Bolívar

Bolívar is a Cuban cigar brand sold around the world by Habanos S.A. It was created in Havana in 1902 and is named after Simón Bolívar, who led much of South America to independence from Spain. His portrait is on the band and the box. In 1954 the brand was sold to the Cifuentes family, the owners of Partagás, and it is still made at the Partagás factory in Havana.

Well-known sizes include the Belicosos Finos, the Royal Coronas, a robusto, and the Coronas Gigantes, a Churchill-size cigar. The Soberano was added as a limited edition in 2018. The leaf comes from the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río. Habanos rates the brand full in strength, and it is one of the strongest Cuban brands.

Because of the U.S. embargo, Cuban Bolívar cigars cannot legally be sold in the United States. After the revolution Ramón Cifuentes left Cuba, and in 1978 he licensed the Bolívar name in the United States to General Cigar Co., now part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. General Cigar makes a separate non-Cuban Bolívar in the Dominican Republic with no Cuban tobacco.