Camacho Cigars was a cigar company founded in 1962 by Simon Camacho and acquired by the Eiroa family in 1995. Now part of the Oettinger

Davidoff Davidoff is a Swiss premium brand of cigars, cigarettes and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by Imperial Brands after purchasing it in 2006. The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned b ...

Group, Camacho Cigars is based in Danlí, Honduras, and specializes in handmade Cuban seed

cigars A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder le ...

. After being exiled from Cuba in 1961, Simon Camacho began his cigar business in Miami, Florida. Simon Camacho’s cigars gained success in the United States, as well as abroad, and were even known to be enjoyed by British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Consequently, Camacho has since named one of its most popular cigars after Mr. Churchill. The vitola was developed in the Romeo Y Julieta factory in Cuba in approximately 1903. Production during this period reached 2 to 3 million cigars per year and the quantity continued to grow as the 1990s cigar boom years approached.

Acquisition

Five years after the death of Simon Camacho, the company become acquired by the Eiroa family in 1995, and tobacco production was then transferred from Nicaragua to Honduras. In 1998, 26-year-old Christian Eiroa became the president of Caribe Imported Cigars, setting his years of experience from the family plantations in Honduras to good use. By the early 2000s and with the launch of the Camacho Corojo, the Eiroa family and their ventures had become well known within the US cigar industry. In 2008, Camacho and its Rancho Jamastran factory in Danlí, Honduras sold to the Oettinger Davidoff Group, although the Eiroas maintained ownership of the Honduran tobacco fields.

Eiroa Family

Generoso Eiroa had been growing tobacco in Cuba since the 1900s, but due to the wake of the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cour ...

and subsequent nationalization of the tobacco plantations, his widow and three sons were forced to leave the country and settle in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

Eiroa's son, Julio Eiroa, joined the

Bay of Pigs invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly f ...

attempt as one of a force of Cuban exiles with the US Army. While his brother, Generoso Jr. worked in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

, Julio traveled to Honduras in 1963 on behalf of tobacco dealer Angel Oliva. There, as part of a government-sponsored cultivation project, he laid the foundations for Camachos tobacco plantations belonging to the Eiroa family. After his first year with the Oliva Family, Julio Eiroa decided to become an independent farmer. Julio Eiroa bought the government tobacco farms year after year. His decision changed helped kick-start the history of tobacco in Honduras. Through partnerships with companies such as Bering Cigars and US Tobacco, he would become the world’s largest Candela tobacco farmer by 1972. In 1987, Julio Eiroa founded Caribe Imported Cigars in Miami, Florida, which manufactures cigars and offers its products through dealers and retailers in the United States and internationally.

Company today

After five years of adopting Bayer's standards for good agricultural and manufacturing practices, Camacho Cigars and

Bayer CropScience Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...

signed a working partnership under the Bayer Food Management program. The new alliance established Camacho Cigars as the only tobacco company in history to comply with strict international standards for

Good Manufacturing Practices Current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are those conforming to the guidelines recommended by relevant agencies. Those agencies control the authorization and licensing of the manufacture and sale of food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceutic ...

and

Good Agricultural Practices Good agricultural practice (GAP) is a certification system for agriculture, specifying procedures (and attendant documentation) that must be implemented to create food for consumers or further processing that is safe and wholesome, using sustaina ...

(GAP). By complying with the practices set forth by Bayer CropScience, Camacho Cigars ensures the responsible management of natural resources, bio-friendly pesticides, industrial safety, and biosecurity. Camacho Cigars signed a three-year deal with the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

and the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

for the 2012-2014 Orange Bowl games and the 2013 BCS National Championship. The sponsorship was pulled after several public health organizations raised concern, saying tobacco promotions have no place in sports and shouldn't be allowed under federal tobacco marketing restrictions.

Brands

Core brands

The cigars produced under the Camacho Brand:
Baccarat "The Game"
* LegendArio * La Fontana
Outdoorsman
* La Fontana Consigliere * LegendArio Connecticut

Premium brands

The Cigar Blends that make up the core of the Camacho Brand.
Camacho Corojo
* Camacho Connecticut * Camacho Coyolar Puro * Camacho Ecuador * Camacho Havana
Camacho SLR Maduro
* Camacho Power Band * Camacho Shellback * Camacho Check Six * Room 101 Original * Room 101 San Andres

Ultra premium brands

The Limited Selections are available only at select retailers.
Camacho Triple Maduro
* Camacho Select
Camacho 10th Anniversary
* Camacho Diploma * Room 101 Conjura * Room 101 Namakubi * Room 101 OSOK * Room 101 Liberty 2012 * Room 101 Daruma

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://camachocigars.com/ Cigar brands Cigar manufacturing companies Manufacturing companies established in 1961 Companies of Honduras Honduran brands 1961 establishments in Florida 1995 mergers and acquisitions