Plasencia Year of the Dragon Cigars

The Plasencia family's cigar legacy is one of perseverance and commitment, dating back five generations to Eduardo Plasencia, who left his home in the Canary Islands in 1865 to cultivate tobacco in Vuelta Abajo, Cuba. Joined by his nephew, Eduardo established himself as one of the region's premier tobacco growers, exporting and supplying numerous factories.

By the early 1900s, Sixto had developed his own tobacco farm and brought his son, Sixto Jr., into the fold. Hardship followed, though, with the onset of the Cuban Revolution. The Plasencia farms were confiscated, and Sixto Jr. was forced to relocate the family to Nicaragua in 1963. He established new tobacco farms there, and the family business was rebuilt from scratch. However, this newfound stability was short lived: Political turmoil in Nicaragua forced the Plasencias to relocate yet again — this time to Honduras in 1978. They once again started anew, dedicated to cultivating quality tobacco.

In 1987, Sixto Jr.'s son, Néstor Plasencia, joined the family business, and three years later, the company reestablished their presence in Nicaragua, boasting farms in both Honduras and Nicaragua. Over the course of the 1990s, the company consolidated — building more farms and supplying leaf to numerous factories — and also welcomed the fifth generation of Plasencia tobacco growers: Néstor Andrés Plasencia. After graduating from agricultural school in 1998, Néstor Jr. began developing organic tobacco, and in 2000, Plasencia tobacco was certified by OCIA International, the oldest and largest organic-certified agency. To this day, Plasencia remains the only OCIA-certified tobacco grower.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Plasencia continued to grow in scope, renown, and efficacy, supplying premium tobacco to over 30 brands, cutting their own water usage by 50%, and even developing a preschool and child-development center for their employees and the local community.

Throughout this time, though, the Plasencia name was known solely as a tobacco grower — albeit the largest in the world for premium cigars — but 2017 welcomed a new venture for the Néstor Jr. when the family introduced Plasencia's own cigars with the Alma, Reserva Original, and Cosecha 146 lines. Since then, Plasencia's portfolio has expanded exponentially, and today their prestige is recognized not only in the tobacco they supply to other makers but especially in their own selection of premium cigars, utilizing exceptional leaf from their own farms in Honduras and Nicaragua.