Kafie 1901 Expanding New La Aurora-Made Offerings

Last year, Kafie 1901 Cigars announced that it would move its entire production from Honduras to La Aurora in the Dominican Republic. The change wasn’t just a matter of where the cigars are made; predictably, some of the blends have been tweaked in the process.

Kafie 1901 has offered each of its five updated blends in robusto and toro sizes; beginning July 1, each line will be available in three more sizes, bringing the total number of vitolas for each blend to five.

The Kafie 1901 Maduro has gone through perhaps the largest adjustment. It continues to use a Nicaraguan habano maduro wrapper but now has a Cameroon binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. In addition to the new binder, Dominican andullo tobacco has been added to the filler.

Andullo tobaccos, native to the Dominican Republic, are instead wrapped tightly in large pods known as yaguas, almost like 15-foot long burritos, and then wrapped in rope to help compress the tobacco even further. The end result is something that is more or less a large log of tobacco where slices are cut off as seen in the video, and are more commonly chewed or smoked via pipes. Andullo is more of a process than a seed varietal, though it’s something that is typically only found in the Dominican Republic.

• Kafie 1901 Maduro Robusto (5 x 50) — $12.50 (Box of 20, $250)
• Kafie 1901 Maduro Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $14.50 (Box of 20, $290)
• Kafie 1901 Maduro Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) — $14.50 (Box of 20, $290)
• Kafie 1901 Maduro Churchill (7 x 47) — $15 (Box of 20, $300)
• Kafie 1901 Maduro Gran Toro (6 x 58) — $15.50 (Box of 20, $310)

The Kafie 1901 Sumatra uses an Ecuadorian sun grown wrapper over a binder from the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic and fillers from the Cibao Valley and Nicaragua. In addition, Peruvian pelo de oro was added to the filler, a change from the Honduran version. The company says all of the tobaccos are aged for at least four years.

Pelo de oro, Spanish for golden hair, is known for its golden color and its propensity to develop mold. Because of this, the seed was banned in Cuba, though non-Cuban have grown variations of the seed in other countries.

• Kafie 1901 Sumatra Robusto (5 x 50) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)
• Kafie 1901 Sumatra Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $11.50 (Box of 20, $230)
• Kafie 1901 Sumatra Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) — $11.50 (Box of 20, $230)
• Kafie 1901 Sumatra Churchill (7 x 47) — $13 (Box of 20, $260)
• Kafie 1901 Sumatra Gran Toro (6 x 58) — $13.50 (Box of 20, $270)

The Kafie 1901 San Andres now uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper that the company says is “double fermented” over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from three regions in Nicaragua: Condega, Estelí and Jalapa. Previously, there was Brazilian tobacco in the filler, but it has been removed.

• Kafie 1901 San Andres Robusto (5 x 50) — $12 (Box of 20, $240)
• Kafie 1901 San Andres Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $13.50 (Box of 20, $270)
• Kafie 1901 San Andres Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) — $13.50 (Box of 20, $270)
• Kafie 1901 San Andres Churchill (7 x 47) — $14.50 (Box of 20, $290)
• Kafie 1901 San Andres Gran Toro (6 x 58) — $15.50 (Box of 20, $310)

There is one blend that is staying the same on paper: the Kafie 1901 Connecticut. The company says there is a slight change, now all the tobacco used for the blend has been aged for at least four years.

• Kafie 1901 Connecticut Robusto (5 x 50) — $10.50 (Box of 20, $210)
• Kafie 1901 Connecticut Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)
• Kafie 1901 Connecticut Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)
• Kafie 1901 Connecticut Churchill (7 x 47) — $12.50 (Box of 20, $250)
• Kafie 1901 Connecticut Gran Toro (6 x 58) — $12.50 (Box of 20, $250)

Also shipping are three new sizes of the Kafie 1901 Serie L Natural. Unlike the other four blends, this blend wasn’t released until after the company moved production to La Aurora. Blend-wise, it is made entirely of Dominican tobacco, capped off by a four-year-old corojo wrapper grown in the Cibao Valley. The L in the name is a reference to the 50th birthday of Dr. Gaby Kafie, founder of Kafie 1901 Cigars. Like the other lines, it has been available in Robusto and Toro formats and retailers will be able to order the three new sizes beginning July 1.

• Kafie 1901 Serie L Natural Robusto (5 x 50) — $9.50 (Box of 20, $190)
• Kafie 1901 Serie L Natural Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)
• Kafie 1901 Serie L Natural Belicoso (6 1/4 x 54) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)
• Kafie 1901 Serie L Natural Churchill (7 x 47) — $12.50 (Box of 20, $250)
• Kafie 1901 Serie L Natural Gran Toro (6 x 58) — $12.50 (Box of 20, $250)

For consumers wondering if they are getting a cigar made in Honduras or the Dominican Republic, one easy way to tell will be the box. The Dominican-made cigars  have the La Aurora logo on the bottom and feature a Procigar tax stamp.

Kafie 1901 was produced at Tabacalera Puros Aliados in Honduras before Kafie opened up his own factory in Danlí. Due to issues caused by hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic, Kafie opted to move production to the Domincian Republic. Kafie said that he left the operation at the end of October 2021 and that Oscar Orlando Ferrera, his partner in the factory, took over the operation.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.