A. Fuente & the Cigar Factory

By Luis Molina
December 20, 2007

Read about a trip Cigar Weekly member Luis Molina (Mr. Puro) took this past August to the Dominican Republic. Luis had an opportunity to visit A. Fuente Factory No. 1, Château de La Fuente and the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation (CFCF) Complex.

Every devout pilgrim has his 'Holy Land'. For wine enthusiasts, France remains the must-see destination. Scotch drinkers obviously have to visit the ancient Druid-land that is Scotland. Luxury sports car lovers seek out Italy. For us lovers of the leaf, our Meccas include Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. To actually see the origins of the work of art that is the handmade cigar is an experience any cigar smoker should try to embrace in his or her lifetime. If you have not seen a tobacco field or witnessed a torcedor working his craft in person, then reader, I highly suggest you include such an excursion in your “Top 10 Things to Do in Life” list.

I'm sure you are aware that a lot of blood, sweat and patience goes into a single cigar. But you cannot fully appreciate the scope of this truth until you have seen the steps up close and personally. This past August, I was fortunate to take a tour of the A. Fuente Factory No. 1 in Santiago, the cigar center of the Dominican Republic

Just to give you a bit of background before I begin the narrative of my tour, I have worked for Imperial Trading Company's premium cigar division (a wholesaler in New Orleans with a premium cigar department, and owner of Don Juan Cigar Co., a cigar retailer with three locations in Southeast Louisiana) for the last four years. I have been privileged to visit Danli, Honduras, on one of Rocky Patel's infamous trips, in February of this year. In August, I was given the opportunity to visit the eastern half of Hispaniola, and was able to tour A. Fuente's very first Dominican factory (they have five now, I believe), Château de la Fuente (the tobacco plantation that grows Opus X leaf) and the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation Complex.

Now to the details. First of all, Factory No. 1 is located in the Free Trade Zone (La Zona Franca). For those not familiar with this trade arrangement, any company located in the designated area has certain economic advantages. But these come with trade-offs. Essentially, any company manufacturing product in La Zona Franca must export the item to the United States. No local sales are allowed. Whatever is made there has to go out. The free trade zone in which A. Fuente Factory No. 1 is located is actually a large 'industrial park'.

A well-guarded entrance marks the boundary of La Zona Franca. Other industries and factories share this area as well (textile factories, for example). After getting clearance from the gate-keeper, I drive past SAG's (maker of Fonseca) tabacalera and General Cigar Dominicana before reaching the fabled Fuente factory.

The Virgil to my Dante, my contact there, the very friendly Waldo, greets me in the lobby of the factory. Moments later, the factory manager comes down to meet us. My first impression is of the Fuente family's attention to detail. One can tell that Don Carlos and son Carlito are pure artists in every sense of the word. The arrangement of the factory, the architectural design, the colors, the factory floors – everything looks as if it has a purpose. Granted, I have only been to about half a dozen cigar factories. But I can say that A. Fuente Factory No. 1 may be the best organized, cleanest and most visually appealing cigar factory I have seen. I do not feel as if I am walking through some industrial factory so much as I feel immersed in a hallowed hall, a wondrous museum, a holy temple of tobacco. No wonder the cigars born here represent great works of art, as well as boasting a high consistency of quality, taste and burn. The rollers are truly engaged in and proud of what they do. Their's is not simply a job, but a passion that is evident in their finely-tuned orchestration of rolling. Just in case you are not familiar with the cigar brands that A. Fuente produces, they include A. Fuente, Hemingway, Don Carlos, Fuente Fuente Opus X, Cuesta-Rey, Cuesta-Rey Sungrown, Diamond Crown, D.C. Maximus and La Unica (they also produce Ashton). In other words, The A. Fuente operation creates a lot of great cigars.

We pass the first area of torcedores and meet the row responsible for the Fuente Cañones. Only a few rollers are responsible for the famous behemoth of a cigar, and this arrangement of specialized tasking ensures that these cigars are consistent and near-perfect in every way. Next stop is a quality control check-point. Now, I'm sure we smokers are aware of a well-organized factory's quality control check-points. But like Emeril, the Fuente factory kicks it up a notch. The personnel are so meticulous about quality (a good thing) that they have more check-points than you can imagine. No messing around here – that's for certain.

Next, the factory manager takes us into one of the ageing rooms. You thought Augustus Gloop had a marvelous taste of Wonka's decadent chocolate river? Oh reader, Augustus had nothing compared to the feast to which my eyes are privy. Imagine the distance your sight can travel. That is close to the length of this room – and the entire extent of it lined with scores upon scores of cigars. All I can see are billions and billions of geometrically-arranged brown circles that are, in fact, the heads of resting cigars. What truly amazes me is the factory manager's statement that most of the cigars in this room have years of age on them (some as much as eight years and more!). He claims that Carlito arranged things so that he could tell how old any cigar in the room actually was. And yes, Carlito's legendary private stash of uniquely-rolled shapes, that will never see the light of any cigar shop (well, except Casa Fuente perhaps), are in the room. Nice.

After not seeing the anticipated Oompa-loompas jumping out from that room and bursting into well-choreographed song, our next stop is the legendary Opus X room. No words can describe the aura that this place exudes. If there is any place on earth that is cigar heaven, this must be it. This separated and designated room marks the location of the transition from leaf into the famous cigar known as Fuente Fuente Opus X. And what a place of origin it is. Like the rest of the building, the room is a museum, not a factory gallery. The Caribbean yellows adorning the walls underscore the sublime atmosphere. The artwork, the wood trim – everything emphasizes that one is in a holy place. The factory manager tells me the room is temperature and humidity-controlled at specific levels to maintain the traits of the leaf throughout the entire cigar-making process (aging, banding, cellophane-ing and packing). It's all about keeping the essence of the leaf intact. There really is a tremendous amount of care and attention that goes into the production of this cigar.

After recovering from my fainting, we move on to the second floor to view another rolling gallery. Here, they make the Hemingway, Añejo (when it istime to make them), Diamond Crown Maximus and Ashton Virgin Sun Grown (VSG) cigars. Then, we return downstairs to visit the packaging and boxing room. Columns and columns of boxes as far as the eye can see. Women carefully banding, cellophane-ing and packing the sweet nectar-sticks. What a sight! With the tour of the factory over, I thank my temporal guide, Waldo, for the hospitality of the factory staff, and we drive out to Château de la Fuente – a 45-minute or so ride outside of Santiago, in the region known as Bonao. Waldo explains to me that father and son Fuente took many years to find an area suitable for the creation of the first major-produced Dominican wrapper leaf. I'm sure everyone knows the story of how the rest of the industry told father and son that they were crazy to attempt production of a Dominican-grown wrapper leaf, that this challenge was too hard, that they would waste many dollars and that the result would be a horrible leaf – in short, that it couldn't be done. Remember, reader, that throughout history, risk-takers and geniuses have always been labeled as crazy for attempting the 'impossible'. After the promise of the first crop and many years of successful cultivation, Opus X is now the most-sought after cigar in the world. And it all began at Château de la Fuente.

Although the fields are barren at the time of my visit (planting begins after hurricane season), I can see the poles that will provide support for the cheese-cloth that is integral to the production of the wrapper leaf. My guide shows me the curing barns as our driver carefully manouvers our jalopy over the dusty, unpaved road. Turn after turn finally brings us to the outskirts of the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation complex. For those not familiar with the CFCF, this is the charity-based organization, founded by Carlito Fuente and Eric Newman of JC Newman, and created to serve the poor of the Bonao region. The leaders of the two families felt that those responsible for the production of their tobacco leaves had to be taken care of. The Bonao area has always been inhabited by poor natives who lacked access to formal education, basic healthcare, clean water and a source of good food supply. Before the Fuente family came in, these people had close to nothing. Out of compassion, the two families created the CFCF in order to meet the basic needs of these people. The organization has been funded by the charity and consideration of many cigar-smoking donors, like us, through the annual Toast Across America (the yearly smoking event at designated smoke shops across the country) as well as through online auctions of special cigars.

The CFCF complex is amazing. It has given the children and adults of this region an opportunity for education, healthcare and a quality of life we Americans (and those in other developed nations) take for granted. The CFCF is truly a wonderful thing, and all of it is funded by the love of the leaf we share. Solar panels generate power for the complex. There is an area where people are taught how to grow organic crops, an apiary that produces some of the best honey, a pond for camarones (Spanish for shrimp), a basketball court, a baseball field, a great-looking school, a medical complex and what appears to be an outdoor theater of some sort that is still under construction.

Waldo explains that this complex still needs donations. Unfortunately, it is difficult for the charity to raise money from other private organizations and donors, as many are afraid of the stigma that this is a cigar/tobacco-related charity. Does it really matter? The Cigar Family Charitable Foundation is really helping poor and unfortunate souls. I feel disgusted that many cigar-Nazis in this country could be shallow enough not to donate to the CFCF because of its relation to the 'tobacco industry'. Yet such is the discrimination some show in this increasingly anti-tobacco state (I apologize for the venting).

The sun's heat-laden rays finally coerce my guide and me to the shady solace of our car. We head back down the dirt road past the hill with the palm-thatched hut that overlooks Château de la Fuente. I thank my guide and friend, Waldo. Later, as I look at the mountainous green landscape that is the Dominican Republic while travelling the highway to Santiago, I feel fortunate to have visited one of the four Meccas of the cigar world. This experience has certainly deepened my appreciation of the wondrous star and jewel that is the handmade cigar.

Luis Molina (Mr. Puro) hails from Greater New Orleans and for the past four years has been involved in the retail and wholesale sector of the cigar business with Imperial Trading Company and Don Juan Cigar Co. An avid researcher and writer, he is embarking into uncharted waters on his own voyages.