Romeo Y Julieta

Romeo y Julieta (Romeo and Juliet) is a brand of Cuban cigars. classified in the upper middle (medio alto) of the brand pyramid by the Habanos S.A. company that markets it.

The Romeo y Julieta brand was founded in Havana in 1875 by two Spaniards, Inocensio Alvarez Rodriguez and José Manin Garcia. They set up shop on rue San Rafael, then rue Belascoin.

Thirty years later, it was bought by José Rodriguez, known as "Don Pepin". He mainly developed the brand's image, which was to be exported, and, for example, bought the Capulet Palace in Verona and set up a cigar store there.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Romeo y Julieta specialized in figurado, cigars with a distinctive shape, tapered at both ends, which fell into disuse after the Second World War and were only resurrected in the 1990s with the Cuaba brand, whose cigars are rolled by Romeo y Julieta.

At the same time, Romeo y Julieta is specializing in the creation of "personalized" rings, enabling cigar aficionados, rich or not so rich, to have cigars ringed in their name.. The brand is said to have produced nearly 20,000 different rings in its lifetime.

Today, Romeo y Julieta is the second most widely distributed Cuban brand in the world (16.2 % of the market in 2001), behind Montecristo.