Romeo y Julieta
The Romeo y Julieta cigar brand is one of the oldest and most famous cigar brands from Cuba . A brand of the same name is now also produced in the Dominican Republic .
history
The brand was founded in 1875 by tobacco growers Inocencia Alvarez and Manin Garcia. It is named after William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet . The cigars were initially only sold in Cuba and were therefore largely unknown internationally.
The brand owes its success to the efforts of José “Pepin” Rodriguez Fernandez. “Pepin” was originally the manager of the Cabanas factory in Havana. However, when it was taken over by American Tobacco , he withdrew and used his savings to buy the factory that produced the "Romeo y Julietas". He got the brand going by distributing 30 percent of the profits to department heads and traveling around the world promoting his brand. Among other things, he toured the world with a racehorse, which he cleverly named Julieta.
Within two years Romeo y Julieta was market leader everywhere. Pepin and his 1,400 workers soon had to move to a larger factory. The factory is still located on Calle Bellascoian 2 B (today the street is called Calle Padre Varela) in Havana's Centro Habana district. Pepin even tried to buy the famous Verona house where Shakespeare's drama is set. Although he did not succeed in this, he was allowed to open a stand under the balcony, where until 1939 every visitor received a free cigar in honor of the unhappy couple. He also did everything in his power to make the building on Belascoian 2B in Havana similar in many details to the Palazzo Capuleto. This went so far that he had a faithful copy of Juliet's balcony attached to his house. Don Pepin once declared during a reception:
“You can't ignore how famous and well-known these Shakespeare characters are. The quality of the play forces me to be just as successful and good at my habanos. As the 'Bard of Avon' (by which he meant Shakespeare) said: There is no story of love that is sadder than that of Romeo and Juliet. "
Pepin also recognized the power of the belly band. So he delivered cigars with personal belly bands to kings, heads of state and the like. As a record, the brand once produced 20,000 different abdominal pads. Winston Churchill was probably the most famous admirer of this brand of cigars. After his visit to Havana in 1946, the format he preferred was named "Julieta No.2" after his name. Even today you can recognize these cigars by the belly band, which still bears Churchill's name.
After "Pepin" Rodriguez 'death in 1954, the Cuban Revolution and the increasing nationalization of the tobacco industry, the Cuban government nationalized the brand and continues to manufacture and sell it worldwide.
Altadis also produces cigars from a brand of the same name in La Romana in the Dominican Republic .
Formats (selection)
Trade name - format - dimensions
- Arbolado - Corona - 142 × 16.7 mm
- Cazadore - Lonsdale - 162 × 17.5 mm
- Julieta No. 2 - Churchill - 178 × 18.7 mm
literature
- Anwer Bati: cigars. The guide for connoisseurs and bon vivants. 2nd ed., Munich, 1994, pp. 185-189.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Jane Resnick: Connaisseur international guide du cigare . 10th edition. Könemann Verlag, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-849-8 , p. 124 f .
- ↑ a b Bati: cigars. P. 185.
- ↑ a b c The Cigar Wiki: Manufactory "Romeo y Julieta" by Don Pepin (text based on the Cigar Journal by 5THAVENUE Products Trading GmbH, issue 36, February 2009).
- ↑ zigarre.net: Romey Y Julieta .