Estelí, Nicaragua: Inside the World's Cigar Capital & Las Villas Cigars

Nicaragua’s Cigar Capital: A Three-Part Series

In March 2024, Dale R. North spent a week working remotely in Estelí, Nicaragua — the northern highlands city that has quietly become the premium tobacco capital of the world. Through her involvement with Vancouver’s Canadian Cigar Celebration, Dale arranged tours of three very different cigar operations: the boutique Las Villas factory, the sprawling Rocky Patel farm and factory, and the family-run Plasencia factory.

The result is this three-part travel series — Part 1: Nicaragua’s Cigar Capital: Estelí & Las Villas Cigars, Part 2: A Visit to Rocky Patel in Estelí, Nicaragua, and Part 3: Visiting Plasencia Cigars in Estelí, Nicaragua — originally published on WanderingNorth.ca and republished here with permission.

By Dale Raven North

This is Part 1 of a three-part series: Part 1 — Nicaragua’s Cigar Capital: Estelí & Las Villas Cigars, Part 2 — A Visit to Rocky Patel in Estelí, Nicaragua, Part 3 — Visiting Plasencia Cigars in Estelí, Nicaragua.

ESTELÍ

Tucked away in the northern highlands of Nicaragua is Estelí, a city that has quietly become the undisputed premium tobacco capital of the world. For cigar enthusiasts, crossing into this valley feels less like a vacation and more like a pilgrimage. The air is thick with the aroma of fermenting leaves, and the horizon is green with fields of tobacco. Whether you are eager to walk the fields where leaf is grown, watch torcedores roll iconic blends in real-time, or simply light up a fresh stick straight from the factory floor, an adventure in Estelí offers an authentic look behind the scenes of luxury cigars.

I spent five days there in March 2024.

Estelí is not a tourist destination; it is a regular working town in central Nicaragua that is famous for growing some of the best tobacco in Central America. At least half of the population of Estelí works in the cigar industry in one way or another. I couldn’t get an accurate count of how many cigar farms or factories there were in the area. I managed to find about 30 online, but I was told that there were probably twice as many.

Estelí has a population of approximately 120,000. I find that shocking because it felt like a small town, but I gather that I was staying in the centre and that there is more of the city spread out. The area that I stayed in felt old-ish. There were some cobblestone-type streets and single-story colonial buildings painted in bright colours and at least one square with an old church. Men walked around wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots and jeans. Every morning, a siren went off at about 5:00 AM signalling to people that it is time to start work, with much of that work being to make cigars.

But the real highlight of Estelí is the cigar. I could smoke anywhere, which was a treat, but more importantly I had arranged to visit some farms and factories while I was there. It is possible to arrange a tour in some cases to visit certain farms and factories there, but they generally don’t do them for individuals. Fortunately, I work at a law firm (Davison North Law) that is one of the organizers of the Canadian Cigar Celebration, an annual cigar event in Vancouver, and I used that as my way to reach out to these places. Only three factories got back to me, but that was enough. While I was there, I visited Las Villas, Rocky Patel, and Plasencia. It was thrilling and one of the more unique trips that I’ve had.

LAS VILLAS CIGARS

I was in Estelí, Nicaragua, working remotely for a week and, as it is the cigar production centre of Nicaragua, I had reached out (with the help of a Spanish speaking colleague) to some factories to arrange tours of Las Villas, Rocky Patel, and Plasencia. This led to one of the more unique and personal experiences I have had, combining two of my passions: travel and cigars.

The first of the factories that I visited in Estelí was Las Villas. This wasn’t a factory or brand that I was familiar with, but they were the first to extend an invitation so I happily accepted.

I walked there from my hotel. It took a little less than half an hour, but the heat made it feel longer. Along the walk I passed other buildings that had cigar logos on the outside. These were not ones that I knew and appeared to be small operations. Occasionally I walked past a building that had no signage outside whatsoever, but I could hear voices and smell tobacco through the cracks in the windows. I don’t mean that I could smell smoke from tobacco; I meant that I could smell raw tobacco, and it was apparent to me that these were also small rolling operations. There are entire streets in Estelí that smell like tobacco, or like heaven, depending on your perspective.

I walked down some unpaved back roads in a residential neighbourhood and passed a couple of donkeys when I found my destination. Behind the security gate was a small, new-looking building containing the cigar factory.

The Las Villas Cigars factory building in Estelí, Nicaragua — The Las Villas Cigars factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Photo: Dale R. North.

I was met by a fellow who gave me a tour of the factory, I think, because his English was the best of the people on staff. He took me through the Las Villas factory where people were fermenting tobacco, rolling cigars, bundling, and aging them. This glimpse into cigar production was truly fascinating. I had visited factories previously in Miami and Cuba, but it was still thrilling to see. Something about cigars that not many people realize unless you know cigars is how many steps it takes to make a cigar from when you plant the seed to when you box them up. They go through a long and intricate process of growing, harvesting, aging, fermenting, sorting, rolling, testing, aging some more, banding, and boxing. It is said that a cigar passes through 200 hands on its way to being ready to smoke. It’s one of those rare items that still, today, is made entirely by hand. I find it kind of moving to see all of these people handcrafting this thing that I enjoy so much. I don’t think I take it for granted, but it is very special to see first-hand all of the effort that goes into a cigar.

My guide showed me around the factory and took me into the rooms where they were aging tobacco. He gave me a cigar to sample which was excellent (and thankfully it was excellent, because I had never had these cigars before and it would have been an awkward experience if the cigars were bad).

After the tour I was taken into the office of the owner of the company and his brother. Guillermo Pena is the owner of Las Villas. Guillermo spoke English and he told me the story of how he and his brother grew up in Cuba and worked as cigar rollers there before escaping to Miami in the early 2000s. They started working initially at cigar factories in Miami before going out on their own to create their own cigars. They eventually created a factory in Estelí, Nicaragua and started rolling cigars for other brands as well as creating their own. They started with eight rollers and today they have over 200. While I was there, I tried a Las Villas cigar called By The Book, which came in a cigar box that looked like a book. It was excellent. Full bodied, leathery, earthy, with a hint of natural sweetness, and a perfect construction in an oily wrapper. It was a truly amazing experience to be sitting in this office on the leather sofa in the middle of a cigar factory in the middle of Nicaragua talking about cigars with these men. We bonded over our mutual passion.