Christian Eiroa’s Fabricas Unidas company has announced that its new factory is official open and operational.  The Aladino Factory is based in Danli, Honduras and will serve for both the production of the brands of Fabricas Unidas as well as box production. Details of this announcement were provided to Cigar Coop via a press release.

The origins of the Aladino Factory can be traced back to the 1970s.  The factory is in the same location as El Cine Aladino, which was a historic movie theater in Danli that was originally operated by Eiroa’s grandfather.

The process of bringing the factory into full operational mode has been a gradual one that started back in January, 2013.  According to the recent press release “Still today the production is very small, only 4,000 cigars per day by 16 pairs of
qualified, hand selected rollers and it will be capped at 6,000 per day in 2014.”

In terms of the operational model of the factory, the factory is taken some unique measures in terms of implementing its own process.  According to the press release: “All rollers have been trained a specialized bunching system all the while respecting the highest levels of hygiene as mandated by Bayer’s Better Manufacturing Practices. Cigar wrappers are stripped and applied in a completely different system never used in Honduras before. The approach to making cigars is different altogether in order to maintain the highest level of consistency possible. The rollers will have the benefit of having a chance to come to the U.S. and roll cigars at the up and coming Wynwood Cigar Factory in Miami’s Art District.”

The process of migrating the Fabricas Unidas brands to the Aladino factory has been a gradual one.  The factory is currently making the CLE Plus, EIROA, and Asylum 13 Corojo cigars at Aladino.  Plans are in place to migrate the remainder of the CLE line and Wynwood Honduras over to the new factory.  According to the press release, the plan is to move over much of the Fabricas Unidas to the Aladino factory.  However the plan is for Asylum 13 (Nicaragua), Asylum Premium, EH, Pura Soul, and OSOK to remain in Nicaragua for production.

The company has plans to produce cigars for a boutique company called La Barba Cigars.  This is a company that launched for two individuals named Tony Bellato and Craig Rossi.

It was last year when Eiroa returned to the cigar industry launching the CLE line of cigars.  Eiroa has been on the record stating he was looking at forming a company that can serve as a business incubator for people with creative ideas.  This has resulted in three other lines joining CLE under the Fabricas Unidas umbrella – Asylum Cigars, Wynwood Cigars, and Edgar Hoill (EH) Cigars. Eiroa also co-owns the Wynwood Factory in Miami, Florida with Wynwood’s Robert Caldwell. That factory opened the end of last year in Miami’s Wynwood district. It produces much of the Wynwood line.  The launch of the Aladino factory means the company now has two production facilities.

Source: Some of the information for this article was provided via press release to Cigar Coop