Brand guide
H. Upmann cigars
H. Upmann is a cigar brand a German banker started in Havana in 1844; today Cuba makes one version for Habanos S.A. and Altadis U.S.A. makes another in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
H. Upmann was a bank before it was a cigar
Hermann Dietrich Upmann arrived in Havana in 1843 to run affairs for Gravenhorst & Co., a Bremen trading house, and opened a bank there for tobacco dealers.
He bought a cigar factory at 85 San Miguel Street, and H. Upmann cigars came out of it from 1844. The bank and the factory ran side by side. Altadis U.S.A. tells it a little differently: it credits brothers August and Hermann Upmann and says they pioneered the cedar cigar box. Wikipedia names Hermann alone.
Hermann retired in 1890 and his nephew Heinrich took over. World War I broke the family hold. Cuba declared war on Germany in 1917, the bank closed, and the company landed on the first US Enemy Trading List that December. In 1922 the Upmanns were arrested on bank fraud charges, and J. Frankau & Co. bought the brand and factory at auction for 30,000 Cuban pesos.
H. Upmann ownership after 1922
Menéndez, García y Cía., the firm behind Montecristo, bought H. Upmann in 1937 and ran it until Cuba nationalized the tobacco industry on September 15, 1960.
From there the name split. The Cuban brand is produced for Habanos S.A., the state company. Outside Cuba, Wikipedia says the brand went first to the Canary Islands and then to the Dominican Republic, and it still lists Imperial Brands as owner.
That listing is out of date. Cigar Aficionado reported on April 27, 2020, that Imperial was selling its premium cigar business: Altadis U.S.A. to Gemstone Investment Holding, and the rest, including 50 percent of Habanos, to Allied Cigar Corporation. Altadis U.S.A. sells the non-Cuban H. Upmann today.
Where each H. Upmann is rolled
Cuban H. Upmann is hand-rolled in Havana at the old 85 San Miguel Street building, now called the José Martí factory, using Vuelta Abajo tobacco.
The US-market lines come from more than one country. Altadis U.S.A. lists Vintage Cameroon as made in the Dominican Republic, and Wikipedia places Altadis production in La Romana. The 2020 Cigar Aficionado report names Tabacalera de Garcia in La Romana among the assets sold. The Nicaragua AJ Fernandez Heritage is made at Tabacalera Fernandez in Estelí, the factory of AJ Fernandez.
Tobacco Altadis names for its H. Upmann lines
Altadis U.S.A. lists a Cameroon wrapper on Vintage Cameroon, over a Nicaraguan binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian filler.
Its product page says the line recalls a time when every H. Upmann wore Cameroon leaf. The Nicaragua AJ Fernandez Heritage uses a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, triple-fermented, over a Nicaraguan Habano binder, and Altadis says it rests two years after rolling. The filler on that page is listed as Nicaraguan and Brazilian in one spot and 100 percent Nicaraguan in another. Both are reported here.
| Line | Market | Wrapper (as stated) | Stated strength | Notable sizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vintage Cameroon | US | Cameroon | Not published | Petite Corona 5 x 40, Lonsdale 6 5/8 x 44, Churchill 7 x 50, Belicoso 6 1/8 x 52 |
| Nicaragua AJ Fernandez Heritage | US | Brazilian Mata Fina | Medium to full | Robusto 5 x 52, Torpedo 6 1/8 x 52, Churchill 7 x 54 |
| 1844 Reserve | US | Not published on the opened pages | Not published | Demitasse 4 1/2 x 33, Robusto 5 x 50, Titan 6 x 60 (per Wikipedia) |
| Magnum 46 | Cuba | Not published | Not published | 5.6 x 46 grand corona |
| Sir Winston | Cuba | Not published | Not published | 7 x 47 Churchill |
Altadis U.S.A. also lists The Banker, The Banker Daytrader, 1844 Classic, 1844 Añejo and a second AJ Fernandez line. Altadis prints ring gauge first, so its "52 x 5" is a 5 inch robusto at 52 ring.
H. Upmann timeline
H. Upmann's dates trace a bank founder, a wartime collapse, an auction and a split.
- 1843: Hermann Upmann arrives in Havana.
- 1844: H. Upmann cigars first produced.
- 1890: Nephew Heinrich Upmann takes over.
- 1917: Bank closes after Cuba declares war on Germany.
- 1922: J. Frankau & Co. buys the brand at auction.
- 1937: Menéndez, García y Cía. acquires it.
- 1960: Cuban tobacco industry nationalized.
- 2002: Cuban machine-made H. Upmann discontinued.
- 2008: Magnum 50 added in Cuba.
- 2020: Imperial agrees to sell Altadis U.S.A. and its Habanos stake.
Buying an H. Upmann: which one is it?
Cuban and US-market H. Upmanns share a name but not a single line name: Magnum, Sir Winston and Connoisseur are Habanos sizes, and Vintage Cameroon, 1844 and The Banker are Altadis lines.
The country of manufacture is on the box. The two US lines with published wrappers use leaf from Cameroon and Brazil, and the AJ Fernandez Heritage is the Nicaraguan-made one. Wrapper color is easier to place with the wrapper color chart. The Cuban Sir Winston is a Churchill by size. This guide reports ownership only and gives no view on import rules for Cuban cigars.
H. Upmann questions, both sides
Are H. Upmann cigars Cuban?
Only the Habanos line is. Cuban H. Upmann is hand-rolled in Havana, while the H. Upmann sold in the US is a separate Altadis U.S.A. brand made in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
Who made H. Upmann cigars originally?
Hermann Dietrich Upmann, a banker from a Bremen trading family, began producing H. Upmann cigars in Havana in 1844. Altadis U.S.A. credits brothers August and Hermann Upmann.
Who makes the H. Upmann AJ Fernandez cigars?
Tabacalera Fernandez in Estelí, Nicaragua, according to Altadis U.S.A., which lists the Nicaragua AJ Fernandez Heritage with a triple-fermented Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper.
What happened to H. Upmann in World War I?
Cuba declared war on Germany in 1917, the H. Upmann bank closed, and by 1922 the brand and factory were sold at auction to J. Frankau & Co.
Where the H. Upmann facts come from
- H. Upmann, Wikipedia
- H. Upmann brand page, Altadis U.S.A.
- H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon, Altadis U.S.A.
- H. Upmann Nicaragua AJ Fernandez Heritage, Altadis U.S.A.
- $1.3 billion deal for Imperial's premium cigar business, Cigar Aficionado