Antigua Esteli is coming to Europe. At the IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas, three distributors from European countries approached Art Garcia, the owner and founder of Antigua Esteli. Those distributors are from Germany, Spain, and Sweden. So Garcia had a reason to come to the Intertabac trade show where we sat down with him. And Garcia told us more news, his cigars are going to be introduced in France and the United Kingdom as well in 2020.

Name change

The cigars that are being introduced to Europe are the Antigua Esteli Segovias Habano Maduro cigars. But Habano is a copyrighted name globally with the exception of the United States. That goes for Havana and Cuba too, those names cannot be used for tobacco except by Habanos. A lot of cigars that are known as ‘Habano’ in the United States are sold as ‘Sun Grown’ elsewhere. But that wasn’t an option for the Antigua Esteli Segovias Habano Maduro. Garcia went for the Antigua Esteli Segovias Oscuro & Maduro instead.

The Antigua Esteli Segovias Oscuro comes in four sizes with two different blends. But the blends share the same thing, tobacco from four regions from Nicaragua. Two of the cigars come with a Mexican San Andres wrapper, where the other two have an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. Both wrappers have a 5½x52 robusto. Garcia created a little thicker and longer smoke than a regular robusto for a specific reason. He enjoys a cigar every morning but a robusto didn’t satisfy him enough, but there isn’t enough time to smoke a toro. So he picked a size in between, which solves both his problems. The Mexican San Andres version also comes in a 6×56 semi box-pressed toro. Finally, there’s a 6⅛x52 Torpedo with the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. 

Production and future plans

Antigua Esteli uses the Barreda Cigars factory right next door to A. J. Fernandez’s operation. But it does have its own team. Garcia manages a team of buncheros, torcedors, and blenders. He also buys his own tobacco straight from the growers so he doesn’t depend on the tobacco book of the production facility he’s using. But in a few years, Garcia will have to buy less tobacco. The reason is that he’s growing his own crop now. And once that is cured, fermented and aged he will start using that for his Antigua Esteli cigars.

But cigar aficionados don’t have to wait that long for new Antigua Esteli cigars. Garcia mentioned that he will release a round toro next year. And that he’s working on another vitola, which will either be a Churchill or a Lancero. He is leaning towards the Churchill at the moment.

With the arrival of Arturo Garcia Chevreuil aka Art Garcia and his Antigua Esteli Cigars, there is a second Garcia sheriff in the town of Esteli. And even though they share the last name, Art is not related to My Father Cigars.