Henry Clay (cigar)

Henry Clay
Product type	Cigar
Owner	Imperial Brands
Produced by	Altadis USA
Country	United States
Introduced	1840s
Markets	United States
	Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1

Last updated November 14, 2023

Henry Clay is an American brand of cigars named after the early American politician Henry Clay.^[1] The cigars are currently manufactured in the Dominican Republic.^[2] The brand is currently owned by the Spanish company Altadis, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands.

History

1905 Henry Clay advertisement

Henry Clay was founded in the 1840s by a Spanish immigrant to Cuba, Julián Álvarez Granda.^[3] The brand was nationalized by Fidel Castro's government following the Cuban Revolution, and manufacturing was severely reduced throughout the 1960s.^[4]

The cigar's American Trademark was owned by the Henry Clay and Bock & Co. Ltd. located in Trenton, New Jersey. Henry Clay and Bock & Co. Ltd. became a component of the Tobacco Trust that, along with other trusts, was an object of the antitrust legislation of the United States.^[5]

By 1986, Henry Clay's American trademark was owned by Consolidated Cigar Corpation, which started producing non-Cuban Henry Clays. The Consolidated Cigar Corporation was eventually purchased by Altadis.^[6]

In popular culture

In the Russian and Soviet poet, playwright and actor Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky's 1925 poem Блек энд уайт/Black and White [ ru ] portraying issues of racism and capitalist exploitation, the setting is a Henry Clay and Bock Ltd. cigar factory in Havana.
Maurice Leblanc's gentleman thief Arsène Lupin was noted to have used a Henry Clay cigar to conceal a reply to an invented associate as a part of his escape from jail in Arsène Lupin in Prison.
In the film Blackmail (1929 film) the blackmailer is offered a Henry Clay cigar but instead chooses a Corona.
In George Simenon's novel, Pietr the Latvian [ fr ], the book's namesake is observed by Inspector Maigret smoking a Henry Clay cigar.
The Kurt Weill song 'Matrosen-Tango' (Sailor-Tango) includes the lyric 'Und Zigarren rauchen wir Henry Clay ... Denn andere Zigarren, die rauchen wir nicht' (And we smoke Henry Clay cigars... we don't smoke any other cigars).
In Thomas Mann's 1924 novel The Magic Mountain, the character Hofrat Behrens remarks that he almost died smoking "two small Henry Clay's".

Related Research Articles

A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder leaf which holds the filler together, and a wrapper leaf, for appearance and flavor, which is often the highest quality leaf used. Often there will be a cigar band printed with the cigar manufacturer's logo. Modern cigars can come with two or more, highlighting special qualities such as age and origin of the tobaccos used.

<i>Cigar Aficionado</i> American cigar magazine

Cigar Aficionado is an American lifestyle magazine that is dedicated to enjoying the “good life” and the world of cigars. It is a publication of M. Shanken Communications, which also publishes Wine Spectator, Whisky Advocate, Market Watch, Shanken News Daily and IMPACT Newsletter.

Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.

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 nearly 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. The name cohíba derives from the Taíno word for "tobacco".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altadis</span>

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.

Bolívar is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco for General Cigar Company, which is today a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Both are named for the South American revolutionary, Simón Bolívar.

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.

Romeo y Julieta is a brand of premium cigars, currently owned by Imperial Brands. The brand is currently owned by two Imperial Brands subsidiaries, Habanos S.A. in Cuba and Altadis in the Dominican Republic.

Partagás is the brand name of two lines of cigars 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramón Allones (cigar)</span>

Ramón Allones is the name of two premium cigar brands. The first one is produced on Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company. The other is produced in Honduras for General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match.

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.

General Cigar Company is the largest manufacturer of premium cigars in the world. It is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group with North American headquarters located in Richmond, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigar band</span> Loop of paper or foil that surrounds a cigar

A cigar band is a loop made of paper or foil fitted around the body of a cigar to denote its brand or variety. Although origins of the device are the subject of several legends, modern historians credit a European immigrant to Cuba named Gustave Bock with invention of the cigar band in the 1830s. Within two decades, banding of cigars exported from Havana became almost universal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Llaneza</span> American businessman

Frank Anthony Llaneza was a tobacco blender and former executive of Villazon & Co. who is regarded as a pioneer in the resurgence of the premium cigar industry at the end of the 20th Century. Llaneza is best known for the creation and manufacture of a number of popular cigar brands in the years after the 1962 Cuban Embargo, including Hoyo de Monterrey, Punch, Bolivar, and Siglo.

Joya de Nicaragua, S.A., established in 1968, is the oldest brand of cigars made in Nicaragua. The company continues to manufacture its products today from its headquarters in Estelí. Today, it is a major manufacturing center of handmade cigars.

The Henry Clay and Bock & Company Ltd. Cigar Factory is a historic industrial building located at 507 Grand Street in the Chambersburg neighborhood of Trenton, New Jersey. It was built in 1932 to house the hand production of fine cigars and is considered the most architecturally distinct industrial building in the city, having been designed in the Spanish Revival style to highlight the Cuban origins of the company. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 12, 1979 for its significance in architecture and industry.

Saint Luis Rey is a Cuban cigar brand produced by Habanos S.A., the state-owned tobacco company.

References

↑ Joyce, James; Johnson, Jeri (1998), "Notes to paes 235-240", Ulysses, Cambridge: Oxford University Press: 873, ISBN 978-0-19-283464-5
↑ Shanken, Marvin R. (2005), Cigar Companion, Cambridge: Running Press, p. 41, ISBN 978-0-7624-1957-9
↑ "DEATH OF JULIAN ALVAREZ.; A MAN WHO MADE MILLIONS OUT OF THE FAMOUS "HENRY CLAY" CIGAR". The New York Times . December 17, 1885.
↑ Communications inc, M. Shanken. "Henry Clay War Hawk Gets A Churchill". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
↑ Moody, John (1904), The Truth About The Trusts: A Description and Analysis of the American Trust Movement, New York: Moody Publishing Company, p. 91
↑ Inc, M. Shanken Communications. "Henry Clay War Hawk Gets A Churchill". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved October 24, 2023.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)

External links

Henry Clay at Altadis USA

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[Ulysses-1] Joyce, James; Johnson, Jeri (1998), "Notes to paes 235-240", Ulysses, Cambridge: Oxford University Press: 873, ISBN 978-0-19-283464-5

[2] Shanken, Marvin R. (2005), Cigar Companion, Cambridge: Running Press, p. 41, ISBN 978-0-7624-1957-9

[3] "DEATH OF JULIAN ALVAREZ.; A MAN WHO MADE MILLIONS OUT OF THE FAMOUS "HENRY CLAY" CIGAR". The New York Times . December 17, 1885.

[4] Communications inc, M. Shanken. "Henry Clay War Hawk Gets A Churchill". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved February 6, 2023.

[5] Moody, John (1904), The Truth About The Trusts: A Description and Analysis of the American Trust Movement, New York: Moody Publishing Company, p. 91

[6] Inc, M. Shanken Communications. "Henry Clay War Hawk Gets A Churchill". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved October 24, 2023.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)

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