DBL Cigars by Francisco Almonte held a gala event on March 4, 2023 to celebrate its 10th anniversary and Grand Opening of its new cigar factory and box factory.
The new cigar and box factory sits on just over 1 acre of land in Tamboril, Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Francisco noted:
“You don’t feel like you are in a cigar factory when you walk into ours. The view when you walk in is gorgeous, absolutely amazing. I am very happy with the work of the architect and construction team.”
The two factories are 16,000 sq. ft. each, totaling 32,000 sq. ft. of total factory space. The new factory is more than 10x larger than the original factory and features a host of amenities, which include:
- Inviting reception area and front offices
- Two state-of-the-art aging rooms furnished with wall-to-wall, floor-to ceiling cabinets made of Spanish cedar wood where cigars rest for up to 6 months in controlled temperature and humidity levels (equivalent to resting cigars in a humidor) before packaging. Can hold 300,000 cigars
- Private cigar lounge for visiting retail partners, friends and family of DBL Cigars.
- Marble floors
- Humidor
- Sofa
- TVs
- Complimentary Snacks
- Complimentary Wines/Dominican rums
- 24 – hour access
- Expansive, contemporary restrooms with showers and changing rooms for employees
- 2 floors of workspace
- 1st floor includes offices, aging room, la Galera (more than 200,000lbs of tobacco are in fermentation), packaging dept.
- 2nd floor includes drying room, sorting dept., cigar rollers, cigar lounge with private outside entrance.
Francisco added:
“People are immediately impressed when they visit our new factory. I wanted to come up with something different. I included a lot of high-end finishes.”
Francisco purchased the land in 2018, but did not start construction until 2020 – took almost 3 years to complete. The builder was Oscar Jimenez, who is known in the Dominican Republic for building large structures like hospitals and apartment complexes.
There are 82 employees in the cigar factory.
Cigar Box Factory
The cigar box factory is located in an adjoining building (16,000 sq. ft.) on the same property.
- 90 modern woodworking machines and apparatuses
- 1 floor
- 80 employees
- Making more than 200,000 cigar boxes a year for DBL and other Dominican cigar companies.
Future plans for the property
- Building a warehouse
- Building a daycare for employees’ children
- Building a cigar rolling school
- Building a “clubhouse” for entertainment like BBQ, Dominoes tables,
lounging, smoking etc.
DBL Cigars, LLC also acquired a 3rd tobacco farm in the Cibao region.
About DBL Cigars
DBL Cigars is the brainchild of Francisco Almonte. Francisco started working with tobacco at the age of 7, removing stems from leaves for his father in the family living room. By the time he was 12 years old, Francisco was rolling cigars. Tobacco quickly became his passion and creating fine premium cigars became his mission. Francisco had the unique opportunity to work under the tutelage of two of the world’s most iconic cigar makers: Mr. Carlos Fuente Sr. and Mr. Litto Gomez before creating DBL Cigars.
DBL Cigars is a vertically integrated company that started in 2013. We own and operate our cigar factory in the Dominican Republic (Tabacalera DBL), three tobacco fields (Casa de DBL) growing different varietals of tobacco, and our cigar box factory. DBL Cigars is the epitome of Passion, Love, and Experience.
Visit DBL Cigars at: www.dblcigars.com or follow us on social media @dblcigars