Don Lino

Don Lino is a premium cigar brand renowned for its exceptional value proposition, offering high-quality handmade cigars at accessible price points. An excellent choice for value-conscious connoisseurs with mild to medium-bodied profiles, superb construction, and various wrapper options. The brand has established itself as 'the Don of Discounts,' a well-noted, wildly popular value brand among cigar enthusiasts. Despite their premium craftsmanship, Don Lino cigars are often priced more competitively compared to some other premium brands, making them a popular choice for cigar enthusiasts looking for value. The brand represents the perfect balance of Dominican craftsmanship and affordability in the premium cigar market.

Background

Don Lino is a cigar brand that emerged in tandem with the Cigar Boom of the 1990s under the direction of Cuban-born Nestor Miranda. Having spent decades in the spirits industry as a sales representative for the Southern Wine and Seagrams companies, Miranda had established extensive relationships with a number of liquor stores in Florida and around the country. In the late 1980s, he crossed paths with a cigar roller who worked for Guillermo Leon, owner of the Dominican Republic-based La Aurora brand, and Miranda became enticed by the thought of cross-promoting cigars with certain brands of spirits he sold. Nestor and his wife, Mariana, established their own cigar distributorship, Miami Cigar & Company, and the business quickly blossomed outside of liquor stores and into premium cigar shops. The pair contracted US Tobacco (UST), a sizeable tobacco conglomerate, to make the Don Lino brand beginning in 1989 at a factory in Honduras. Don Lino Cigars by Miami Cigar & Co. was named after a worker at the old UST cigar factory in Honduras, and for years was just a popular name that sold well. Now, Don Lino stands for the passion and resilience of the Miranda family.

History

The first Don Lino cigars sold for around $19 a box, very inexpensive by today's standards, with a modest 80,000 Don Lino cigars sold in the brand's debut year. The Mirandas were at the precipice of a massive surge in demand for premium cigars, known as the Cigar Boom. Don Lino Production doubled in 1990, and by 1995, they were making 3.1 million cigars, a figure that shot up to 12 million in 1996 – an unprecedented amount of growth. Despite the rapid growth, UST pulled out of their contract with Nestor in late 1996 in an attempt to sell cigars to his accounts directly, precipitating a contentious lawsuit that was eventually settled out of court in 2002. Miranda had always retained ownership of the Don Lino franchise, but its presence in the marketplace diminished while the brand's production shifted from UST's Honduran factory to other suppliers after a period of adjournment, and the brand has since been produced in a handful of Central American cigar factories.

Reputation

The collection of Don Lino branded cigars has been popular with cigar smokers for decades, and during the cigar boom in the mid 1990's, the brand was so popular that production was literally tripled over a two year period. The brand's portfolio includes both mild and medium-bodied blends, and they are often praised for their consistency and smooth smoking experience. Today, several Don Lino Cigars line extensions have a loyal following and sell incredibly well, with Don Lino Cigars known to have a loyal following in the cigar world. Don Lino remains the first, and one of the most cherished lines by Miami Cigar & Co.