El Rey del Mundo

The name means the king of the world. Wikipedia and Origin of Cigar write that the brand is said to have been created in 1848 by the German Emilio Ohmstedt, at the same time as Sancho Panza; Origin of Cigar also reports the version of those who make Antonio Allones himself the founder in 1848. Habanos dates to 1882 the launch, under Antonio Allones, who had already been making cigars in Havana for more than thirty years, of a brand of high quality and high prices whose name was soon known for its prestige.

Habanos describes it as light to medium in flavour, in leaves from the Vuelta Abajo, hand-rolled with long filler. Habanos also writes that the brand has often been used for regional editions. Wikipedia writes that it remained popular during the 1960s and 1970s.

Origin of Cigar writes, in December 2025, that the standard range includes only the Choix Suprême and the Demi Tasse. The Choix Suprême is an Hermoso No.4, 127 mm with a cepo of 48, and the Demi Tasse an Entreacto, 98 mm with a cepo of 30, according to Alchetron's reuse of Wikipedia.

There is another El Rey del Mundo, Honduran, made by the Villazon family, says Wikipedia: it is a different cigar, and this entry concerns only the Cuban brand of Habanos S.A.

Where is it rolled? In Cuba the question has a two-storey answer. Since 2002 each Habanos brand has had a mother factory, responsible for leaf selection and blend, and its cigars may be rolled in any of the island's few dozen factories under the mother's supervision; Habanos does not publish that map, the trade press reconstructs it. Habanos does not name any factory for El Rey del Mundo. The trade press (April 2014) says that 852 Belascoaín, also known as the Briones Montoto factory, is the building that a 1940 directory gives to the El Rey del Mundo Cigar Company and where the Romeo y Julieta brand was housed until 2000; the trade press writes in 2011 that the Romeo y Julieta factory at Belascoaín 852 is then running under the name H. Upmann, and that Partagás production is to be transferred to the El Rey del Mundo factory, closed in May for renovation; Origin of Cigar places Romeo y Julieta since 2015 at the Carlos Baliño factory, in Marianao, the former site of José L. Piedra. These pages diverge on the brand's current factory, and none says that Carlos Baliño bore the name El Rey del Mundo. In October 2026, the page The Habanos Brands Academia on habanos.com places El Rey del Mundo among the thirteen other brands of a portfolio of 27, outside the six global brands, the five value brands and the three volume brands. Two dates for one brand: 1848 and Emilio Ohmstedt according to Wikipedia and Origin of Cigar, 1882 and Antonio Allones according to habanos.com, which makes it the launch of the high-priced brand; Origin of Cigar adds that the brand appears in the Havana directory in 1873 and that Allones is said to have re-registered it in 1882 according to some sources. The trade press writes in 2011 that Partagás production is to join the El Rey del Mundo factory, then closed for renovation.

Range Depth

• Choix Suprême

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium

  Hermoso No.4, 127 mm with a cepo of 48 according to Alchetron's reuse of Wikipedia; together with the Demi Tasse it forms the standard range, writes Origin of Cigar in December 2025. Habanos describes the brand as light to medium in flavour.

  Hermoso No.4

• Demi Tasse

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Light

  Entreacto, a small panetela of 98 mm with a cepo of 30 according to Alchetron's reuse of Wikipedia; one of the two lines of the standard range, writes Origin of Cigar in December 2025.

  Entreactos

🥃 Pairings

• Central American filter coffee

  Coffee

  A pairing suggestion, with no page behind it, for a brand that Habanos describes as light to medium in flavour.

• VSOP cognac

  Spirits

  A pairing suggestion, with no page behind it, for a short format such as the Hermoso No.4 of the Choix Suprême.

👤 Associated figures

• Antonio Allones

  A native of Galicia and brother of Ramón Allones, he arrived in Havana in the middle of the nineteenth century, says Origin of Cigar. Habanos writes that he launched the brand in 1882, after more than thirty years of cigars rolled in Havana; Wikipedia writes that he took it over around 1882.

• Emilio Ohmstedt

  Wikipedia and Origin of Cigar make this German businessman the creator of the brand in 1848, with Sancho Panza; Origin of Cigar says he died in 1870 and reports that others attribute the creation of El Rey del Mundo to Allones.