Punch, H. Upmann, Montecristo, Cohiba, Cuaba, Troya, and Fonseca are well known names made under the Habanos brand, but one Habanos original in particular impressed Great Britain’s most colorful resident of 10 Downing Street. Romeo y Julieta reads as the Spanish spelling of the great Shakespeare play it was named after, but it was the handpicked favorite of Sir Winston Churchill.
The former British Prime Minister once hailed, “My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be |
Churchill reviewing the front lines with his Romeo y Julieta |
| during all meals and in the intervals between them.” |
His love affair for alcohol, unlike his cigar taste, was none too popular with diplomatic counterparts. Returning from a usual trip to England in which he met with Churchill, British Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy received an unusual question upon arriving in the Oval Office to greet President Roosevelt, inquiring about the Prime Minister: “Was he drunk?”
But none would dare question or match Churchill’s cigar taste. The Romeo y Julieta brand was initially introduced in 1875 and originally produced on the island of Cuba for the nationally owned Habanos SA cigar company.
At the turn of the last century, the brand hit mainstream success after Jose “Pepin” Rodriguez acquired Habanos. Rodriguez traveled extensively to countries in Europe and to the United States promoting the brand.
Such promotion gained the brand popularity amongst the worlds wealthiest. The cigar was also known to be personalized for the company’s wealthiest clientele. By the time the Romeo y Julieta reached its zenith, there were nearly 2000 such clients and the brand was a gold medal winner at four different expositions in a five-year period from 1895 to 1900. The vitola version of the Julieta was named for none other than Churchill himself.
The Habanos SA Company survived the death of Rodriguez at the age of 88 in 1954, the overthrow of Cuban President Ruben Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and the rise of Cuban leader Fidel Castro that same year by moving its operations to the Dominican Republic.
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