Fuente Begins Construction of Nicaraguan Cigar Factory
Carlos Fuente Jr.’s dream of bringing his company back to Nicaragua is getting closer to reality. The company has officially begun construction on the buildings that will make up the massive cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, where Fuente will be rolling cigars in the not-too-distant future.
“This is no small feat—it is huge!” said Fuente Jr. “We’ve been working on drainage, pavers for streets, overall property and foundation for many months now. The buildings are going up quick now.”
The project has not been a quick one overall. Fuente Jr. announced he was going to build a factory in Nicaragua in January 2018 to be called Gran Fabrica de Tabacos La Bella y La Bestia (which translates to “beauty and the beast”). In June 2022, the company broke ground on the property, and now construction has gone into high gear.
Fuente is one of the world’s largest producers of handmade cigars, with a massive operation in Santiago, Dominican Republic where it rolls such powerhouse brands as Arturo Fuente Hemingway, Don Carlos and the Fuente Fuente OpusX brand, among many others. The factory in Nicaragua—the largest producer of cigars for the U.S. market—is not meant to replace its operation in Santiago, but to supplement it, and make the company even larger.
The word Fuente has been used on cigars since 1912, when the company was founded in Florida by Arturo Fuente. For more than a century, Fuente has rolled cigars in a host of countries, including (for a time) Nicaragua. This new factory will be a homecoming of sorts for the family-owned company.
Fuente told Cigar Aficionado today that the construction is expected to possibly conclude this year, but he’s expecting a ribbon-cutting ceremony in “early spring” of 2024.
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