Partagas cigars sold in the US are the non-Cuban Partagas, separate from the Cuban Partagás that Don Jaime Partagás founded in Havana in 1845. The Cifuentes family, who owned the Cuban factory, made a deal with General Cigar in the mid-1970s; the first non-Cuban Partagas reached the market in 1977, and the brand now belongs to Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Cigar Aficionado describes the classic blend as a Cameroon wrapper over a Mexican binder and Dominican and Mexican filler, made at General’s Dominican factory. Strength depends on the line: Partagas describes Cortado as mellow-to-medium-bodied, creamy and complex, while Cigar Aficionado’s review of the Broadleaf-wrapped Black Label Piramide lists it as medium-full, with notes of licorice and char, and Cigar Aficionado calls 1845 Extra Fuerte a fuller-bodied 1845. To start, try the Cameroon-wrapped classic or the lighter Cortado, and check the Partagas category page, which lists the brand when in stock.

Partagás Cigars

Partagás is among the oldest cigar brands still in existence, founded in 1845 in Havana, Cuba, by Spanish immigrant Don Jaime Partagás y Ravell, a skilled blender and fermenter of tobacco who owned many plantations in the Vuelta Abajo region and is traditionally credited with hiring one of the first lectors—readers who entertained torcedores as they rolled cigars. After the Cuban Revolution nationalized the cigar industry, the legendary Ramón Cifuentes Toriello emigrated to the United States and partnered with General Cigar Company to relaunch Partagás for the American market, with the first non-Cuban Partagas reaching stores in 1977, first making the cigars in Jamaica and later at General’s factory in the Dominican Republic; the brand now belongs to Scandinavian Tobacco Group. The iconic Partagás lineup includes the Partagás Original featuring a Cameroon wrapper over a Mexican binder with Dominican and Mexican fillers; the Partagás 1845 Clasico with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers in its 2017 blend; the Partagás 1845 Extra Oscuro dressed in a dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper; the Partagás Black Label in a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper; Cigar Aficionado’s review of the Black Label Piramide lists it as medium-full; and the Partagás 1845 Extra Fuerte, which Cigar Aficionado describes as a fuller-bodied version of the 1845 line. From the mild-to-medium Connecticut Shade-wrapped Cortado to the fuller-bodied 1845 Extra Fuerte, Partagás cigars offer a heritage that traces back to the 1845 Havana brand through the Cifuentes family.