Alec Bradley Cigars: Alan Rubin, Prensado, and the 2011 Number One

A hardware salesman, two sons, and the Yellow Pages

Alan Rubin founded Alec Bradley in 1996 after leaving the family hardware business, which sold hurricane fasteners in Florida. He named the company after his two sons, Alec and Bradley Rubin, both of whom now work in it. His father gave him one additional piece of advice: start the name with an A, so it sits at the front of the Yellow Pages.

The early years were hard. Rubin has been open about the fact that the brand spent a decade without traction. What changed it was Tempus in 2008 and then Prensado in 2011.

6 January 2012, 10 A.M.

Cigar Aficionado announces its Top 25 each January for the preceding year. On the morning of 6 January 2012 the number one cigar of 2011 was the Alec Bradley Prensado Churchill, a 7 x 48 made in Honduras, priced at $10.25, rated 96 points. The magazine's note called out leather, chocolate and spice with a long, lush finish.

What happened next is the more instructive part of the story. Sales rose more than seventy percent inside a year. Production went from around four million cigars to over six million. Export markets went from three or four countries to thirty-five. And the quality slipped. Rubin's own summary of the period through mid-2014: he took his eye off the ball. It is a rare thing for a company owner to say out loud, and it is the reason the brand's recovery is credible.

Prensado came back. The Prensado Torpedo was Cigar Aficionado's number eight cigar of 2023 at 95 points, at 6.125 x 52.

Who owns Alec Bradley now

Scandinavian Tobacco Group announced its acquisition of Alec Bradley Cigar Distributors on 22 February 2023 for $72.5 million, and closed the deal on 1 March 2023. Alan Rubin stayed on as an advisor to STG.

The brand was integrated into Forged Cigar Company by 1 June 2023, roughly ninety days after the close. It was already there when the 2 February 2026 STG reshuffle happened, so that reshuffle did not move it. Alec Bradley sits at Forged alongside Cohiba, Punch, Bolivar, Diesel and La Gloria Cubana.

Every line, factory by factory

Alec Bradley does not own a factory. That is the defining structural fact about the company and the reason its blends vary as much as they do: Rubin commissions from different makers depending on what the blend needs, and each factory brings its own house character.

Two entries deserve a footnote. Gatekeeper was blended by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr., the man who built La Gloria Cubana in Little Havana and later founded the company that became Casa Carrillo. Double Broadleaf uses Connecticut-seed broadleaf grown in Honduras, not American Connecticut leaf, which is worth knowing before you assume it tastes like a New England maduro.

Alec Bradley's own count is sixteen cigars placed in Cigar Aficionado Top 25 lists and 146 rated 90 or above. That is the company's figure rather than an independently audited one.

The factories, and why they matter

Raíces Cubanas in Danlí, Honduras is the house most associated with Alec Bradley and makes the Prensado family. It is known for firm bunching and a savoury Honduran house character.

Plasencia Cigars S.A. is the operation of the Plasencia family, five documented generations of growers and one of the largest tobacco-growing concerns in Central America. See our Plasencia collection for their own brand.

Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic is Ernesto Perez-Carrillo's factory.

J. Fuego Cigar Co. de Nicaragua is Jesus Fuego's operation in Estelí.

Tabacos de Oriente in Danlí is a Plasencia facility.

A brand that commissions rather than owns can be inconsistent, and Alec Bradley's own history shows the risk. Done well, it means each blend is made by whoever is best placed to make it.

Wrapper, binder, filler

The wrappers across the range

Honduran: the backbone of the brand. Earth and leather rather than pepper and sweetness. The main regions are Jamastran near the Nicaraguan border, Danlí, and the Olancho valley.
Nicaraguan Habano: Cuban seed in volcanic soil. Pepper, earth, strength.
Ecuadorian Habano: Cuban seed under equatorial cloud cover. Oily, spicy, slightly sweeter.
Mexican San Andrés: the maduro standard, from the Veracruz valley. Cocoa and dark sweetness.
Honduran Connecticut-seed broadleaf: American broadleaf seed grown in Honduras. Thick, dark, sweet after long fermentation.

Wrapper shades, palest to darkest: Double Claro / Candela Claro Colorado Claro Colorado Colorado Maduro Maduro Oscuro

Primings: where the leaf grew on the plant

Written phonetically the top leaf comes out "lahero" or "lejero"; the word is ligero, lee-HEH-roh. The rest of the vocabulary: capa wrapper, capote binder, tripa filler, torcedor roller, vitola size, prensado meaning pressed, which is where the flagship line's name comes from.

Why "Prensado"

Prensado is Spanish for pressed. A box-pressed cigar is squared rather than round, either by pressing in the box during aging or by shaping at the roll. It compresses the bunch, which usually slows the burn and slightly concentrates the draw, and it changes how the cigar sits in the hand.

Sizes and vitolas

Length in inches by ring gauge, ring gauge being diameter in 64ths of an inch.

Elsewhere in the brand: Magic Toast in Robusto 5 x 52, Toro 6 x 52, Gordo 6 x 60 and Chunk 4.5 x 60. Across our wider catalog you will meet Petit Corona, Corona, Lonsdale, Lancero, Panetela, Belicoso, Piramide, Perfecto, Rothschild, Double Corona, Presidente, Salomon, Culebra, Gigante, Super Gordo and Diadema.

What we stock that lands in the same place

Since we cannot sell you an Alec Bradley today, here is what we would hand you instead, matched by what you are actually after.

For adults 21+. Please enjoy responsibly.

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