ROMEO y JULIETA

Two founders, two lovers

Romeo y Julieta was established in Havana in 1875 by Inocencio Álvarez and José “Manín” García. Its name came from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, giving the new cigar a literary identity that needed little introduction.

It was an unusually international beginning: Cuban cigars, a Spanish name, an English playwright and lovers from Verona. The name carried a promise of romance before a customer ever opened the box.

Pepín takes the reins

The great expansion came under José Rodríguez Fernández, better known as Don Pepín. In 1903, he took charge through Rodríguez, Argüelles y Cía. He brought experience, ambition and a showman’s instinct to a brand that was already nearly thirty years old. A new Havana factory, completed in 1905, gave that ambition a substantial home, as Claudia Puszkar’s history recounts.

Pepín understood the appeal of making a customer feel personally included. Distinctive cigar bands became part of the brand’s identity. Collector Juan Alberto Berni González documents surviving commissions for clubs, hotels, casinos, businesses and private customers. A small paper band could become a calling card, a souvenir or a flattering gesture.

His enthusiasm also reached the racecourse. The history accompanying Zenith’s 2020 collaboration with Habanos recalls Pepín’s promotional travels through Europe and the Americas, along with his racehorse, Julieta, competing internationally. Even away from the factory, he found ways to keep the name in circulation.

A second life overseas

The Cuban Revolution and the nationalization of the cigar industry changed the business, while Cuban Romeo y Julieta continued on the island. A separate American-market history developed abroad. Former Hollco Rohr executive Brad Weinfeld recalled that small runs of machine-made Romeos in Kingston, New York, helped keep the U.S. trademark active.

In 1978, Manuel “Manolo” Quesada began making handmade Romeo y Julietas at his MATASA factory in the Dominican Republic. Gregory Mottola’s account of these parallel brands traces that chapter. The familiar name was acquiring a different tobacco recipe and a new manufacturing tradition.

Shakespeare returns to the stage

In February 2006, Romeo y Julieta’s literary connection became an evening of live performance at the Gran Teatro de La Habana. The Ballet Nacional de Cuba, directed by Alicia Alonso, performed Shakespeare and His Masks at the opening of the Habanos Festival.

Joseph Fiennes, who had played the playwright in Shakespeare in Love, also performed an excerpt from Shakespeare. The official report of the evening captures a brand celebration that took its literary ancestry seriously. Short Churchills was being introduced that year; Romeo’s past and future shared the bill.

An evening in Verona

The story found another appropriate setting on September 21, 2016, when Romeo y Julieta Capuletos made its international debut in Verona. Some 170 guests gathered for city views, live music and the new limited edition. Both the location and the cigar’s name acknowledged Shakespeare’s lovers and the Capulet family. A Havana brand had brought its own celebration back to the city that inspired its imagery.

Churchill, in his own world

The most famous association comes with a wonderfully domestic scene. In a family recollection published in 2000, Winston S. Churchill remembered visiting his grandfather at Chartwell after the war. The elder Churchill would be propped up in bed, wearing a silk bed jacket, dictating to a secretary while smoking a Havana—usually a Romeo y Julieta.

Havana knew his tastes. Historian Hal Klepak records that during Churchill’s February 1946 visit, approximately 500 Romeo y Julietas arrived during an informal dinner in his suite at the Hotel Nacional. It was a welcome gift for a visitor who had come to the Caribbean for some rest after the war.

His name became an enduring part of the cigar vocabulary. The classic Cuban Churchills measures 178 mm by 47 ring gauge. The family later expanded with Short Churchills in 2006, Wide Churchills in 2010 and Petit Churchills in 2012. The shared name now appears on several distinctly different proportions.

Familiar faces, personal favorites

Martin Kove, of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, recalled a particularly happy Romeo moment in a 2021 interview. In January 2020, he and his son Jesse sat above Havana at the Hotel Parque Central, where Kove enjoyed a Wide Churchill with coffee and a sweeping city view. He remembered it as his most memorable day of cigar smoking.

William Stanford Davis, who plays Mr. Johnson on Abbott Elementary, named the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Churchill in a 2026 favorite-cigar profile. His preferred setting was the golf course, where he enjoyed the chance to sit with friends, have a drink and talk.

Chef Michael Cimarusti, of Los Angeles restaurant Providence, chose the Cuban Wide Churchill in another 2026 interview. He particularly liked its size and associated cigars with holidays, vacations and time to relax.

The tobacco country

Cuban Romeo y Julieta draws its filler and binder from Vuelta Abajo, in Pinar del Río. Habanos describes the traditional range as medium in strength, entirely handmade and constructed with long filler. Its reputation rests on balance and aroma, with different shapes offering their own expression of the blend.

Línea de Oro added a richer branch. Announced for the brand’s 145th anniversary in 2020 and reaching international markets in 2021, it comprises Dianas, Hidalgos and Nobles. Habanos classifies this line as medium to full in strength, a distinct step from the classic portfolio.

The Dominican expressions

The separate U.S. portfolio includes Romeo y Julieta 1875, made in the Dominican Republic with an Indonesian shade-grown TBN wrapper over Dominican binder and filler. The year on the label recalls the brand’s beginnings; the blend belongs to its Dominican chapter.

Reserva Real is also Dominican-made, using an Ecuador-grown Connecticut Shade wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan filler. Here, Connecticut Shade identifies the wrapper type; its growing country is Ecuador.

That line has its own devoted company. New Orleans antiques dealer Bill Rau named the Reserva Real Churchill as his usual choice in 2025. After a day of business, he described sitting outside with friends and a glass of Port. The literary name had found a comfortable place among people who appreciate objects with a good story.