What's in a name? Partagas
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Old Cuban Partagás Band |
Jaime Partagás
worked for a number of years in the Cuban cigar business before he ventured out
on his own to establish a factory to make his own brand. Partagás cigars were born in 1845 Cuba. After Jaime became the unfortunate victim of murder,
presumably out of retaliation from an affair, his son, José assumed control of
the brand.
Sometime later José
Partagás sold the brand to José A. Bance, who was a banker. As bankers often do, he in turn sold Partagás
to Cifuentes, Fernández y Cía. The year
was 1900 and marked the first time that the Cifuentes family name was in
control of the brand and eventually ended up on the cigar band.
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New Cuban Partagás Band |
To this day the
Dominican Partagás band still bears the Cifuentes name. The original Cuban brand also bore the Cifuentes
name up until just a few years ago.
Habanos SA then, acting out of vengeance or guilt, systematically
removed the family names from the cigar bands.
Even though the world knows how the Castro regime nationalized private
enterprise, and wrested ownership and control away from the businessmen who
owned these brands and none will soon forget, they stripped the surnames from
the bands to smooth away this truth and alleviate the guilt.
Current Cuban Partagás
cigars no longer bear these traditional nods to their pedigree. Now they are merely a brand, owned by the
state, and distanced from the rich history that crafted an iconic brand. All the more reason to go smoke a Dominican
made Partagás because they haven’t been forced to forget their roots.
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