"An all-consuming passion for cigars is the unsurpassed characteristic of Carlos Fuente, Sr. and Carlos Fuente, Jr., Chairman and President, respectively, of the Dominican Republic based Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia., manufacturers of internationally renowned Arturo Fuente handmade cigars. Adversity, in the form of embargoes, revolutions and four major fires, has never been able to negatively affect their passion. Rather, it has strengthened their resolve to produce the world's finest cigars.


The Fuente family's tobacco roots go back to the old world Cuba of the 1800's. Arturo Fuente learned the art of cultivating tobacco and manufacturing handmade cigars from his father in Cuba. His son, Carlos, Sr., was virtually born into the cigar business in as much as his first home served as the Fuente cigar factory in Tampa. Carlos, Sr., worked at the factory everyday after school learning how to blend tobaccos and the ritual of rolling cigars by hand.


Not long after Carlos Sr. acquired the business from his father, Carlos Jr. was born and his early life was a mirror image of his father's life. He, too, was born in the family's home/factory. Each day, after school, he, too, worked at cigar blending and making cigars by hand. When producing cigars by hand became a lost art in Tampa, Carlos Sr. opened a factory in Nicaragua, but that fledging operation was burned to the ground by the rebel Sandanistas. Later, a second factory in Honduras was also demolished by fire.


In 1980 the Fuentes opened their first factory in the Dominican Republic with seven employees. The superior quality of the Arturo Fuente ® brand resulted in quickly establishing a loyal core of cigar customers which necessitated the building of a second factory. Today the Fuente family has over 1800 employees in four factories in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The Arturo Fuente ® brand is the most sought-after premium cigar in America. Due to consumer demand, there is a huge back order for all the Arturo Fuente ® shapes. Because Carlos, father and son, are true conocedores, they will not take any short cuts in the aging process. Therefore, the backlog of orders is not expected to diminish in the near future. Carlos Fuente, father and son's greatest creation Fuente Fuente OpusX ® is eagerly sought after by cigar connoisseurs all across America. Because of the special tobaccos which are blended into each Fuente Fuente OpusX ® and the extremely long period of time that the leaves are aged, the release of these magnificent cigars are and will continue to be on an extremely limited basis now and in the future.


Although Fuente father and son are justifiably proud of the widespread acceptance of their cigars in America and other sectors of the world, they are most proud of their tobacco plantation, Chateau de la Fuente. It was the dream of the Fuentes to one day produce, in the Dominican Republic, extraordinary cigar wrapper leaves. So-called experts advised them that conditions on the island were not conducive for such a project. After all, the scoffers pointed out, good wrapper leaves had never been grown successfully in the Dominican Republic. But Carlos Fuente father and son, had this passionate dream, and they were determined to prove the doom sayers wrong.


Today the Fuente dream is a reality. International cigar experts and critics have unanimously agreed that the silken Chateau de la Fuente wrapper leaves have no equal anywhere in the world.


In late 1996, the Fuente family acquired a second tobacco plantation in the Dominican Republic that is blessed with rich soil and ideal weather conditions. In a few years the wrapper leaves from this new farm will be used to produce more of the sought-after Fuente Fuente OpusX ® cigars.


When asked for the reasons for the success of Arturo Fuente ® cigars and the success of their estate-grown tobaccos, Carlos, Jr. points out that it is due to hard work, dedication to perfection and their overall passion for cigars. "We are a family business", he states, "Our factories and our plantations comprise our family 'kitchen'. By staying in the kitchen, we're able to consistently produce outstanding tobacco leaves and rich flavored, perfectly balanced cigars that please cigar aficionados every time, everywhere. And because tobacco is in our blood, that is all my family and I ever aspired to achieve."