Saint Luis Rey is a Cuban

cigar 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 l ...

brand produced by Habanos S.A., the

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

company.

History

The brand's name is believed to be a reference to either the town of

San Luis, Pinar del Río San Luis is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It is centered mainly on agriculture (tobacco, rice, fruit crops), stock raising. History It was founded in 1827, and established as a municipality in 1879, when it split ...

or the popular 1927 novel ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The Bri ...

'' by American author

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

. The brand was first registered by Zamora y Guerra Co., who were based in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. In 1940, the name Saint Luis Rey was registered by two English tobacco importers, Nathan Silverstone and Michael De Keyser. The Saint Luis Rey factory and its assets were

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

by the Cuban government on September 15, 1960. From 1960 until 1992, the brand was marketed exclusively in the UK market by NR Silverstone Cigar Ltd. In 1993, Habanos S.A. began exporting the brand worldwide. In the US, the Saint Luis Rey trademark was registered by

Altadis 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 , the former French tobacco monopoly. Through its i ...

. In 2008, Altadis was acquired by

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...

Production

Saint Luis Rey cigars are produced at the Briones Montoto factory in Havana, where Romeo y Julieta cigars are also produced. All Cuban-production Saint Luis Rey cigars are made with leaves sourced from the

Vuelta Abajo Vuelta Abajo (or Vueltabajo, literally: The lower roundtrip) is a geographic region in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It lies in the extreme western part of the island, bordered on the north by the Sierra de los Órganos mountains.

region. The brand is known for the Lonsdale size, which was a favorite of

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

.Bati, Anwer, ''The Cigar Companion'', Philadelphia, PA: Running Press (1993), , pp. 186-187

References

{{reflist Cigar brands Cuban brands Habanos S.A. brands