Arturo Fuente
The Arturo Fuente heritage is one of ingenuity and extraordinary resilience, enduring and thriving through some of the most trying times in the world of premium cigars. It all began in 1906. A young Don Arturo Fuente emigrated from Cuba to Key West, Florida, in search of the American Dream. Key West had a sprouting cigar industry, but Don Arturo saw the booming cultural hub, Ybor City in Tampa, Florida, as ripe with opportunity.
In 1910 Don Arturo brought with him his vision, and his wife, and settled in West Tampa, Ybor City’s sister town. After only two years, in 1912, at only 24 years old, he founded A. Fuente & Company, with their factory at 813 Francis Street.
The company crafted cigars by hand with Cuban tobacco, and did well, with 500 employees in 1922. In 1924, while Don Arturo was in Cuba buying tobacco, the factory burned down. Moreover, he also had to contend with the sting of a divorce at the time.
While such trials would be enough to deter lesser men, Don Arturo could not be kept down. He worked as a general manager to pay off the debts from the fire, remarried, and by 1940 was making cigars out of the back of his family home with his wife, Doña Cristina, and two sons, Carlos and Arturo Oscar.
From that humble rebirth, A. Fuente & Company took an unstoppable trajectory to the Arturo Fuente we know today.
Through the 1950s, the company had a new factory and new national distributors, and under the keen leadership of Carlos Fuente, the 1960s brought exponential growth when most of the industry had gone out of business because of the 1962 Cuban Embargo.
By the 1970s, A. Fuente & Company opened factories and farms throughout the Caribbean and South America, including in Nicaragua and Honduras. In 1973, the company lost its patriarch and founder, Don Arturo, at the age of 85, so the Flor Fina 8-5-8 was released in 1975 in his honor.
In 1978, the communist Sandinistas Liberation Front burned down the factory in Nicaragua, and the next year another fire claimed the Honduran factory.
To save the company, in 1980, Carlos opened Fuente LTD in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and in just one year released the acclaimed Hemingway series which brought back a unique figurado shape that earned the line the nickname “fancy tails”. Figurado, or cigars made in exotic shapes, was considered to be a lost art at that time. The line quickly became iconic and was praised in the Mach 1984 issue of Cigar Connoisseur.
By 1986, all production was moved to the Dominican factories, and, after the 1990s cigar culture boom, the company released several iconic lines, including the groundbreaking “Project X from Planet 9” with pioneering methods of growing Dominican wrapper, which later became the world-renowned Opus X Brand. Production skyrocketed by 1997 to over 40 million, and from then Arturo Fuentes secured its position in cigarmaking history through its continued uncompromising dedication to quality and craftsmanship, both in flavor and aesthetic execution.
In February 2008 issue of Cigar Insider gave the Fuente Fuente OpusX Robusto an impressive 93 rating. The Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story Maduro was dubbed the “Best of the Best” by Robb Reports 2012 Luxury Portfolio.
More impressive than the accolades and rave reviews, however, is the dedication Arturo Fuente has to give back. The company is heavily involved with the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Dan Marino Foundation, as well as the Hillsborough Education Foundation.
Arturo Fuente is an exceptional brand with exemplary products, heritage, and altruism. Today, you can visit the Familia Fuente at the Casa Fuente bar and lounge at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and even enjoy a robust cup of Arturo Fuente Coffee. However, nothing compares with experiencing the prominent Arturo Fuente cigar history.
Within the various offerings of Arturo Fuente, you will find your perfect cigar to relax on your own or while spending time with friends and family. No matter the occasion, you can kick back and with each draw enjoy the warm welcome by Don Arturo to the esteemed Familia Fuente.
