Agrotabacos

Agrotabacos is the short name of a corporate name that says it all: Agroindustrial Nicaragüense de Tabacos. Omar Ortez founded it in 1995, in Condega, as a family business, and it has stayed one. The factory is in Condega — the town in the middle, between Estelí and Jalapa — and it claims to blend the three: the sweetness of Jalapa, the aromas of Condega, the strength of Estelí.

What it does is split in two, and it says so with figures. Forty per cent of its output goes out under its own brands, Omar Ortez Originals and Omar Ortez Maduro. Sixty per cent is rolled for others — and the list says whom one is dealing with: Altadis USA, Zander-Greg, Flor de González, Kretek International. A factory that rolls for a group like Altadis is not a workshop.

Indiana Ortez is Omar's daughter, and the face of the house. She entered the factory at twenty-two, trained for six months by a supervisor named Fausto, and has held quality control and marketing since. The recent collaborations came out under her name: Fathers, Friends and Fire with Ventura Cigar Co., then the Psyko Seven Nicaragua; and Casa de Ortez, the brand she presented with La Malinche at the 2023 trade show.

This is where Lampert's Edición Verde and Small Batch's cigars are made.

Range Depth

• Omar Ortez Originals

  Wrapper Undisclosed · Strength Medium-Full

  The founder's brand — with the Maduro, forty per cent of what the factory rolls.

• Casa de Ortez

  Wrapper Undisclosed · Strength Medium

  Indiana Ortez's brand, presented with La Malinche at the 2023 trade show.