Vargas

On La Palma, cigars have been rolled for so long that the local word — the "palmero" — means both the cigar and the islander. Tobacco grows there on volcanic soils, in a climate of constant trade winds, and is worked in family workshops rather than in factories.

The house of Vargas is the best known of those workshops. It rolls under its family name, with a large share of La Palma leaf — which is rare: most so-called Canary cigars use tobaccos imported from the Americas.

That origin explains the taste. The palmero is dry, green, a little rustic, with a moderate strength and a frank burn. It does not try to resemble the Havana and never had that ambition; it is an island terroir cigar, smoked on the spot far more than exported.

In an atlas dominated by the Caribbean and Central America, it is one of the rare places in Europe where the growing and the rolling happen in the same spot.

Range Depth

• Vargas Palmero

  Wrapper La Palma · Strength Medium

  The island's cigar, rolled with its own leaf. Dry, green, a little rustic — it does not try to resemble the Havana and never had that ambition.

  Corona

• Vargas Reserva

  Wrapper La Palma · Strength Medium

  Leaves kept longer, a little more roundness. The same volcanic terroir, with time added.

  Robusto

🥃 Pairings

• Malvasía from La Palma

  Wine

  The volcanic wine of the island with its cigar: two products of the same soil.

• Canary Islands coffee

  Coffee

  The archipelago grows a little, on the same slopes — a rare and strictly local pairing.