Bolivar

The Bolivar brand was founded surprisingly in Britain in 1901 by Jose F. Rocha although the brand was not registered in Havana until 1921 by Rochas’s firm J.F. Rocha y Cia. The name Bolivar comes from the famous South-American revolutionary, Simon Bolivar, who liberated countries such as Venezuela, Columbia, Peru and Bolivia.  After Rocha’s death in 1954, the company was taken over by Cifuentes y Cia and production was moved to the famous Partagas Factory in Havana. 

When Fidel Castro rose to control Cuba, no large cigar company managed to escape nationalisation. Bolivar’s owners as well as many others flocked to the Dominican Republic to re-launch their cigars. For the Cifuentes family, Dominican Republic Bolivar failed to gain popularity. The true quality of Bolivar Cigars remains in Cuba.

Bolivar cigars have the reputation of being stronger and more full-bodied with a perfect construction and consistency, therefore tend to be preferred by the more experienced smoker. Bolivar were producing a range of hand-made and machine-made cigars using Vuelta Abajo tobacco up until 2002 when Altadis bought a controlling share in Habanos SA. All but the cigarillo sized chicos were cut from the machine-made line. This was due to the idea that Cuban cigar brands should either make hand-made or machine-made cigars rather than both. 

Bolivar were once the producers of the world’s smallest cigar called the Delgado, it was only 1 and 7/8 inches in length, with a ring gauge of 20.

The Delgado had the honor of having a miniature box of its cigars featured in the royal nursery's dollhouse at Windsor Castle.

Click here to see our range of Bolivar cigars

Written by Oliver Partington - 07/04/2020