Tabacalera R. Paxtián

Tabacalera R. Paxtián is a house of growers before it is a house of cigars. Don Juan Rodríguez López, of Sihuapan, in the San Andrés Tuxtla valley, entered the tobacco fields at fourteen, married at fifteen, grew up to seven hectares on rented land from 1910, rolled jolochitos for himself, and worked until ninety-six before dying at a hundred and two; he left no company, says the Mexican cigar press, but a knowledge. His son Víctor, in the fields at the same age, came to coordinate up to three hundred hectares, at two tonnes a hectare, and still rises before dawn past eighty-three.

The company itself dates from 1990: Víctor, his son Francisco — Paco, an industrial engineer who graduated in 1994 and drew all the brands — and a brother, on land this time their own. Premium cigars begin in 1994, with Los Puros del Paraíso; Privilegios, R. Paxtián and the small TabaRicos follow, all hand-rolled at Sihuapan, on the Negro San Andrés that the house holds to be the finest mature wrapper there is — that is the house speaking. A fourth generation, the grandchildren, arrived in the last five years.

It is a San Andrés factory: next to the Turrents and Santa Clara, a family of the valley that took a century to sign its leaves with its name.

Range Depth

• Del Paraíso

  Wrapper Negro San Andrés (Veracruz) · Strength Medium

  The first brand, 1994 — Elemental, Especial, Premium, Mexike, and a Mexico-Nicaragua Fusión.

• Privilegios

  Wrapper Negro San Andrés (Veracruz) · Strength Medium-Full

  Especial, Premium, Selecta — the house's top.

• R. Paxtián

  Wrapper Negro San Andrés (Veracruz) · Strength Medium

  Premium and Secrets, in the family's name.