Nicaragua Cigar Tours: My Visit inside a Factory

Will you Travel to Nicaragua soon?

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What is a Cigar Tour?

I’d go as far as to say that having the chance to do a cigar tour is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you’re ever in Nicaragua, don’t miss out.

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🇳🇮 Check These Amazing Cigar Tours in Estelí

• Cigar Lovers Tour
• Day trip to Estelí From Managua

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A cigar factory tour in Nicaragua may be the only chance you’ll ever get to learn the meticulous process of handmade cigars.

We’re talking about the old-fashioned way, watching cigars been handcrafted by skilled workers. Nicaragua is already famous for its cigars throughout Central America.

On a Nicaragua cigar tour, you get to see all the pre-production processes. How they sort, select, dry the leaves as well as the detailed craft of rolling, shaping, and packing the cigar.

Be sure to get your lungs ready to try a cigar at the end. I even bought a few to take down to Costa Rica with me.

Experiencing a cigar tour is a must for anybody visiting Estelí.

How Cigars are Made

I saw the full process of how cigars are made, packaged and sold. Estelí is a wonderful place to visit, especially if you are learning Spanish.

You’ll find other things to do in Estelí, including visiting one of its many natural areas, such as woods, cloud forest reserves, and waterfalls.

One thing I loved about Estelí was the amount of street art murals.

The whole Estelí region is home to many fine cigar companies. This was a tour of a famous cigar factory called Tabacalera Santiago, which has now been sold to new owners and no longer offers a cigar tour.

This gives you an idea that these cigar tours may not be around forever.

They are very lucrative businesses, and I imagine, most owners in the future would not want people snooping around their factories.

Cigar Production in Nicaragua

Every time I solo travel in Latin America, I try my best to travel lighter and carry less items, but on this occasion my backpack was full to the brim.

I didn’t care, Estelí was the best place for cigars in Nicaragua!

Now Tabacalera Santiago is no longer giving tours. With luck, there are others just as good, and you’ll be glad to know that they do still exist.

Here’s a list of some of the other cigar factories in Nicaragua:

There are some good specialized tours you can do, and depending on your expertise in the cigar world, they may be of great interest to you?

Here’s a list of some of the other cigars Factories in Nicaragua:

• Drew estate

You’ll find that plantation tours are common, but not as interesting for most people. However, each Nicaragua cigar tour is varied.

💡Smart Travel Tip
Plantation tours are generally not given during the rain season, so if you are interested, make sure you do your due diligence before going.

Cigar Box Production

This is the area I began the tour, outside the factory. The rest of the tour, I was taken to a small unit where they make all the cigar boxes.

The tour guide explained to us how all the boxes are used for the different cigar brands all made in the factory.

I traveled to Nicaragua to become fluent in Spanish. Nicaragua is actually one of the cheapest places to learn Spanish in Latin America.

Tobacco Leaf Sorting

This is the most time-consuming process of drying tobacco. The smell inside the room where they hang the leaves was unbearable for me.

I couldn’t breathe due to the strength of the fumes and high moisture content in the air.

Tobacco Leaf Preparation

Later, I met with some local women who spend their days sorting through the tobacco leaves. The tobacco leaves then get divided into different grades.

Many different cigar brands use this particular factory. Depending on the brand of cigar, the women will use a higher or lower quality grade of tobacco.

💡Smart Travel Tip
Ask in Café Luz about the Nicaragua cigar tour or factory tours. You’ll get info on the factories and the people who’ll give you guided tours.

Tours run every day except weekends and holidays.

Tobacco Leaf Rolling

Local Nicaraguan men and women roll hand-picked tobacco leaves.

Workers at the factory then put all the tobacco leaves into a cylindrical box to hold the shape before the final leaf layer gets applied.

Each cigar then gets sealed before it goes into storage.

Esteli Travel Tips

Below, I’m going to list some of my best travel tips for Esteli, Nicaragua.

Whenever I can, I will note down little tips, tricks, and hacks that I feel can really enhance your experience, save you money, or help you gain new insights and knowledge on a particular place or country.

Cigar Storage

Storage is a crucial part of cigar production and distribution. The cigar must be in a healthy condition when it arrives with its aficionado.

Did you know a cigar that is too dry or too moist is undesirable?

Workers gather all the cigars, which then get stored in a separate room with a humidifier to preserve the freshness of the cigar. This is a very important part of the process.

Nicaragua Cigar Tour

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, see my guide to backpacking Nicaragua if you need help on planning your trip to Nicaragua.