Baccarat Cigars

BACCARAT BRAND HISTORY

Named for the famous card game, Baccarat cigars became popular under the stewardship of legendary cigar industry veteran Sal Fontana, who spent 62 years in the tobacco industry before his passing at the age of 86 in 2011. Fontana worked at American Tobacco Company for 18 years, selling a brand crafted in Tampa called Carl Upmann. Following a lengthy legal dispute with the Cuban H. Upmann brand in 1978, Carl Upmann cigars were rebranded as Baccarat.

Fontana eventually joined Camacho Cigars, which were handcrafted in Honduras. For much of his tenure there, the Eiroa family owned the brand and oversaw its growth during the Cigar Boom of the 1990s. Fontana worked intimately with Christian Eiroa, whom he mentored as a young man, years before Christian’s father, Julio Eiroa, retired, leaving Christian in charge of Camacho.

Baccarat cigars became part of the Camacho portfolio along with Sal’s eponymous La Fontana cigar brand. Demand for mild, inexpensive cigars, like Baccarat, exploded during the 1990s. While Camacho cigars were blended to appeal to fans of stronger cigars, Baccarat remained a vital pillar in the company’s portfolio thanks to its mild, sweet taste, affordability, and consistency.   

In 2008, Oettinger Davidoff AG, the parent company of Davidoff Cigars, bought Camacho and its subsidiaries, including Baccarat. In 2015, the company built a new factory, christened Diadema Cigars de Honduras, in Danlí, Honduras. The factory produces Camacho, Baccarat, La Fontana, National Brand, and LegendArio cigars.

BACCARAT BRAND OVERVIEW

Baccarat cigars are handcrafted in Honduras from 100% premium long-filler tobaccos. The original blend is drawn from binder tobaccos grown in Mexico and Cuban-seed long-fillers harvested in Honduras. The original blend features a Natural Connecticut Shade wrapper or a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro, both of which are coated in a sugary cap that layers the palate with a sweet taste.

The Connecticut Shade wrapper offers a mild, sweet profile of coffee bean, cocoa, cashew, and cedar, with hints of pepper and herbs. The cigar comes in twelve iconic sizes. Tasting notes of dark chocolate, molasses, pepper, and nuts layer the palate in the Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro edition, which is available in three popular shapes.

Baccarat Nicaragua is a medium-bodied smoke blended from a Sumatra binder, Nicaraguan long-fillers, and a Cuban-seed wrapper, which also features a sugar-coated cap. Baccarat Nicaragua develops with notes of leather, cedar, earth, and toast throughout a sweet and woody smoke, available in three traditional sizes. Baccarat Nicaragua is blended for cigar lovers who crave a sweet profile with more intensity than the original blend.

Baccarat cigars sell in the range of $5 to $7 apiece, starting around $90 for a box of 25. The brand has been immensely popular for five decades thanks to a loyal audience of bargain hunters who enjoy the pleasant, sweet, and affordable taste of Baccarat cigars.