Our Story

I opened my first retail tobacconist store on September 8, 1995 in Princeton, New Jersey.  It was the culmination of 2 1/2 years worth of work and I was just 22 years old.  These were the pre-internet days so if I smoked a cigar I loved on a trip thorugh a random city, I went to the back of the mall and climbed in the dumpster to find the vendors label on the box they were delivered in - this worked more than once!  It was the beginning of a cigar boom created by the launching of Cigar Aficionado Magazine and I was lucky enough to establish myself in an ivy league town with old world money.  I would go on to build three stores in as many states, mostly with my own hands, because I never had enough money to do it any other way. 

My vision for A Little Taste of Cuba was to provide the ultimate smoking experience for connoisseurs and aficionados of luxury tobaccos in a Cuban inspired environment.  Having been born and raised in Miami, my passion for Cuban expatriate and boutique cigar brands guided my inventory vision.  And a trip to Georgetown Tobacco in Washington DC while going to college made me fall in love with the ultimate retail tobacconist.  I was even lucky enough to meet the Padrón family years before they became one of the world's most famous and successful cigar makers - just because my grandfather and father smoked Padrón cigars.  Again, I was more lucky than smart, but timing and good fortune were on my side.  

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In 1996 I travelled to Cuba and accidentally met the Director General of Cubatabaco; this provided me a great opportunity to gather educational resources and experiences in Cuba - and beyond.  By 1997 I had created an educational program (Tobacconist University) for my own retail tobacconists: this helped me train professionals as I was growing the business and it was a huge competetive advantage.  I was also teaching and certifying consumers in hotel convention rooms in an event-like atmosphere.   Admittedly, in my twenties, I thought I was pretty smart.  But, as I look back I can see I was being blessed.

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Surprisingly, the truth about the luxury tobacco business may not be what you think; we don't all just sit around shooting the sh*t and enjoying comraderie.  In fact, most of my time up untill the late 2000's was spent managing theft, worrying about cashflow, fighting tax increases and smoking bans from the local to the national level.  Fighting local governments, health departments, state legislators and the FDA is not the dream I imagined for myself.  Ironically, along the way I managed to fall more in love with the luxury tobacco industry and decided that I could help other retail tobacconists more by empowering them with the services and value provided by Tobacconist University (TU): that has been my focus for the last 20+ years. 

As of 2024 Tobacconist University has apprenticed and certified more than 3,000 tobacconists worldwide, and most of the academic curriculum is available for free online.  Please feel free to go visit the site and take advantage of all of the free education and opportunities there to enhance your appreciation of luxury tobaccos.  In addition, we list all of our Certified Tobacconists to help consumers find legitimate and proven professionals.  I encourage you to support these local retail tobacconists! 

While it may seem strange for me to promote other retailers on this mail order website, it is necessary for the vitality and future of this industry.  Sadly, the retail tobacconist profession is an endangered industry burdened by excessive regulation, taxation and large mail order companies (mostly owned by vertically integrated cigar manufacturers) who undercut prices and avoid state tobacco taxes by shipping directly to consumers from tobacco tax free states.  Every brick and mortar tobacconist faces extinction under this unfair paradigm; we are slow boiling frogs.  For these reasons, I encourage your to support your local brick and mortar tobacconists!

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My own brick and mortar retail journey ended in April of 2024 when I had to close my Princeton, NJ store.  The building was being demolished to make way for something more modern: that's just the way things go when you don't own your real estate.  While I am now living in Florida, painting, enjoying the outdoors year-round, and running Tobacconist University, I don't have the time to rebuild a traditional brick and mortar store 1100 miles away - or anywhere else for that matter.  But I have amassed a large collection of aged cigars and strong relationships with some of the world's greatest cigar makers.  I also want to hellp other retail tobacconists compete with the large mail order bohemoths whittling away at their customers and businesses.  This cubacigar.com website is part of Tobacconist University's TUECOM program where we create turnkey mail order ecommerce websites for Tobacconist University | Certified Tobacconists.  It is also a place where I can service a small group of longtime customers and friends after almost 30 years as a retail tobacconist.  My focus, as always, is in putting extremely rare, vintage and special cigars in the hands of those who helped me get here.  This website does not advertise, pay for SEO optimization, or work hard to get the word out because there is not enough special product to do so.  If you are here, then you know and appreciate what we are selling.  And it's not about big money either, there are affordable 10+ year old cigars here that are accessible to everybody! 

This is a bespoke online Certified Master Tobacconist experience where we separate the wheat from the chaff and provide your with the best super-premium cigars ever created.  Most of the products on this website have been aging for years in my humidors and many have been there for decades.  As someone who has certified thousands of tobacconists I can tell you there has never been a 'company' like this.  We are not competing with anyone.  Rather, we are serving a very unique and limited niche.

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Feel free to email or call me if you have any questions or need any help making a selection.  And thank you for making all of this possible.      

Jorge L. Armenteros, CMT
President & Founder

A Little Taste of Cuba
4123 Peachland Blvd.  C4
#457
Port Charlotte, FL 33954
941.310.6027
Jorge@cubacigar.com