Romeo y Julieta cigars

Romeo y Julieta was established in 1875 by Inocencio Alvarez and Manin García in Havana. The brand's most decisive chapter came in the early twentieth century when Pepin Rodriguez-Fernandez, a prominent figure in the Havana tobacco world, acquired it and turned it into an international sensation. Rodriguez was a legendary promoter: he had the brand name placed on horse-drawn carriages, bullfighting posters, and theatre programmes across Europe. Sir Winston Churchill's fondness for its large-format cigars was so well documented that the 7-inch grande vitola took his name — a title it has carried ever since.

The Churchill remains the brand's signature, but Romeo y Julieta's appeal has always rested on its medium-bodied balance: creamy, slightly sweet, with cedar and mild spice rather than the intensity of heavier Habanos. That accessibility made it the gateway Cuban for generations of smokers outside Spain and Cuba.

After the 1959 revolution and the subsequent nationalization of the tobacco industry, the brand split. The Cuban version continues under Habanos S.A. and is made at José Martí factory in Havana. For the US market, Altadis U.S.A. produces a separate Romeo y Julieta line in La Romana, Dominican Republic — a lighter, often Connecticut-wrapped range with its own loyal following but no connection to the Cuban blend.

Both entities are ultimately subsidiaries of Imperial Brands, which owns Habanos S.A. (in partnership with Tabacuba) and Altadis. The legal structure does not, however, mean the products converge: the Cuban Romeo y Julieta and its Dominican counterpart taste nothing alike, and the embargo keeps them in separate commercial universes.