Plasencia: Five Generations, 2,000 Hectares and the Alma Series

Plasencia is a growing family first and a cigar brand second, and that order explains everything about the cigars. The company dates itself to 1865 and Don Eduardo Plasencia, documents five generations, and today farms more than 2,000 hectares of tobacco across Nicaragua and Honduras. For decades the leaf went into other people's cigars. The Alma series, launched under the family's own name, is what happens when growers stop selling their best tobacco to somebody else. Our Plasencia collection carries all four Alma lines plus Cosecha and Reserva Original.

This profile covers the family, the farms by name, both factories, every line with its sizes, the organic question, and the awards.

The family and who runs it now

Don Eduardo Plasencia is the first generation, in 1865. Don Néstor Plasencia, the fourth generation, turned 75 in 2024. Néstor Andrés Plasencia is the fifth generation family principal and the public voice of the company.

One correction worth making, because it is repeated widely and it is wrong: Néstor Andrés is not the chief executive. Ed Bello became CEO on 1 April 2025, arriving from Catalyst Spirits after fifteen years at Diageo. His predecessor, Jim Young, had served as interim CEO from September 2023 and stayed on as an adviser and board member. The United States office is in Miami.

The company also documents five generations, not six. That distinction matters if you are quoting the brand.

The farms and the growing zones

Plasencia farms in both Nicaragua and Honduras, and names its zones. In Nicaragua: Jalapa, Estelí, Condega and Ometepe Island. In Honduras: Olancho, the Jamastrán Valley and Talanga.

Those names are not decoration. Jalapa gives sweetness and a lighter aromatic character. Estelí gives strength and pepper. Condega sits between them. Ometepe, an island of two volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua, gives a distinct mineral earthiness that no other zone reproduces. When a Plasencia band names a zone, it is telling you what to expect.

Finca San Julián in Condega is the farm behind Alma del Cielo, which the company describes as the world's highest elevation cigar at 1,300 metres.

If you want to taste the two countries against each other, our Nicaraguan cigars and Honduran cigars collections sort by origin across every brand.

The two factories

Nicaraguan production runs through Plasencia Cigars S.A. in Estelí, the operation formerly known as Segovia Cigars. Honduran production runs through Tabacos de Oriente in Danlí.

Plasencia does not publish a single named master blender. The blends are credited to the company rather than to an individual, which is unusual and worth stating rather than filling in with a guess.

One from each Alma line

Fuerte is the strongest, Fuego the volcanic one, Campo the Jalapa expression, Cielo the high altitude release.

The Alma series

Alma means soul, and the four lines are built as a set. All four are Nicaraguan puros, meaning the wrapper, binder and filler all come from Nicaragua.

Note the Hexágono and Salomón shapes. Plasencia presses several sizes into a six sided profile, which changes how the cigar sits in the hand and how evenly it burns. The Salomón is a full figurado, tapered at both ends, and our Salomón collection gathers every one we carry.

Cosecha and Reserva Original

Cosecha means harvest, and the number is the harvest count since 1865. Cosecha 149 is a Honduran puro drawn from Olancho, Jamastrán and Talanga, built on the 2014 crop: La Vega Robusto 5x52, Azacualpa Toro 6x52, Cortez Figurado 5.75x56 and Santa Fe Gordito 4.875x60. Cosecha 151 marks the family's 151st continuous harvest and is made at Tabacos de Oriente: Robusto 5x50, Corona Gorda 5.75x46, Toro 5.875x54.

Reserva Original is the Nicaraguan puro grown with organic practices and enriched through vermicompost, in Corona Corta 3.875x48, Nestico 4.5x36, Robusto 4.75x52, Cortez 5.75x56 and Toro 6x50. It is the most affordable way into the house style and the one we would hand someone first.

The harvest lines, plus a sampler

The organic question, answered carefully

Plasencia's organic story is real but narrower than the internet suggests, so here is exactly what the company states. Reserva Original is cultivated with organic practices, enriched through vermicompost and free from artificial intervention. Year of the Horse uses an organic wrapper from Jalapa. Triunfal, released in May 2026 at 59.99 dollars in a run of 50,000 cigars, is described by Néstor Andrés Plasencia as the first blend to include organic tobacco grown by the company in both Honduras and Nicaragua.

The awards

2017 was Plasencia's year, and it was a sweep across three publications. The Alma Fuerte Néstor IV Toro took the number one spot at Cigar Snob. The Alma Fuerte Generación V Salomón, a 7 by 58, placed number eight at Cigar Journal and number nine on Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 with 93 points, its filler drawn primarily from Criollo 98 grown in Estelí, Condega, Jalapa and Ometepe.

Since then the brand has published a Top 25 placement for the Alma Fuerte Robustus I in 2020, 90 points from Cigar Journal for the Reserva Original Cortez, and 91 from Cigar Lover and 90 from Cigar Insider for Alma del Campo.

One correction, since it circulates: Alma Fuerte was not a Cigar Aficionado number one Cigar of the Year. It placed ninth. The number one that year was at Cigar Snob.

The awarded sizes

What we notice first-hand

Plasencia is the brand that converts people who think they do not like Nicaraguan cigars. The reason is agricultural rather than mystical: when one family controls the leaf from seed to box, the blend can be built around what the tobacco actually does instead of around what is available that season. Plasencia cigars burn evenly and taste the same box to box in a way that surprises people at this price.

The Hexágono pressing is not a gimmick. On a 60 ring gauge, six flat faces genuinely make the cigar easier to hold and, in our experience, less prone to a lopsided burn than a round Gordo of the same size. If big ring gauges have not worked for you, try a Sixto or an Amanecer before giving up on them.

And a value note: Reserva Original at the Toro and Corona Corta sizes is the most cigar per dollar in this house by a distance. Alma Fuerte is the one to reach for when you want the full statement, but Reserva Original is the one that stays in a humidor and gets smoked.

Plasencia at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all Plasencia

The bottom line

Start with Reserva Original or Alma del Campo. Move to Alma del Fuego when you want the Ometepe minerality, and to Alma Fuerte when you want the full weight of Estelí. Cosecha is the Honduran alternative and reads rounder and less peppery than the Nicaraguan lines.

If you are unsure how much strength you actually want, our medium to full and full body collections are a useful frame, and the Cigar Finder will narrow it further.

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