Boutique Blends Cigars (formerly the Habana Cuba Cigar Company) is a premium hand-rolled cigar manufacturer based out of Miami. During the cigar boom of the 1990s, the company was created as the non-Cuban manufacturer of the renowned Oliveros brand. The year was 1996, and the cigar boom was now entering its fifth year. During the boom, demand outpaced supply. Though in 1997, the supply began to surpass demand. As a result, millions of cigars were left unsold.
The Habana Cuba Cigar Company and Oliveros brand pushed forward, turning to online retailers for distribution. The main online distributor for the company was operated by Rafael Nodal and Hank Bischoff and specialized in the production and sale of boutique brands in and around Miami. Nodal and Bischoff soon became advisors to the Habana Cuba Cigar Company. When the owners decided to sell in 2002, the two and Nodal’s wife Alina, a second-generation tobacco distributor, formed a partnership and purchased the company.
Soon after the purchase, Nodal and Bischoff shut down their online store to focus on building out wholesale distribution for Oliveros. The American Oliveros brand was initially created as a flavored cigar, and in 2002 the majority of the Habana Cuba Cigar Company’s portfolio was flavored cigars. It soon became apparent that flavored cigars were not the profitable path for this boutique company, so they shifted their efforts to premium hand-rolled cigars.
The company dove headfirst into the world of small-batch premiums and introduced several new brands. One of the more notable was Aging Room, with the Aging Room Small Batch M356 cigar making Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars of 2011, and then in 2013, the Aging Room Small Batch F55 claimed the Cigar Aficionado No. 2 Cigar of the Year.
In 2012 they set the transition to limited release premiums in stone by renaming the company Boutique Blends Cigars.
One quality blend you might know is the Boutique Blends La Bohéme, which combines an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper with Cuban-seed tobaccos to create a delightfully complex smoke. Another is the Boutique Blends La Bohéme Encantador, which uses a “darker, higher-priming Ecuadoran wrapper” to create a “darker second act,” to the La Bohéme, according to Cigar Aficionado.
Please enjoy Boutique Blends cigars at your leisure.
