Joya de Nicaragua: the Ups & Downs... and More Ups

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By Eric Piras

It is quite a remarkable fate for a brand to be so connected to the ups and downs of its country of origin, yet the history of Joya de Nicaragua runs absolutely parallel to the country that gave it its name.

Birth & Re-births

As often, the history of Nicaraguan cigars begins in 1959 with the exodus of the great Cuban cigar makers. Cigarette tobacco had been cultivated in Nicaragua for years, but cigar tobacco had not been supported until the Somoza government decided to finance it as a new industry for Nicaragua.

Born 50 years ago in 1968 in Estelí as the creation of two Cubans (Juan Bermejo and Simón Camacho), what is now known as Joya de Nicaragua was first called Nicaragua Cigar Co. Two years after its birth, its flagship product, Joya de Nicaragua, became the official cigar of the Richard Nixon’s White House. In the 70s, Nicaragua’s dictator, Anastasio Somoza DeBayle, attended an official dinner in the White House and, realizing the official cigar came from his country, offered to be part of the company, an offer that was quite difficult to decline for the company’s founders.

During the Sandinistas’ reign, from 1979, the farms and factories of the tobacco region were nationalized and the property redistributed under the new socialist government. In 1984, the US imposed a commercial embargo on Nicaragua, making it impossible to sell cigars in what was then their largest market, so a new factory was created in Honduras for export to the US, in addition to the Nicaraguan site, and sales started to drop.

With the end of the civil war (where 50,000 persons lost their lives) and Violetta Barrios de Chamorro winning the elections in 1990, the Nicaragua Cigar Co. factory was rebuilt by its workers. The US embargo ended and the ‘real’ Joya de Nicaragua (from Nicaragua and not Honduras) could find its rightful place again on this market.

In 1992, Dr. Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca began working with the factory under a sort of lease-agreement, providing some access to capital, tobacco, and customers. The factory was still owned by its 69 workers who were looking for investors. Martinez-Cuenca acquired the company at the demand of the workers-owners in 1994, and renamed it Tabacos Puros de Nicaragua.

In 1998 Hurricane Mitch devastated the country and affected the tobacco farms and cigar factories, and the farms started over one more time, with the impressive results that we see today. This is the year when Martinez-Cuenca bought the Joya de Nicaragua brand’s distribution rights in the US back from Tabacalera (who had acquired them through their purchase of Hollco-Rohr).

The US market was again accessible for the whole company’s portfolio; to reflect this change and capitalize on the company’s most famous brand, Martinez-Cuenca changed the name of the company to Joya de Nicaragua.

A Glimpse into the Family

Dr. Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca, the man to whom the company owns its re-birth, is surprisingly not from a tobacco family. Rather, he started as an economist and an academic who later went in and out of government. But, he was a cigar smoker and had a vision. It was a challenge initially, and he credits the support and involvement of the Joya de Nicaragua people, who had the knowledge, the experience, and the heritage. The people made it a success and today many are still working in the company, which is quite remarkable. He is involved in the business as president while his son Juan Martinez is the company’s vice president. 

Juan Martinez trained in economics and business, as his parents told their children to follow their own path (his sister is a doctor and his brother a cinematographer) but he started to help his father around 2008-2009, getting to know the people, their families, the clients, and partners. In 2011 he became very involved in all aspects of the company.

When visiting the factory and talking with its people, one truly and strongly feels that the company is not just the vision of one man or the management of a father and son, but rather the legacy, the tribute, and homage to all the people who made the brand what it has become, collectively and resiliently for the past 50 years.

Nicaragua’s Oldest Cigar Brand Looking to the Future

Nowadays, thanks to its tradition, social peace, economic growth, and geological diversity, Nicaragua is becoming a strong and essential actor in the cigar industry. Nicaragua and tobacco are now inseparable: the tobacco industry is one of the largest employers in the country. About 30% of the people of Nicaragua depend on the industry for their living.

Joya de Nicaragua, the country’s oldest cigar brand, produces 5.5 million premium cigars annually, mostly under their own brands but they also make cigars for the US (Dubarton Tobacco & Co. and Fratello) or some European companies (Villiger, Bentley or Robert Graham).  The US is their biggest single market but the rest of the world is as or more important than the US.

Used to change and adaptation to new environments, Joya de Nicaragua’s aim is to make cigars for all types of consumers in terms of profile and price, as they believe that everybody’s palate does evolve and change over time.

They continuously build their portfolio with this in mind, and their best-selling cigars depend on the markets: Antaño, a full-bodied and robust smoke, is a best seller in the US and Joya de Nicaragua Clásico, a milder and mellower profile, is the best performer in Europe.

The ‘traditional’ family of brands (Antaño, Clásico, Cuatro Cinco) are full bodied-cigars, very classic Nicaraguan and made only with Nicaraguan tobacco. The Joya family where lines such as Red, Black, and Cabinetta have been designed with contemporary and sometimes younger smokers in mind can have tobaccos from other origins introduced into their blends. Joya Cabinetta is a mild smoke, Joya Red a medium one, and Joya Black is more sophisticated and complex.

A New Chapter in Asia

In time with the landmark anniversary, Joya de Nicaragua has firmly set its eyes on an Asian development and is starting a distribution in Greater China and Vietnam through Cigraal, which will kick off with a series of events in June during the visit of Dr. Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca.

Building on their deep knowledge of the terroir, with a pulse on international markets and very conscious of their heritage (after all, their brand carries the name of their country), it is a huge responsibility and challenge that Joya de Nicaragua have successfully tackled and we very much look forward to more ups from the brand and the country!

Source: Author’s own, Joya de Nicaragua, Cigar Insider, Tobacco Business