Fonseca (cigar brand)

Fonseca is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic for MATASA.

History

Don Francisco E. Fonseca first established his factory and own cigar brand in Havana in 1892, registering the brand bearing his name in 1907. Fonseca cigars quickly became a success and Don Francisco began innovative practices such as wrapping his cigars in fine Japanese tissue paper (as they still are today) and packaging cigars in tin tubes (today's tubes are usually made with aluminum). His wife Doña Teresa Boetticher continued the business after Don Francisco's death in 1930 and merged the brand with T. Castañeda and G. Montero to form the firm of Castañeda, Montero, Fonseca SA.

Production continued uninterrupted after the revolution and the cigars are still produced at the Lázaro Pena Factory in Havana. As a cigar brand, Fonseca is relatively mild by most aficionados' standards, sells for cheaper than most other Cuban cigar brands, and is marketed mostly in Spain and Canada, where the brand is particularly popular.

"Vitolas" in the Cuban Fonseca Line

The following list of the Fonseca marque includes the size in inches and ring gauge with metric in parenthesis. Also, the "vitola de galera" or factory name of that size is included along with its popular size name in American cigar vocabulary.

"Hand-Made Vitolas"
* No. 1 - 6 3/8" x 44 (162 x 17.46 mm) Cazador, a lonsdale
* Cosaco - 5 3/8" x 42 (135 x 16.67 mm) Cosaco, a corona
* Delicia - 4 7/8" x 40 (123 x 15.87 mm) Standard, a tres petit corona (distinguished from the less expensive machine-made and hand-finished Delicia by the inscription on the bottom of the box "Totalmente a mano")
* KDT Cadete - 4 1/2" x 36 (115 x 14.29 mm) Cadete, a tres petit corona

"Machine-Made and Hand-Finish Vitolas"
* Delicia - 4 7/8" x 40 (123 x 15.87 mm) Standard, a tres petit corona

References

* Nee, Min Ron - "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars" (2003, Reprinted: 2005), ISBN 3-9809308-2-3

See also

* Cigar brands

External links

* [http://www.habanos.com Official website of Habanos S.A.]
* [http://www.cigars-review.org/cigars/Fonseca.htm Fonseca Cigars Reviews]