Monday, August 02 2010
Q: I've seen some
cigars with the name "Wavell" and thought I knew what it meant. Recently though, I've seen others with Wavell in the name and it threw me for a loop. What exactly does "Wavell" mean in the cigar world?
- Mark Zientek in Illinois
A: Great question. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear "Wavell" are the infamous
La Gloria Cubana Wavell cigars. Based on my research, the cigar is named for the famed British Field Marshall,
Sir Archibald Percival Wavell. But I also asked Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, who created the La Gloria Wavells, and now manufactures his cigars under the
E.P. Carrillo Cigars imprint:
"As far as I know, the cigar was named after the British General. The first time I heard it was Dos Gonzalez Cigars n the early 1980s. Efraim Gonzalez, who owned Dos Gonzalez used the Wavell name, which at that time was popular among the chinchales [small factories] in Miami, but his was the most popular and recognized. At the time he sold them for 80¢ each."
As an interesting side note, I also came across the following in a 2002
Cigar Aficionado article by David Savona:
As Cubans poured into Miami after the revolution, a cigar culture emerged. In 1961, Simon Camacho opened Miami's first cigar factory, and later began making Camacho cigars. (The brand is now made by the Eiroa family in Honduras, who purchased the rights to Camacho in 1995, five years after his death.) In 1964, three men opened factories within months of one other in Miami: Padrón, Efraim Gonzalez, who later created the Dos Gonzalez brand, and Juan Sosa, who now works for Arturo Fuente. It would be four more years before Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Sr., a former member of the Cuban senate, would open El Credito Cigars Inc. The tiny shop brought La Gloria Cubanas to the United States, and the brand became Miami's most famous cigar.
(Source: The Exodus, Part II)
