Plasencia

For most of its history, the Plasencia family was the biggest name in cigars that most smokers never saw on a band. They grew the tobacco and rolled the cigars for dozens of other brands, from Rocky Patel to Alec Bradley, while becoming the largest grower of premium tobacco in the world. That changed in 2017, when the fifth generation, led by Néstor Andrés Plasencia, finally put the family name on its own line. The pedigree goes back to 1865, when Don Eduardo Plasencia started growing leaf in Cuba; today the family farms across Nicaragua and Honduras and controls everything from seed to finished cigar. That depth shows in the blends: the powerful Alma Fuerte, the creamier Alma del Campo, and Reserva Original, made entirely from certified organic Nicaraguan tobacco. Plasencia cigars are what happens when the people who grow the tobacco decide to roll it themselves.