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These hand made origjnal Macanudo Jamaicans were in a sealed box until I opened them on 9/20/23. This box design is identical to Punch cigar box which dates these being prior to the 1971 buyout of General Cigar.  These cigars may even be from the 1950s, notice the typewriter made label on the bottom of the box and the photo from a Country Life UK magazine advertisment in 1951. They are perfectly preserved and smell like cedar and spice. Very rare and won't last long!

These cigars are cedar wrapped, hand made in the Philippines. The company established “La Flor de la Isabela” (the Flower of Isabela) in 1887, as the largest and most sophisticated tobacco and cigar factory in the world at the time. It was the first Philippine cigar factory capable of volume production for export. By the late 19^th century, primarily through the export of La Flor de la Isabela, the Manila Cigar became every bit as celebrated throughout the world as the Havana Cigar.

 Finally, World War II destroyed many of the Tabacalera’s facilities. The company rebuilt after the war, but by the late 1980s, its operations were a faint echo of what it had once been a hundred years before.

After a century, CdF sold the entire Tabacalera tobacco business, including the name, to a Filipino group. This group rejuvenated the factory, adding modern equipment and storage facilities and a vacuum chamber, and rebranded the business “La Flor de la Isabela,” with new packaging for all lines. One thing didn’t change: the factory continued to make cigars the same way they made them in 1881, “totalmente hecho a mano” (totally handmade).

La Flor de la Isabela brought in a Cuban master cigar maker, Señor Alfredo Salinas, as a consultant. He stayed in Manila for several years, and even brought his mother along from Havana. Sr. Salinas improved every aspect of the operation, from working with the tobacco growers, to selecting the harvest, curing, aging, and blending. He taught the workers the Cuban rolling style, which ensures a consistent and effortless draw.

Today, the company has reverted back to its old name: Tabacalera Incorporada. Our tradition is more than a name. Each cigar we make is a work of art, and a product of impeccable quality. Our cigars undergo strict quality measures to ensure consistency in appearance, fermentation, draw, smell, and taste. Our goal remains to deliver the best smoking experience you will ever have.

Hand Made in Jamaica in a CHURCHILL vitola. Properly aged and rare find in original release. The meaning of "macanudo" in Spanish is "best of the best," or "first-rate." This definition is appropriate for the General Cigar line of the same name. The Macanudo Vintage Cabinet Selection line goes quite a bit beyond the brands normally high standards. The cigar makers at Macanudo look for the very best tobacco for the Vintage Cabinet line. In the world of Macanudo cigars, a vintage year comes along only when a harvest yields small quantities of filler, binder and wrapper leaves whose qualities are superior. Those quantities, which total less than one in one thousand leaves, are then set aside for a given year's Macanudo Vintage Cabinet Selection. The cigar makers' standards are so high that the Macanudo Vintage Cabinet line has only been produced four times; 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1993. General produced approximately 50,000 cigars of the 1979 vintage; 125,000 cigars of the 1984 vintage; 400,000 cigars of the 1988 vintage; slightly over 1 million cigars of 1993 vintage. The filler is from the Dominican Republic and Mexico. The binder is San Andreas Valley, Mexico tobacco chosen for tensile strength, flavor, and long, slow, even burning characteristics. The wrapper is a Connecticut Shade, grown from Havana-seed in the sandy, fertile soil of the Connecticut River Valley; the wrapper is from the 1993 tobacco crop. Cifuentes y Cia, Ltd. in Jamaica manufactures the Macanudo Vintage Cabinet Selection. The Macanudo Cabinet Vintage Series comes very highly rated.

Wrapper : CT Shade
Binder : Mexican San Andreas
Filler : Dominican/Mexican

Bauza is an old Cuban brand that was made as a non-export. In the 1990s, it was re-formulated by the Fuente family as a Dominican cigar. These cigars are part of my collection and have been aging in the same humidor for over 20 years. You may find a younger version of these on the market today but they won't be as matured. They are hand made and contain 100% long filler.

From Mike's Cigars:

Mike's Cigars is proud to have the exclusive distribution rights for Bauza by Arturo Fuente. The Fuente's are the First Family of Cigars and they have been producing the Bauza Cigar for well over twenty years! With its Ecuadorian Sumatra Sun-grown leaf and Dominican filler, the Bauza was one of the first non-Cuban brands to receive a 92 rating by Cigar Aficionado Magazine. With a spicy yet soothing aroma and creamy delicate flavors of coffee and nutmeg, it’s no wonder Bauza was a favorite of Carlos Fuente Sr., the patriarch of the Fuente dynasty!