La Aurora Cigar Factory

On the tour, you’ll get to see tobacco seeds, a curing barn, the pressing and rolling floor, aging rooms and even a brand-new course centre. At the end of the tour, you’ll be invited upstairs to the La Aurora cigar lounge for a taste of the finished product.

The factory grounds are ornate and museum-like, and it’s easy to see that La Aurora cigars are made with much than world-class leaf - Dominican history, art and culture infuse the factory as much as the scent of tobacco.

For Dominicans, cigars mean much more than a good smoke - they’re a cultural touchstone deeply embedded in the history of this Caribbean nation, from colonial times right up to the present. The Dominican Republic - then known as the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo - was home to the world’s first commercial tobacco cultivation by Europeans, and the crop has remained enormously important to the local economy ever since.

La Aurora started in 1903 and is justifiably proud of its company culture. Antiques from the founders and the first years of the business are on display throughout the factory. Look out for the mural illustrating La Aurora's impact on the Dominican Republic, showing all the places around the world that they ship their cigars.

La Aurora takes care of their employees, who enjoy more benefits than you might expect, including some right on the factory floor. On the tour, you’ll see a “lector” reading just for the entertainment of workers rolling cigars. Lectors have a fascinating history, and the tradition was imported here to the Dominican Republic directly from Cuba. When communism took over in Cuba during the 1960s, many of Cuba's cigar manufacturers emigrated to the Dominican Republic.

If you don’t already appreciate the difference between handcrafted and machine-made cigars, you will by the end of this tour. Machine-cigars use chopped up tobacco leaves for the filler and tobacco-leaf pulp for the wrapper. La Aurora uses hand rolling, using a different blend of tobacco varieties to produce each of their brands of handcrafted cigars. They maintain optimal humidity levels for the tobacco to age the cigars, and some of their brands take years to finish.

Taste the results for yourself at the La Aurora cigar lounge and store, stocked with dozens of varieties and specialty items you won't find gathered anywhere else.

You’ll leave the La Aurora tour with a much better understanding and appreciation of cigar-making, but aficionados who want to boost their knowledge even more can sign up for a short course at the newly-minted Cigar Institute. The courses are perfect for anyone looking to enter the tobacco industry.

La Aurora Cigar Factory is located off Avenida 27 de Febrero in terminal three of the Zona Franca of Tamboril, just outside Santiago de los Caballeros. Hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Mondays through Fridays.

Reserve your free tour ahead of time by calling 809-734-2563.

You can easily reach La Aurora by taxi or Uber from anywhere in Santiago. The quickest way is just to jump in a public car labeled "T" for Tamboril anywhere on Avenida 27 de Febrero. Just let the driver know you're going to the Zona Franca de Tamboril and he'll let you off at the right place.

Written by G. Abdullah.

Published July 2020.