Joya de Nicaragua cigars

On February 29, 1968, J.F. Bermejo and Simón Camacho established Nicaragua Cigar Co. in Estelí and began producing Joya de Nicaragua — meaning "jewel of Nicaragua" — making it the country's first nationally marketed premium cigar brand. The cigars quickly found favor in the United States and earned a devoted following, including, according to the brand's history, admirers in the Nixon White House.

The Nicaraguan Revolution of the late 1970s brought the operation to a near halt. The factory was burned to the ground, the workforce scattered, and the brand spent years in limbo. Dr. Alejandro Martínez Cuenca acquired the company in 1994, finding what he described as a faded jewel. He rehired surviving rollers and blenders, restored the Estelí facility, and set about recapturing the brand's original character. The result was the Antaño 1970, a full-bodied Nicaraguan puro that drew on the country's most intense growing regions and paid explicit homage to the brand's late-sixties peak.

Portfolio and Standing

The Antaño 1970 remains the brand's flagship and critical touchstone — the Churchill size earned a spot on Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 in 2022, validating the revival's staying power. Cinco Décadas was released in 2018 to mark the brand's fiftieth anniversary, produced in only two shapes that mirrored the original vitolas rolled in 1968. Joya Red and Joya Black serve as the brand's more accessible, everyday expressions, introducing new smokers to Nicaraguan character without the full intensity of the Antaño line.

Joya de Nicaragua remains the oldest active premium cigar manufacturer in Nicaragua and continues to operate under Martínez Cuenca's ownership from its Estelí factory.