Oscar Valladares' introduction to the cigar industry is like no other. No multi-generational cigar family. No early passion for cigars. No offer to buy into an established company. What Oscar did have going for him was being in the right place at the right time. Some may even call it fate.
About 15 years ago, Oscar was working in the tourism industry in Tegucigalpa—the capital of Honduras. It was his responsibility to book hotels, locate vehicles for tourists to rent, and the like. Then one of Oscar's supervisors asked him to drive a bus to the airport to shuttle a handful of new arrivals around for a few days. Despite having zero experience driving a bus, Oscar welcomed the opportunity as he wasn't a fan of desk work.
So Oscar made his way to the airport to pick up the group. Among these new arrivals was Rocky Patel, leading the group on a tour of his Honduran cigar factory. For the rest of the week, Oscar drove the group around. Rocky and Oscar formed a strong connection, and the tours continued. Eventually, Rocky offered Oscar a job. For the next nine years, Oscar was part of team Patel.
Along the way, Oscar started his own company distributing Rocky Patel cigars in Honduras. After leaving Rocky Patel, he received a call from master blender Bayron Duarte. Unlike Oscar, Bayron had spent his entire life around tobacco. He’d grown up close to the Padrón family and started working with the plant as a pre-teen. Now Bayron had over 20 years of work under his belt with companies like Oliva and General Cigar.
The two men teamed up, secured a factory, and began making Oscar Valladares cigars. The company’s first year was slow. Then Island Jim, Leaf & Bean cigar shop owner, entered the picture. He loved the Leaf by Oscar cigar and wanted it for his house cigar. Island Jim put in an order for 5,000 cigars. It took a mere week for the first 1,000 sticks to sell out. People loved these cigars wrapped in raw tobacco leaves rather than cellophane.
In no time, Leaf by Oscar was everywhere, and Oscar Valladares cigars could expand operations in a big way. Today the Oscar Valladares cigar brand has several successful lines. The Oscar Valladares 2012 Barber Pole cigar combines a Mexican San Andrés Maduro leaf with a candela leaf to form a gorgeous green and dark brown barber pole wrapper. The result is an approachable medium-strength cigar with notes ranging from caramel to red pepper. The Barber Pole tributes Mayan culture and the prophecy that the world would end in 2012, as does the rest of the 2012 line.
Then there’s the Oscar Valladares Altar Q cigar which uses an oily Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper leaf to serve up a complex flavor profile with notes of citrus, coffee bean, hay, and worn-in leather. This cigar tribute to the Mayan Empire in Copán with impressive packaging rendering the most sacred monument in Mayan history—the Altar Q. The filler and binder tobaccos are even sourced from the Copán region of Honduras. And of course, we have the Oscar Valladares Super Fly Maduro cigar, which the brand states is the first full-bodied smoke in its portfolio.
Whatever your pleasure is, Oscar Valladares cigars offer you a way to get that and more.
Please enjoy Oscar Valladares cigars at your leisure.
