 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(February 2016) |
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(June 2024) |
Guantanamera is an American cigar brand owned by Guantanamera Cigars Company of Miami, Florida, and a Cuban cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
Guantanamera is a United States cigar brand started in Miami, Florida, in 1997. Years later, Corporacion Habanos launched its own version of the brand. Since 2001, the Guantanamera Cigar Company ("GCC") the exclusive trademark owner of the brand in the United States has litigated with Corporacion Habanos over the rights to register the trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In early 2008, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor of Corporacion Habanos. Immediately thereafter, GCC filed an appeal with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. GCC was forced to appeal in this forum because Corporacion Habanos is a foreign entity.
In February 2009, Guantanamera Cigar Company filed suit against Corporacion Habanos, S.A. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida because Corporacion Habanos placed an advertisement in a cigar magazine with United States distribution and sales. The case was voluntarily dismissed and the cause of action was brought in the Appeal Court, i.e., the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. That Court dismissed the count for infringement finding that an advertisement in a magazine with United States distribution was not enough "use" under the Lanham Act.
On August 5, 2010, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted Miami-based Guantanamera Cigar Company's Motion for Summary Judgment, finding that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board erred when it ruled that Cuba won.
Corporacion Habanos' version of Guantanamera was launched in Dortmund, Germany, on September 14, 2002, and was made internationally available in October of the same year. The brand was named after the song "Guajira Guantanamera" (Spanish for 'peasant girl from Guantánamo') by José Fernández Díaz. Unlike nearly every other cigar blend produced in Cuba, the tobacco used in the brand comes from the Vuelta Arriba region, which is located in the middle of Cuba, rather than the Vuelta Abajo in Pinar del Río.
Featuring only machine-made cigars, Corporacion Habanos' version of Guantanamera is known as an affordable choice for consumers. The blend is mild with a slightly harsh/tannic aspect to it.
On the other hand, the United States brand produced by Guantanamera Cigar Company is a premium long-filler hand-rolled cigar.
Cuban cigars are cigars manufactured in Cuba from tobacco grown within that island nation. Historically regarded as among the world's “finest”, they are synonymous with the island's culture and contribute over one quarter of the value of all exports from the country.
Cohiba is a brand for two kinds of premium cigar, one produced in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic for US-based General Cigar Company.
Havana Club is a brand of rum created in Cuba in 1934. Originally produced in Cárdenas, Cuba, by family-owned José Arechabala S.A., the brand was nationalized after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. In 1993, French-owned Pernod Ricard and the government of Cuba created a state-run 50:50 joint venture called Corporación Cuba Ron. They began exporting this version of Havana Club globally, except for the United States due to the embargo put in place by the U.S. government.
Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and manufacturer of cigarettes, tobacco and cigars. It was formed via a 1999 merger between Tabacalera, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and SEITA, the former French tobacco monopoly. Through its international holdings, including ownership of the former Consolidated Cigar Holdings and half ownership of the Cuban state tobacco monopoly, Habanos S.A., Altadis was the largest producer of mass market and premium cigars in the world, as well as the fourth largest producer of tobacco products.
Montecristo is a brand of cigars and cigarettes produced separately and independently in Cuba by Habanos S.A., the national tobacco company, and in La Romana, Dominican Republic by Altadis, a subsidiary of British conglomerate Imperial Brands.
Diplomáticos is the name of a cigar brand, produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, at the José Martí factory in Havana.
H. Upmann is a Cuban brand of premium cigars established by banker Hermann Dietrich Upmann. The brand is currently owned by a British corporation, Imperial Brands. The cigars are manufactured by Habanos S.A., the state-owned tobacco company in Cuba, and Altadis in La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Cohiba is a Cuban brand of cigarettes created by Habanos S.A. They are currently manufactured by the French-Spanish company Altadis, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands. Since 2003, "Brascuba Cigarrillos" has produced the brand in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Russia.
Partagás is a brand name of cigars that are made by two independent & competing entities, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company; the other, containing no Cuban tobacco, produced in the Dominican Republic for General Cigar Company, a division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group of Denmark.
Habanos S.A. is a Cuban manufacturing company of tobacco that controls the promotion, distribution, and export of premium cigars and other tobacco products for Cuba worldwide. It was established in 1994.
Quintero is a cigar brand owned by British conglomerate Imperial Brands. The cigars are produced in Cuba by Habanos S.A., a state-owned tobacco company.
Por Larrañaga is the name of a cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, as well as a non-Cuban line of cigars produced in the Dominican Republic and Honduras for Altadis, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands. Por Larrañaga cigars have been in continuous production in Cuba since 1834.
Cuaba is the name of a Cuban cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
Don José "Pepin" Garcia is the CEO of El Rey de los Habanos, Inc, a cigar company in Miami, also known as My Father Cigars. He is a noted cigar maker living in Miami, Florida. Born in Cuba, he is a master cigar roller and blender, and the creator and maker of numerous popular cigar brands.
Ernesto Padilla is a Cuban-American artist, graphic designer and cigar maker. He is the son of Cuban poet, Heberto Padilla.
Piloto Cigars Inc. is a private company that produces the Padrón cigar brand from Nicaragua. Commonly known as Padrón Cigars, the company was founded in September 8, 1964, in Miami, Florida, by Cuban-native José Orlando Padrón. In 1970, Padrón moved the company to Estelí, Nicaragua.
In 2010, Arsen Cigars was launched by Arsen Gasparian, a former diplomat and journalist who came to the cigar industry originally as a publisher of the Russian Cigar Magazine, Hecho A Mano.
Gispert is the name of two premium cigar brands, one previously manufactured in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other in Honduras for the Franco-Spanish tobacco monopoly Altadis S.A., a division of Imperial Tobacco.
Sancho Panza is a cigar brand in Cuba dating from 1848, and still produced there by Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
Saint Luis Rey is a Cuban cigar brand produced by Habanos S.A., the state-owned tobacco company.