La Aurora: The Dominican Republic's Oldest Cigar Factory

La Aurora is the oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. Eduardo León Jimenes founded it in 1903 at the age of eighteen, in Guazumal in Santiago province, with what the company describes as a few hectares of land, six tobacco rollers and one donkey. Production moved into Santiago city in 1912 and returned to Guazumal in 2007. Five generations later, Guillermo León leads the company. Our La Aurora collection carries the 107, the original vintage lines, the Preferidos and the anniversary releases.

This profile covers the family, the master blender, every line with its blend and sizes, the andullo tobacco almost nobody else uses, and the award.

Five generations

Eduardo León Jimenes is the first generation, in 1903. Don Herminio followed in 1937. The third generation, Fernando, Eduardo, Guillermo and José León, took over in 1951. Fernando León is the fourth. Guillermo León, the fifth, joined in 1995 and is president today; he founded the La Aurora Cigar Institute in 2016 and serves as Second Vice President of ProCigar for 2026 to 2028.

The factory is also documented as E. León Jimenes Tabacalera. That continuity, one family in one valley for more than 120 years, is genuinely rare.

The 107, all three origins

One line, three different countries of wrapper, and the anniversary release alongside.

Manuel Inoa

La Aurora publishes a named master blender, which many houses do not. Manuel Inoa blended the Fernando León Family Reserve with Don Fernando León himself, and the 120 Aniversario. When you read that a blend is Inoa's, that is a documented attribution rather than marketing.

The 107, and the three origin idea

The 107 was released in 2010 for the company's 107th anniversary, and it is the most useful line in the range for anyone learning what a wrapper actually does. The same core blend appears under wrappers from different countries: 107 Nicaragua, 107 Ecuador and 107 USA, the last using a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over an Ecuador Sumatra binder with Pennsylvanian, Dominican and Nicaraguan filler.

Buying all three in the same Toro format and smoking them in a week is the cheapest wrapper education available. Compare them against our Nicaraguan, Ecuadorian and American collections.

The 107 Maduro, released in April 2013, uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over a Dominican Corojo binder with Dominican and Nicaraguan filler, in Corona 5.5x42, Robusto 4.5x50, Toro 5.5x54 and Belicoso 6.25x52.

1962, 1985, 1987 and the vintage lines

Puro Vintage is the concept worth pausing on. Most cigars blend leaf from several harvests to keep a profile steady. A vintage cigar deliberately does the opposite, taking everything from one crop year, so the cigar reflects that season the way a wine does.

The vintage lines and the anniversary

The Preferidos perfectos

The Preferidos are La Aurora's figurados, tied to the 1903 legacy and sold in coloured tubes. The 1903 Gold uses a Dominican corojo wrapper barrel aged in oak, over Dominican binder and filler with Cameroon and Brazil. The Platinum uses an Ecuador grown Cameroon wrapper over a Dominican binder with Dominican, Brazilian, Nicaraguan and Peruvian filler.

We carry the Gold, Emerald, Ruby and Diamond tubos plus the Treasure Box presentation. The perfecto shape, tapered at both ends, is what the house was making in 1903, and it is still the format the brand is known for. See our Perfecto collection.

ADN Dominicano and andullo

ADN Dominicano, released in February 2017, is the most distinctive thing La Aurora makes. It uses a Dominican Cibao Valley wrapper, a Cameroon binder, and filler from the Dominican Republic, Pennsylvania and Nicaragua, in Robusto 5x50, Toro 5.75x54, Gran Toro 6x58 and Churchill 7x47.

What sets it apart is andullo. Andullo is a Dominican tradition in which tobacco leaves are packed and fermented inside yagua pods, the fibrous sheath of the royal palm, which are then rooted in the ground. It is a completely different fermentation from the bale and pilon methods used everywhere else, and almost no premium cigar uses it. If you want to taste something you cannot get from another house, this is it.

The Cameroon binder is unusual too. Cameroon is normally a wrapper leaf, prized for its aroma; using it as a binder is a deliberate choice to put that character underneath rather than on top. Compare against our other Cameroon cigars.

What we notice first-hand

La Aurora is a Dominican house in the older sense: balance before power, aroma before strength. If your reference point is Nicaraguan pepper, the first few La Auroras can read as quiet. Give them a second try with a coffee rather than a whiskey and the aromatic detail comes forward.

The 107 Nicaragua is the one we sell most of, and it is the sensible starting point because it bridges the two worlds: a Dominican house making a Nicaraguan wrapped cigar. From there, the 1985 Maduro is the value pick and the Preferidos are the occasion.

One practical point about the tubed Preferidos: the tube keeps the cigar at packed humidity for months, so they travel and gift better than almost anything else in this price band. They are the La Auroras that go into Christmas boxes here.

La Aurora at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all La Aurora

The bottom line

Start with a 107 in whichever wrapper appeals, or buy all three and learn something. Move to 1985 Maduro for value, ADN Dominicano for the andullo, and the Preferidos when the occasion calls for a figurado in a tube.

For the other great Dominican houses we carry, see our Arturo Fuente and E.P. Carrillo profiles, or start with the Cigar Finder.

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