A brief history of Dominican tobacco
Discovered in Hispaniola by the conquistadors, tobacco was consumed by the Taino Indians. Tobacco was not only used to treat wounds, but also during religious ceremonies: it provided access to allegedly premonitory visions and was an integral part of the festivities. " The islanders only took up smoking when they were exhausted from dancing. When that moment came, half-dried tobacco leaves were spread out on poorly lit coals; then a forked pipe with a Y-shaped end was taken. The foot of this tube was placed on the tobacco, and the two prongs of the fork in the nostrils, so that the smoke soon rose to the brain. This plant has a strong, unpleasant odor, a pungent, burning, nauseating flavor, irritating, purgative, narcotic properties, and is also said to be a febrifuge. Well, despite all these bad qualities, tobacco was enthusiastically received in France, when our ambassador to Lisbon, Monsieur Nicot, brought it back from that city and offered it to the famous Catherine de Médicis. "(Histoire descriptive et pittoresque de Saint-Domingue, M. de Marlès, 1850).
As early as 1531, the Spaniards began to exploit the plant commercially, some fifty years before tobacco cultivation began in Cuba. On August 26, 1606, Philip III of Spain prohibited tobacco growing in the New World colonies for ten years. However, sniffing out the financial windfall, the Spanish crown lifted the ban in 1614 and quickly secured a monopoly on tobacco marketing, through the Seville factory. The first state tobacco monopoly was born, and by virtue of this royal monopoly, the purchase price was ridiculously low. So low, in fact, that the peasants didn't hesitate to smuggle their tobacco to the corsairs and French settlers on the island of Hispaniola. This was too much for the Spanish crown, which did not want to be deprived of part of its income. It did an about-face and authorized the sale of tobacco to the French, while reserving the best-quality tobacco for itself. Initially considered a decorative plant in France, tobacco was popularized by the court of Catherine de Médicis, before being banned by Louis XIII.
Since then, tobacco has never disappeared from the Dominican economy. However, it was neighboring Cuba which, thanks to its political stability, was the first to take advantage of the international cigar market. The first cigar factory was opened in Cuba on April 2, 1902 by the German Richard Zollner. However, the American embargo on Cuban products marked the start of cigar manufacturing in the Dominican Republic, with the result that large American companies set up shop there.
The Dominican cigar today
The first major upheaval in cigar-making history was caused by the shockwave of the Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro's rise to power. Many Cuban exiles, driven out by Castro's nationalizations, settled in the Dominican Republic, among them tobacco professionals. The latter took advantage of the climatic and geological characteristics very similar to those of Cuba to develop a tobacco industry. So much so that, despite the prestige of Cuban cigars (which continue to be the most highly-rated), the Dominican Republic came to overtake Cuba in terms of volume and quality, becoming the world's leading exporter of hechos a mano (hand-made) and hechos a máquina (machine-made) cigars in the mid-1990s. Today, the Dominican Republic is North America's leading cigar partner, well ahead of Brazil, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Honduras. In 2023, almost 80% of Dominican cigar production was exported to the USA, far ahead of Germany (less than 5%). Generating a billion dollars in revenue a year, the Dominican cigar manufacturing and export market provides a livelihood for 120,000 people.
Long produced in Cuba, Davidoff cigars have been made exclusively in the Dominican Republic since 1989. The recent lifting of the US embargo on Cuba has had little short-term impact on the Dominican Republic's dominant position. Indeed, it will take time for Cuba's neighbor to increase and diversify its offer, improve its logistics system and activate an extensive lobbying network in order to regain market share. Today, the city of Santiago is home to dozens of cigar factories. Light and aromatic, Dominican cigars are less full-bodied than their Cuban counterparts, and benefit from flawless, consistent quality. Three major international groups are present on the island: Altadis in La Romana, Arturo Fuente and Oettinger-Davidoff in Santiago.
Dominican cigars can be purchased in numerous stores and tasted in bars, clubs, cigar cellars and factories, such as Tabacallera - Fabrica de Tabaco in Santo Domingo, Bayahibe Fine Cigars in Dominicus or Mundo Puro in Las Terrenas. For a more in-depth look at the manufacturing process, visit the La Aurora cigar factory or the Centro Cultural Eduardo Leon Jimenes in Santiago.
Tobacco growing and processing
It is mainly in the northwestern region of the country that Dominican tobacco is cultivated, generally by farmers working their plots as a family. The cigar being a sector which does not tolerate mechanization, after having been sown, the tobacco is transplanted plant by plant by respecting a certain distance between each one. The plant reaches maturity in 3 or 4 months. The leaves are then harvested one by one, according to their degree of maturity: thus, on the same plant, the picking can last several weeks. The leaves are dried under a canopy and then sold in bales to companies that continue the processing (fermentation, dehulling, selection, etc.). Within the factory, the cigar roller is the best paid worker (generally according to the number of cigars rolled) and his work feeds about five people. The real cigar is made of natural leaves, without additives or paper. It is made of whole leaves, mixing the varieties in a subtle composition that the cigar maker must scrupulously respect before rolling them together. It is the success of this mixture that makes the personality of a good cigar.
