Welcome to cigar history! A series of blogs written by the knowledgeable team at Havana House. Today, we are taking a look into the interesting past of Bolivar cigars.
Bolivar Cigar History
The beginnings of the Bolivar brand can be traced to over a century ago when the Rocha Cuban Cigar Company began manufacturing these brilliant cigars in 1901. Today, Bolivar cigars are known for being amongst the most powerful, full bodied cigars coming out of Cuba.
Bolivar cigars are named after the bold South American revolutionary, General Simon Bolivar. The man was famed for his strong character and is featured on the Bolivar hallmark! He took charge of his countrymen and lead them to victory over the Spanish, who had invaded more than two centuries before hand. Bolivar cigars are often compared to the general, powerful and robust in every way. He freed his people from the Spanish and was a proud lover of cigars
The brand was founded in Great Britain, although production swiftly moved to the new world to utilise the fine Cuban soils. Bolivar cigars were founded in 1901 by Jose F. Rocha, though it was not registered until the next year. The brand was not an official member of the Cuban Havana club until 1921, however.
In 1954, Jose F. Rocha died. His company assets, along with the rights to the Bolivar name were purchased by Cifuentes y Cia. Production was moved the the famous Cuban Partagas factory in Havana. Many Bolivar vitolas are still produced there today!
During the Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro’s rise to power, the owners of Bolivar fled Cuba to continue the production of their cigar elsewhere. This is a common story throughout original manufacturers of Cuban cigar brands. Unfortunately when Cifuentes y Cia set up production off the island the cigars were not as popular as before due to the absence of the rich Cuban soil and master Torcedores.The brand was nationalised, the same as every industry under the new Cuban government and continued the production of their powerful cigars.
In 2002, American cigar giant Altadis brought a controlling share in the Cuban government owned Habanos SA. This instituted a number of changes to the Cuban cigar industry. Most notably, brands would change their production to focus on solely hand rolled or machine made cigars. Bolivar are historically a brand that has produced both types of cigar so they had to cut all but one of their machine made vitolas.
Bolivar Cigars Fact!
Bolivar were once the producers of the World’s smallest cigar! Called the Delgado, it was only 1 and 7/8 inches in length, with a ring gauge of a mere 20. Never the less, it was apparently a fine smoke indeed!
Havana House Fact!
Havana House are based in Windsor, home of the famous Windsor Castle. The royal nursery in the castle once housed a spectacular doll house with every detail intricately designed. Among the set included a tiny replica box of Bolivar Delgado cigars!
Bolivar Product Range
Bolivar cigar lines have built a reputation for being some of the the strongest and full bodied out there. The Royal Corona, Coronas Junior, Petit Coronas and Belicosos Finos being a fine example of this.
These cigars are some of the most infamous from the brand. Beside them stand a few other cigars such as the Corona Gigante and the Bolivar Tubo No.1, 2 and 3.
Bolivar are also well known for producing regional and special edition cigars. The most notable of which is the Bolivar Gold Medals, of which only a few thousand were produced. The cigars are an older cigar size (Cervantes) and came in boxes of ten wrapped in gold foil. A few boxes still exist today and would be a once in a lifetime vitola to get your hands on!
Thanks for reading the latest addition to our Cigar History series. If you want to read about other cigar brands in our range, click here. And if you want to take a closer look at our vast range of Bolivar cigars, click here. Finally, don’t forget to leave your opinions on the brand down below in the comments section, we love to read your opinions!
