48 TOBACCO BUSINESS | JULY / AUGUST | 22 300 hands. That’s a long-standing statistic shared throughout the cigar industry, and it relates to the production process that a single cigar passes through on its journey from seed to shelf. It’s a stat that gets lost among press releases, ratings and reviews, yet without those 300 hands, cigars as we know themwould not exist. The Plasencia family has long been focused on the art of cigar making. This goes well beyond the technique of cigar rolling. It’s about tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing. The Plasencia family has a long history with tobacco, and many have come to them over the years to help make them a cigar. The Plasencias have answered the call and delivered many unforgettable cigars, all of which are made with tobaccos that they’ve grown that are blended together to create a cigar that’s smoked and appreciated by cigar enthusiasts of all experience levels. How do they do it? With a focus on quality, whether it’s in the tobacco they grow or the way they run their various factories. “It is no secret that achieving a great-quality cigar requires great tobacco behind it,” explains José Luis Plasencia, vice president of Plasencia 1865. “The investment in any particular crop, from seed selection to harvest, is considerable. When you also consider that our Plasencia lines utilize tobacco aged between eight and 10 years, you can see how long it takes to achieve any return on that initial investment, but the quality we are able to achieve makes it all worth it.” For many cigar smokers, the work that goes into growing the tobacco and later taking that harvested tobacco and turning it into a blend and premium cigar remains a bit of amystery. The onlyway to fully understand the process is to see it firsthand, yet there are few opportunities for most consumers—or even retailers—to visit a cigar factory or a tobacco field. José knows this is an issue, as he’s seen his share of reactions over the years from those who have visited the Plasencia family’s various factories in Nicaragua or Honduras. “They are truly amazed and had no idea of what goes into the making of a cigar,” he says. “Each step in this incredible process of growing tobacco and manufacturing a cigar with the quality we demand has become so detailed and specific that themajority of end consumers really don’t understand until they see it and experience it for themselves.” The Plasencias have become known for their cigar-making abilities, but the bigger story is the family’s long history of tobacco growing and its manufacturing practices that have become stronger year after year and generation after generation. “The love story of the Plasencia family with tobacco began in 1865 when Eduardo Plasencia emigrated from the Canary Islands in Spain to Cuba,” explains Nestor Andrés Plasencia, CEO of Plasencia Cigars. “At that time, the government of Cuba was expanding its tobacco growing areas and the islanders [isleños] had a reputation for very good growers, and he started with a very small area and gradually grew. A few years later, his nephew, Sixto Plasencia, joined him in working within the family business, and in 1865 Sixto went independent and started with his own crops. Then his children came andmanaged to become a very solid company in the San Luis Pinar del Rio area, which is where the best tobacco in Cuba is harvested and where my grandfather and his brothers provided tobacco for the most important factories in Cuba.” It’s easy to say that tobacco is in the blood and ingrained in the Plasencia family—and has been for generations. Here’s how the Plasencia family’s focus on tobacco growing, sustainability and improving working conditions within its factories have helped make it a tobacco industry powerhouse. RichDirt The Plasencias are known for growing quality tobacco that’s used to make cigars for other companies as well as the family’s own namesake brands. As demand for tobacco has increased over the years, the Plasencias have been able to increase the company’s growing capabilities to meet that demand. 3 With a vertically integrated business, the Plasencia family grows approximately 5,000 acres of tobacco across Nicaragua and Honduras that it sells and puts into its own premium cigar products.
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