Saga Cigars is a new brand that was launched by the Reyes family. Many know of the Reyes family through Augusto Reyes Sr, a very well-respected cigar maker in the Dominican Republic. The Reyes family has been involved in the tobacco growing and leaf brokerage business for over 160 years. With the Saga line, the Reyes’ family continues to honor its long tradition in the cigar business, yet has a keen eye on moving forward into the future. Recently on Stogie Geeks, we had brand ambassador Jean-Michel Louis as our special guest where we got plenty of insight into this company.
The Reyes family started out as tobacco growers. Today in addition to their cigar brands, the company has their own factory in the Santiago Dominican Republic called Corporacion Cigar Export (CCE). They also continue to be heavily involved as tobacco growers. From the fifth generation, Augusto Reyes still runs the company and from the sixth generation his daughter Nikra serves as President. Augusto’s brother Leo runs the growing operations and is one of the biggest growers of Habano seeds in the Dominican Republic.
Over the past few months, CCE has been rebranded “De Los Reyes” and has launched Saga Cigars. Saga Cigars has become their center piece line with two offerings: Saga Golden Age and Saga Blend No. 7. The Golden Age is meant to be a throwback blend to yesteryear while the Blend No. 7 has more of the modern smoker in mind.
Jean-Michel Louis serves as the Brand Ambassador for Saga Cigars and delivers the messaging for the brand. Jean-Michel’s has previously run tobacco shops in the Dominican Republic and played a role in the transition of Davidoff from Cuba to the Dominican Republic. Jean-Michel has a great sense of humor that makes him a man you will absolutely will want to have a cigar with. He brings together the tradition of the past and innovation of the future to bring the Saga message home.
Jean Michel stopped by the Stogie Geeks studio on May 7th, 2015 for Episode 139 and gave us more detail on Saga Cigars.
