Don Tomas

Don Tomas was born in 1975 at Danlí, and it owes nothing to a Honduran: an American company, U.S. Tobacco, created it. One of its directors turned his father's first name into Spanish to christen the brand.

The cigars came out of HATSA — Honduras American Tobacco — under Estélo Padrón, the factory master this atlas already names on the Honduran Bolívar entry. The original blend married Honduran leaf from Talanga with Nicaraguan from Jalapa.

The boom of the 1990s disfigured it. Demand outran what the harvest could follow, and the blend was remade with Colombian, Dominican and Brazilian tobaccos under an Ecuadorian wrapper. Few brands tell this episode; it explains all the same what a whole generation of smokers found in the box.

The brand changed hands four times without ever leaving Danlí: U.S. Tobacco, then General Cigar, then Swedish Match in 2004, then the Danish group Scandinavian Tobacco, which has owned General Cigar since 2005. It is the exact chain the atlas already follows for the Honduran Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey and El Rey del Mundo.

Range Depth

• Don Tomas Clasico

  Wrapper Ecuadorian Connecticut · Strength Medium

  The most widespread line, the one carrying the blend remade in the 1990s: Colombian, Dominican and Brazilian filler under an Ecuadorian wrapper.

  Robusto · Toro · Churchill · Presidente

• Don Tomas Sun Grown

  Wrapper Sun-grown wrapper · Strength Medium-Full

  The fuller side, closer to what the brand was at the start, when it married Talanga with Jalapa.

  Robusto · Toro · Corona

• Don Tomas Maduro

  Wrapper Maduro · Strength Medium-Full

  Rolled at HATSA like the rest, under a long-fermented wrapper. The Danlí factory has never stopped making this brand since 1975.

  Robusto · Toro