Domenico

Austrian-born Michaela Ströml came from Europe to the Dominican Republic, where she founded a small cigar factory called Domenico Cigars in 2001. The city of Punta Cana in the province of Altagracia on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic is best known as a tourist hotspot rather than a cigar town. Nevertheless, the German owner set out to change that. Her passion for cigars and determination to “prove herself” against already established brands turned out to be a successful strategy. With just “11 employees” to this day, the company neither can nor wants to become a mass producer — their guiding principle is “quality over quantity.”

Domenico Cigars: Premium Longfiller Cigars from the Dominican Republic

With the help of local torcedores and master blenders, she created a high-quality line of hand-rolled longfiller cigars. One of the filler tobaccos used comes originally from the Dominican Republic. This carefully crafted blend of Dominican tobaccos used in the filler and as the binder is the secret behind Domenico Cigars, which have won the hearts of aficionados around the world. For the wrapper, a shade-grown Connecticut leaf is used. Its fine, well-balanced aroma is, especially compared to the often rather “overpowering” offerings from other regions, very smooth and far less heavy than many other cigars from the Dominican Republic.

Domenico Cigars: A European Success Story in the Cigar World

Originally produced for local sales and aimed at tourists, it soon became clear that these premium cigars were such a success that the company began looking into export opportunities. I even remember that around that time, we were in direct contact with Ms. Ströml. Back then, we declined to import the brand directly, as we had just started working with several other, at the time more well-known, manufacturers. In 2016, Swiss entrepreneur Matthias Richner took over the brand and significantly expanded its reach and visibility. Today, the cigars are imported into the German market by our fellow distributor Sebastian Gollas from Berlin. A small tip: Don’t confuse them with the Dominico Cigars from the long-established Villiger company. While both lines come from the Dominican Republic, they are entirely unrelated.