Tabaqueria de Filipinas
- Founded in
- 1993 — Manille ; usine à San Pedro, Laguna
- Factories
- Tabaqueria de Filipinas, San Pedro (Laguna) ; plantations dans la vallée de Tubao, La Union
- Countries
- Philippines
Tabaqueria de Filipinas is a retiree's house. Gabriel Ripoll Jr. — "El Magnifico", his company calls him — had spent his working life as a manager and consultant in cigars, since the 1960s, from Hong Kong to the Dominican Republic, when he retired in 1993 and opened a small workshop on Taft Avenue, Manila: four former employees, his youngest son, and a name taken from his father. The trade press speaks of five rollers in a rented pre-war house in old Manila.
The workshop became a factory in San Pedro, Laguna, with more than two hundred people — the house says two hundred and fifty —, fifteen thousand cigars a day, and its own narra boxes. The tobacco comes from the house's plantations in the Tubao valley, in northern Luzon, and from Isabela, the historic province of the Philippine cigar; only the wrapper is Indonesian — Java, as has been customary in Manila for a century. Three brands: Antonio Gimenez, Independencia 1898 — the year of the Republic —, Flor de Filipinas. The founder's three sons run it.
The three other Philippine houses are all heirs of the Spanish Tabacalera of 1881. This one is the first founded since, and it rolls for others: the entry notes it, without knowing for whom.
The most recent source is the Asian tobacco press of 2016, which gave it as the country's largest cigar factory despite its youth: more than two hundred people, fifteen thousand hand-rolled cigars a day, under the Antonio Gimenez, Independencia 1898 and Flor de Filipinas brands.
Range Depth
Flor de Filipinas
The founding blend: Java wrapper, the house's Sarah binder, Isabela filler.
Antonio Gimenez
The house's full-bodied one — Isabela pais and Cuban-seed filler, seven sizes.
Independencia 1898
The year of the Philippine Republic, on a band.
Source : tabaqueria.com (Gabriel « El Magnifico » Ripoll Jr., gérant et consultant du cigare depuis les années 1960, de Hong Kong à la Rép. dominicaine ; à sa retraite en 1993, un petit atelier sur Taft Avenue à Manille avec quatre anciens employés et son plus jeune fils ; ses trois fils le dirigent, plus de 250 personnes ; Isabela pais et tripe de semence cubaine sous cape de Java) ; tobaccoasia.com « Cigars: Made in Asia » (cinq rouleurs dans une maison d'avant-guerre louée du vieux Manille ; plus de 200 employés dans une usine à San Pedro, Laguna ; tabac des plantations de la vallée de Tubao, Luzon du Nord ; 15 000 cigares par jour ; marques Antonio Gimenez, Independencia 1898, Flor de Filipinas ; cape indonésienne, tout le reste philippin ; boîtes de narra faites maison)