La Palina
- Founded in
- 2010 — relance par Bill Paley ; marque de 1896
- Factories
- Négociant sans fabrique : El Titan de Bronze (Miami), PDR Cigars (Rép. dom.), Raíces Cubanas (Honduras), A.J. Fernández (Nicaragua)
- Countries
- États-Unis
La Palina is an 1896 name brought back by a grandson. Samuel Paley, a Ukrainian immigrant, opened a cigar shop in Chicago that year and founded the Congress Cigar Company; he named his brand after his wife's first name, Goldie Drell Paley. By 1910 he had a factory in Philadelphia.
His son William S. Paley sold the cigars over the radio — the programme was called the La Palina Hour — and took to it so thoroughly that in 1928 he took control of the network that carried it. He left cigars behind and made CBS what it became. The Congress Cigar Company was wound up after Samuel's retirement in 1926, and the name died out.
William Paley junior, known as Bill, brought it back in 2010. The first cigars came out of the Bahamas, in small quantities.
The house describes itself as a negociant, and that is the key to this entry: it owns no factory, but it owns its tobacco, its finished products and its brands. So it has others roll for it, and the division is public — Goldie and Mr. Sam at El Titan de Bronze, in Little Havana, Miami, Goldie by a single roller; Classic at PDR Cigars, in the Dominican Republic; El Diario and Maduro at Raíces Cubanas, in Honduras; Nicaragua Oscuro at A.J. Fernández; the 1896 at Graycliff, in the Bahamas. Three of those five partners already have entries in this atlas.
That is why this entry is American: Goldie, the house's top line, and two other ranges come out of Miami. The atlas files by the principal place — and writes the rest rather than hiding it.
Range Depth
Goldie
The top line, rolled at El Titan de Bronze in Little Havana — and by A SINGLE roller. It carries the first name of Goldie Drell Paley, Bill's grandmother and Samuel's wife: she is who the brand name already meant in 1896.
Laguito No. 2 · Laguito No. 5 · Dalia
Mr. Sam
The other Miami range, made in small batches at El Titan de Bronze. The name is Samuel Paley's, the founder of 1896.
Robusto · Toro
El Diario
Rolled at Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas, in Honduras. It is the range born of the partnership with that factory, and it carries its own register.
Robusto · Toro · Corona
Black Label
Made in the Dominican Republic, under an oily Brazilian wrapper, over binder and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The fullest side of the catalogue: leather, earth, cedar.
Robusto · Toro
Classic
The volume range, rolled at PDR Cigars, in the Dominican Republic — the Tamboril factory this atlas holds. It is the house's way in.
Robusto · Toro · Churchill
Source : lapalinacigars.com « About » (le modèle de négociant, les quatre pays) ; cigar-coop.com « Remembering the Rebirth of La Palina » (la carte des fabriques par gamme) ; cigaraficionado.com (Samuel Paley, la Congress Cigar Company, la relance de 2010)