Antigua Esteli expanding European distribution. In a zoom chat with Antigua Esteli owner Art Garcia with some southeast Asian brothers of the leaf, Garcia revealed the news. The countries that soon will see Antigua Esteli on the shelves of local tobacconists are Sweden, The Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. And the first shipment of Antigua Esteli has landed in Japan and Malaysia as well. The brand already has a presence in Spain, Romania, and Germany.

The history of the brand

Even though Garcia founded Antigua Esteli cigars in 2015, the cigars didn’t hit the market until 2019. And with success, the cigars received high ratings both in online media as well as printed media. Cigar Journal picked the cigar in its top 25 of 2019 and we rated it 92 as well. Art Garcia came up with the name while driving to Jalapa. He passed the city of Antigua and he loved that name. But the name can also mean ‘old’ or ‘ancient’. And with the name, Garcia wanted to represent the people from Nicaragua, and the beautiful art and crafts of Esteli. Since the cigars are made in Esteli, he named his brand Antigua Esteli.

Maduro and Oscuro

Antigua Esteli Segovias is available in two blends. In the United States, they are called Antigua Esteli Segovias Maduro and Antigua Esteli Segovias Habano. But since Habano is a protected word in Europe and can’t be used if the cigar doesn’t come from Cuba, it had to be renamed. Garcia opted to rename the cigars Antigua Esteli Segovias Oscuro. Both blends are made with the same Nicaraguan leaves, yet with another composition. Another difference is in the wrapper, the Maduro wrapper comes from the San Andres region in Mexico. The Habano Oscuro wrapper is Ecuadorian.