In 1935 Alonso Menéndez acquired the Cuban Particulares Factory, where the Byron and Particulares brands were produced. Soon after that, he created a new brand which he dubbed Montecristo. He chose the name as a tip of the hat to the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo.
You see, in those days, to keep morale high, a lector would read from a book on the factory’s rolling floor. The Count of Monte Cristo was a favorite among the rollers, so Menéndez took the two words and combined them to signify the creation of this new brand. This novel that helped start it all got its inspiration, in part, from the island of Montecristo, a mysterious and uninhabited body of land in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
As the story goes, Menéndez opted to use the now famed numbers designated for Montecristo cigar shapes to sidestep the mundane process of listening to his colleagues suggest names. We suppose the idea was to let the blends of Montecristo No. 1, Montecristo No. 2, et cetera, speak for themselves without relying on some wild new name.
It was 1936 when Menéndez partnered with Jose Manuel Garcia. The two founded Menendez, Garcia y Cia, where Menéndez owned 64 percent of the company and Garcia owned 34 percent. Both were managing partners with Menéndez focusing on cigar production and Garcia on sales. Montecristo cigars were a hit from the start—so much so that Menendez, Garcia y Cia purchased the large H. Upmann factory in 1937 and moved the Montecristo machine to this new location. Menendez, Garcia y Cia would go on to become the largest cigar company operating in pre-Castro Cuba.
After Montecristo was nationalized by the new Cuban government, Menéndez, with the help of his son Benjamin started over in the Canary Islands, but due to trademark disputes with Cubatabaco, the Cuban state tobacco company, they changed the cigar’s name to Montecruz.
With Menéndez and company out of the picture, the Cuban Montecristo brand needed a new floor manager. Top ranking Montecristo cigar roller Jose Manuel Gonzalez assumed the role and led the brand to international success.
Founding: In 1935 Alonso Menéndez acquired the Cuban Particulares Factory, where the Byron and Particulares brands were produced. Soon after that, he created a new
