Nicaraguan
Explore Nicaragua

Cigar Culture

Places, experiences and a way of life.

The ritual

Slow down, it's a cigar

All seven steps
  1. 02

    Cut

    Cut the cap, not the cigar. Take off just a few millimetres, about where the cap meets the wrapper, in one quick, clean snip. Too deep and the wrapper can unravel.

  2. 03

    Toast

    Hold the foot just above the flame, without touching it, and turn the cigar slowly until the end glows evenly. Butane lighters and cedar matches are best; they don't add flavour.

  3. 05

    Savour

    Take a slow puff about once a minute. Don't inhale: cigar smoke is for tasting in the mouth. Try letting a little out through your nose to catch more aroma.

Among friends

Best shared

A great Nicaraguan cigar is better with good company. A few of our own moments.

Four friends sharing cigars and beers around an outdoor table
A friend smiling with a cigar and a drink in a cigar lounge, holding an open box of cigars
Two friends smiling with cigars, one giving a thumbs up
Two friends relaxing with cigars on a restaurant terrace
A cigar and good company on an evening out
A hand holding a lit Elementos cigar over an open box of cigars
Festivals

Where the cigar world meets

Granada and Estelí, Nicaragua

Puro Sabor

Nicaragua's own cigar festival, held every January. Buyers, makers and aficionados from around the world tour tobacco farms and factories, meet the people who roll the cigars, and spend their evenings at dinners and parties hosted by the factories.

  • The 2026 edition was the 13th, with at least 150 international buyers and aficionados from Europe, Latin America and North America. revistaeyn.com
  • Visitors also see colonial Granada and the islets of Lake Nicaragua before heading north to Estelí's factories and fields. revistaeyn.com
  • The next edition is set for January 25 to 30, 2027. purosaborcigarfest.com
  • Cigar Aficionado covered the third festival, where the Nicaraguan Tobacco Association's president, Nestor Andrés Plasencia, welcomed more than 250 people on opening night. cigaraficionado.com
Official site

Las Vegas, United States

Big Smoke Las Vegas

Cigar Aficionado's flagship consumer event: evenings of cigars and spirits with the industry's best-known cigar makers, plus daytime seminars.

  • The 30th anniversary edition is on November 6 and 7, 2026, at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. cigaraficionado.com
  • Seminar guests will smoke the Padrón 60th Anniversary Perfecto, the reigning Cigar of the Year, made in Nicaragua. cigaraficionado.com
Puro Sabor: The Nicaraguan Cigar FestivalPuro Sabor Cigar Festival
Postcards

Greetings from the cigar cities

The places where Nicaraguan cigars are made, sold and celebrated.

Panorama of Parque Central in Estelí, Nicaragua

Greetings from

Estelí, Nicaragua

The beating heart of Nicaraguan cigar making, a mountain town where the great families roll their cigars. Padrón makes its cigars here, and J.C. Newman's PENSA factory alone has 840 people hand-rolling 100,000 cigars a day.

Don't miss: Puro Sabor factory visits · the hills of Tisey and Miraflor

Sources: jcnewman.com · cigaraficionado.com

Granada cathedral at sunset

Greetings from

Granada, Nicaragua

Colonial Granada is often the first stop of Puro Sabor. Its Mombacho Cigars factory works out of a 1925 mansion built by Italian architect Mario Favilli, now a recognised historical landmark.

Don't miss: Mombacho Cigars' landmark house · the islets of Lake Nicaragua

Our field notes from Doña Elba Cigars, Granada

Sources: cigaraficionado.com · revistaeyn.com

Greetings from

Miami, United States

Where a legend began. On September 8, 1964, Cuban émigré José Orlando Padrón opened a six-foot-wide storefront in Little Havana, putting his name on cigars made by a single roller and selling them for a quarter apiece.

Don't miss: Calle Ocho, Little Havana

Sources: cigaraficionado.com

Greetings from

Tampa, United States

Tampa grew up on cigars. In historic Ybor City, J.C. Newman's 1910 El Reloj factory still rolls cigars and welcomes visitors, and the same family makes cigars in Estelí at its PENSA factory.

Don't miss: El Reloj factory tours and rolling classes, Ybor City

Sources: jcnewman.com · jcnewman.com

Films and interviews

The families, on camera

The full film library
The Hands of Plasencia: How Cigars Are MadeLong Beach Film Company
A.J. Fernández Cigar Company: The DocumentaryAJ Fernandez Cigar Company
The Tobacco Maestro: A.J. Fernández's Remarkable JourneyAJ Fernandez Cigar Company
Joya de Nicaragua: Our Spirit, Our PeopleJoya de Nicaragua
Plasencia Cigars: Our StoryPlasencia Cigars
My Father Cigars: The JourneyMy Father Cigars
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Channels worth subscribing to

All 25 channels
Famous fans

On the record

Well-known names who have told Cigar Aficionado about their love of Nicaraguan cigars.