If Frank Llaneza isn’t the godfather of cigars, he’s certainly the pioneer of crafting full-flavored smokes. As a co-owner of Villazon & Co., Llaneza made strong cigars long before they were celebrated in the pages of this magazine. “The people that smoke our cigars for the first time, sometimes can’t smoke the second one,” he once said. In 1964, he formed Honduras American Tobacco S.A., in Danlí, Honduras, becoming one of the first to produce cigars in that country. While Llaneza no longer owns Villazon (which is now part of Swedish Match AB), his name lives on thanks to Cigars by Santa Clara’s El Rey del Mundo Flor de Llaneza. This thick, pressed figurado is one of the world’s great full-bodied smokes, full of spice.
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