Brand: PDR Cigars

PDR Cigars

PDR Cigars (formerly known as Pinar Del Rio Cigars under Don Leoncio Cigars) is a boutique cigar manufacturer based out of Tamboril near Santiago in the Dominican Republic. For the last ten years, PDR has risen to prominence amongst cigar industrialists and aficionados for its consistently well-constructed brands, such as the A. Flores 1975 or the PDR 1878, as well as dozens of phenomenal contract cigars, such as Gurkha and La Palina. In 2013 and 2014, PDR won awards in the Robb Report and Cigar Aficionado for having some of the best cigars in the world. Despite being a smaller manufacturer in the world of Dominican giants, PDR punches well above its weight class thanks to the leadership and vision of Abe Flores, the company’s president and master blender. As the company website suggests, PDR is the industry’s best kept secret. This halcyon period of PDR’s manufacturing history is especially surprising given the youth of the company and the comparatively large number of hurdles Abe Flores has overcome. Founded in 2004, Flores borders on being a millennial and likely is still known as a “kid” in the cigar industry. Indeed, Flores got his foot in the door as a graphic designer for cigar retail websites during the dot-com bubble and cigar boom in 1990’s. Nevertheless, Flores has proven a superior disciple of the industry. Taking guidance from Tabacalera Palma’s master blender Jochy Blanco and his own grandfather, a tobacco farmer who lived in the mountains of Bonao in the Dominican Republic, Flores is a highly respected cigar manufacturer. Producing fewer than ten million cigars a year, Flores’s operation allows him to have greater control over the quality of his cigars. This results in phenomenal boutique cigars known for good construction, good draw (thanks to a strict entubado standard for filler bunching), and phenomenal bouquet.