Gispert

The Gispert cigar has been revived. Since the beginning of the brand, it has been a mellow and smooth consistent cigar. Despite its Cuban roots and a Spanish name, these cigars have narrowly survived the test of time.
Like other Cuban brands that still exist today, a non-Cuban production splintered the brand in order to provide cigars for the American market. According to Habanos S.A., the state-run Cuban cigar manufacturer, the brand dates back to the 1930’s.
The brand was named after a Cuban local with Spanish ancestry and founded by Jimón Veja Pelaez. Gispert is meant to be pronounced “Hees-pirat”.
Up until 1993, the original production in Cuba was handcrafted but they switched to machine pressed and hand rolled instead. The tobacco was from the Vuelta Arriba, which produced a milder blend compared to the typical Cuban cigar.
The cigars were rolled in the Carlos Baliño factory alongside El Rey del Mundo. Gispert held less than 1% of the market share and eventually production was halted in 2005.
When the embargo against Cuban goods came into action several Cuban brands were registered in the United States as separate brands under the same name. In 1975, Hollo-Rohr, a distributor of premium cigars and pipes, bought the rights to Gispert along with Romeo y Julieta.
Tabacalera S.A., once a Spanish tobacco monopoly, bought the Los Angeles based Hollo-Rohr into their portfolio. In 1999, Tabacalera S.A. merged with its French counterpart which was also a tobacco monopoly, SEITA, and formed Altadis SA.
Four years after the merger Altadis USA, a branch of Altadis S.A., brought the Gispert brand back to life in the United States market. They produced a mild to medium strength cigar, similar to the original.
The original non-Cuban blend was a mixture of Honduran and Nicaraguan long filler with an Ecuadoran-grown Connecticut-seed wrapper. There is also a Maduro wrapper option from San Andrés, Mexico. In 2017, Altadis released a bolder blend in collaboration with A.J. Fernandez, of the Hialeah based Diesel brand, which features Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobacco.
The Gispert handmade cigars are produced in Honduras. They are rolled in La Flor de Copan Cigar Factory, and they still alongside Romeo y Julieta.
Altadis breathed life into Gispert cigars and the brand has a flourishing new soul. It’s an affordable premium cigar that no aficionado should pass up. Cigar Aficionado has ranked it as excellent and outstanding on numerous occasions.
The fate of Gispert is better than many people first imagined. The vintage brand has taken on a stronger existence than its Cuban counterpart. Feel like a winner when you enjoy a Gispert cigar, you will understand the true value held within this underdog.