El Laguito Cigar Factory is a Cuban factory building established by Fidel Castro in
Havana, Cuba
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cohiba cigar was first manufactured.
Early history
In the 1960s, the El Laguito factory was established by
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
with the help of Eduardo Ribera, a cigar maker. The factory was located in Havana, in the area of Playa. The property was described as a palm-fringed colonial-style home originally owned by an English family known for producing Fowler's West India Treacle.
Cohibas
The Cohiba, a trademark now owned by Habanos S.A., was conceived in the factory in February 1967. The varieties included Exquisitos, Lancero, Behike, and more.
In the mid-to-late 1960s, one of Castro's bodyguards was noticed smoking a noticeably aromatic but unbranded cigar. After locating the cigar maker, Eduardo Ribera, it was agreed to establish the El Laguito Factory which would eventually brand the cigars as Cohiba and become Castro's signature brand.Stubbs, Jean. “TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF? THE HAVANA CIGAR REVISITED.” NWIG: New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, vol. 74, no. 3/4, 2000, pp. 235–55. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41850061. Accessed 24 May 2024. Castro exclusively smoked the Cohibas before he gave up cigars for health reasons. The El Laguito factory-made Cohiba Lancero cigars were originally presented as diplomatic gifts for allied countries and friends of Castro.
Trinidad
The El Laguito factory produced a cigar brand called '
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
' which included the Trinidad Fundadores and Trinidad Panatela. Trinidad Fundadores were exclusively produced at the factory starting in 1980. Diplomatic Trinidads were presented as gifts by the Cuban Government which included former President Fidel Castro, his secretary of state, and other high-ranking Cuban diplomats.