Why are there several brands of cigars with the same name?

If you're a fan of Cuban cigars, you've probably already noticed that some of the most famous brands in the Habanos S.A. catalog also exist on the American market, under similar names. However, these cigars are not made in Cuba, but in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and the USA. So how do you explain the existence of several brands of premium cigars with the same name?

The birth of premium cigars

To understand why some of the brands in theHabanos S.A also feature in the catalogs of distribution companies such as General Cigars and Altadisthe origins of premium cigar making, and more specifically those of the cuban cigars.

Following the discovery of tobacco by Spanish colonists, Spain became one of the first European countries to market cigars. As early as 1531, the Spanish crown controlled numerous tobacco farms in Santo Domingo. It then extended its cultivation to Cuban territory, and in 1717 established a royal monopoly on all tobacco cultivation in Cuba. It was also at this time that cigar production began to flourish on the island.

When the Spanish monopoly ended in 1817, competition opened up and Havana quickly became the cigar capital of the world. By 1818, Cuba had no fewer than 400 cigar factories. Its low labor costs, local supply of raw materials and the final quality of its cigars made it a major player on the European market. In 1855 alone, 360 million Cuban cigars were imported into Europe. In 1834, Por Larrañaga becomes the world's leading premium cigar brand, followed by Punch (1840), Partagás (1845), Romeo Y Julieta (1875) and Montecristo (1935).

The consequences of land nationalization by the Cuban government

In September 1960, Fidel Castro's government took the decision to nationalize land of over 420 hectares. This action had two dramatic consequences for the cigar industry and the Cuban economy. Firstly, it forced many cigar manufacturers into exile, and secondly, it accelerated the American embargo on Cuba.

In 1962, the Cuban government created Cubatabaco, Cuba's national tobacco company (now Habanos S.A.) to produce and distribute tobacco products, including premium cigars. Cubatabaco's portfolio includes 25 cigar brands, including Partagás, Romeo Y Julieta and Montecristo. Other brands such as Cohiba, Trinidad and Quai d'Orsay will later be added to this catalog.

The confiscation of land and nationalization of production plants led many Cuban cigar makers to flee the island in search of new terroirs for their production. Thanks to their unique expertise and know-how, as well as tobacco seeds brought back from Cuba, they managed to revive their cigar-making businesses. Although their plantations and factories had been nationalized, they still owned the trademarks and distribution rights.

The legal battle over trademark ownership

After their exile, the owners of the Montecristo brand, Menendez and Garcia, settled in the Canary Islands and set up Compania Insular Tabacalera S.A. (CIT). They quickly developed a new brand of cigars, called Montecruz, which, although containing no Cuban tobacco, bore a strong resemblance to Montecristo cigars.

In 1972, Menendez decided to sue Faber, Coe and Gregg, the main importers of Cuban cigars in the United States, for trademark infringement and unfair competition. In the " Menendez v. Faber, Coe & Gregg, Inc.the US District Court for the Southern District of New York declared that ". Trademark rights are not destroyed by the temporary suspension of the business to which they belong due to causes beyond the owner's control. ". As a result, the expropriated Cuban owners retained ownership of their trademark.

This landmark decision not only allowed Menendez and Garcia to produce and sell cigars under the Montecristo name, but also set a legal precedent for all expropriated Cuban brand owners. The ruling did specify, however, that the homonymous brands could not contain Cuban tobacco due to the embargo, and could only be sold in the United States.

Different cigars with the same name

Montecristo and H. Upmann

In 1972, the Consolidated Cigar Corp. group bought out part of CIT. These two companies went on to create Cuban Cigar Brands N.V. to better protect the group's brands (including H. Upmann). Manufactured in the Canary Islands, then in the Dominican Republic, H. Upmann cigars and Montecristo products are made from non-Cuban tobacco and sold exclusively in the United States. In 2000, the company merged with the Altadis U.S.A which now holds distribution rights for both brands.

Partagas

After nationalization in 1960, Ramon Cifuentes, the owner of the Partagás brand, began working for General Cigar Co.'s parent company, Culbro Corp. In 1975, he transferred the brand name to General Cigar, which launched Partagas (without accent) cigars in the USA in 1977. Initially manufactured in Jamaica under the direction of Cifuentes, these cigars were later produced in Menendez's Dominican factory in Santiago. In 2005, General Cigar was acquired by the Swedish Match group.

Romeo Y Julieta

In 1976, Mr. Rodriguez's widow sold the Romeo Y Julieta brands, Saint Luis Rey, Juan LopezGispert and Quintero to the Hollco-Rohr group. In 1979, the Romeo Y Julieta brand is introduced to the American market. These cigars are manufactured in Manuel Manolo Quesada's factory in the Dominican Republic, and are rolled using a Cameroon wrapper and Dominican tobaccos. In 1998, Hollco-Rohr was acquired by the Tabacalera S.A. group, which subsequently merged with SEITA to form the Altadis group. In 2008, Altadis was acquired by Imperial Tobacco.

Cohiba

The Cohiba brand sold in the United States is a special case, since the Cuban brand was not created until after the Revolution. Introduced to the international market in 1982, the Cohiba name has never been registered in the USA. In 1978, General Cigar seized the opportunity and applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for ownership of the brand. In 1994, the company began selling Cohiba cigars from Dominican manufacturing in the United States. A few years later, she created the "Red Dot" logo to distinguish Cuban cigars from Dominican cigars.

In 1997, Cuba sued Culbro Corp. for trademark infringement. In December 2022, the U.S. Trade and Trademark Protection Board (TTAB) for the first time upheld Cubatabaco's request to cancel the commercial rights to the Cohiba cigar trademarks in the United States. However, this decision was appealed in February 2023, and General Cigar has declared that it will "continue to manufacture, market, sell and enforce its Cohiba brands" until the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issues its verdict.

How does Habanos S.A continue to protect its brands?

With the nationalization of Cuban brands and the development of new premium brands around the world, Cuban cigar makers sought to protect the reputation of habanos in the eyes of aficionados. In 1967, the term "habano" became a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), and only cigars rolled in Cuba from leaves grown on the island could claim this designation.

In 2020, Habanos S.A also initiated proceedings to prohibit the use of terms such as "Habano Seed", "Piloto Cubano", "Tinder Habano Jalapa-Nicaragua", "Habano wrapper" or "Habano wrapper from Ecuador" by cigar manufacturers based outside Cuba. In a ruling handed down in June 2023, the Munich Higher Regional Court upheld this claim, stating that the use of these terms by non-Cuban cigar manufacturers was intended to capitalize on the reputation and prestige of habanos, and undermined their distinctive reputation.

What if the embargo came to an end?

Now that the homonymous brands are deeply rooted in the American market, one wonders what will happen if the embargo is lifted. While Altadis (the Group owns 50% of Habanos S.A.) claims both Cuban and non-Cuban brands Montecristo, Por Larranaga, H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta, Cabanas, La Corona and Santa Damiana, and could therefore stop producing the non-Cuban brands in favor of habanos, General Cigar has no reason to stop producing and marketing brands such as Cohiba, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, Punch, Belinda, Ramon Allones and Bolivar.

This raises the legitimate question of what would happen if Cuban cigars were reintroduced to the American market. Will Habanos S.A. market its brands under another name? Or will it choose to focus on the brands owned by Altadis? Only time will tell...