florida. Learning the skills the cigar industry required, Carlos spent his days at school and his afternoons in his family’s factory. Before too long, Carlos mastered his family’s chosen field: he was a cigar man in occupation and in spirit.

Carlos Fuente eventually became king; the business was handed down from Arturo. Soon after, Carlos’s wife gave birth to a son, Carlos Jr. Like his namesake, Carlos Jr. dived into this world, soon finding himself up to his elbows in tobacco leaves, leaves he would learn to turn into the finest cigars.

Familial ties were smooth - no one born in the family forsook their birthright, choosing to run off with the circus or become a blacksmith - but the family’s business was not without tragedy: several of their factories were lost to fire.

The first fire occurred in Ybor City in 1924. This fire branded the factory in devastation, leaving it closed for six years; it reopened in 1930. After moving production to Nicaragua, another Fuentes factory was destroyed by fire. This time it was arson, an act committed by a leftist Nicaraguan political party, the Sandinistas. Again on the move, the Fuente family relocated to Honduras, only to have a similar outcome: two months later their factor was engulfed in flames.

Nothing if not persevering, the Fuente family never even appeared to consider giving up on the cigar industry; it was an industry for which this family sacrificed. They put all of their time, all of their love, and all of their passion into cigars and each factory lost to a flame seemed to only fuel the fire of desire resting within each family member.

In 1980, perhaps unbeknownst at the time, the Fuente family found the right place to set up roots: they opened a factory in the Dominican Republic. What began with only seven employees soon turned into 200 and today involves over 1800 employees in four separate area factories.

The cigars of the Arturo Fuente family involve a wide range, appealing to those who want an inexpensive cigar to those who want one at a premium cost. Regardless of the cost, these cigars are always of the utmost quality. Each cigar, composed of leaves personally selected, is said to carry the family touch, the sweat and tears of generations, and the importance of tradition. It is these variables that have made Fuente’s cigars some of the most sought after on the market.