San Cristobal Cigars
San Cristobal cigars are blended by legendary cigar-maker, Jose ‘Pepin’ Garcia in Estelí, Nicaragua. Handcrafted from the finest, aged premium Nicaraguan tobaccos, San Cristobal features a rich and perfectly versatile collection of blends that highlight milder, medium-bodied, as well as more full-bodied profiles. An exquisite variety of aged wrappers delivers tremendous flavors of cedar, earth and dark chocolate alongside Pepin’s rich signature of spices. Impeccable complexity, countless top-ratings, elegant construction and indulgent finishes continue to endear true enthusiasts everywhere to San Cristobal cigars.
CIGARS
San Cristobal
Price Per Cigar:$8.91 - $12.2521 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Habano Oscuro33 Reviewsread more
San Cristobal Elegancia
Price Per Cigar:$7.11 - $9.5018 options availableStrength: Mild-MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Connecticut55 Reviewsread more
San Cristobal Ovation
Price Per Cigar:$14.36 - $18.009 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: San Andres Oscuro13 Reviewsread more
San Cristobal Quintessence
Price Per Cigar:$8.74 - $11.5018 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Habano39 Reviewsread more
San Cristobal Revelation
Price Per Cigar:$8.28 - $11.5018 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Sumatra38 Reviewsread more
SAMPLERS
ACCESSORIES
SAN CRISTOBAL BRAND HISTORY
The owners of the Ashton brand, the Levin family, debuted San Cristobal in 2007 as their first joint venture with one of today’s most prominent cigar-makers, Jose ‘Pepin’ Garcia. Known as Pepin, Garcia immigrated to the U.S. from Central America after leaving Cuba where he spent many decades rolling, blending, and training others to craft premium Cuban cigars. Pepin oversaw the production of iconic Cuban brands, including Montecristo, Cohiba, and Romeo y Julieta, as he cemented his reputation as a revered cigar-maker.
Pepin quickly found a welcoming audience in the premium cigar market in the U.S., despite starting from scratch up on his arrival in Miami. With his son, Jaime Garcia, and daughter, Janny Garcia, Pepin began a small Miami-based cigar-making operation where early releases included his namesake brand, Don Pepin Garcia, in addition to the young boutique line, Tatuaje, rolled for Pete Johnson. Initially, the Garcias’ cigars were made in small batches by a handful of talented rollers. High ratings and rapid demand earned the family a noticeable degree of attention. Many premium cigar shops wanted to carry Pepin-made cigars, but there were only so many to go around.
As management at Ashton conducted a comprehensive search for a new cigar-making partner, their quest led them to a dozen cigar factories throughout the industry before their paths crossed with Pepin Garcia in Miami. The folks at Ashton discovered immediate chemistry with the Garcias when they explored the potential of releasing a new brand together. The initial cigar samples the Garcias offered were more than convincing, and plans were made. Pepin was humbled and delighted by the success of his early brands, but making cigars for Ashton opened the doors for production on a much larger scale.
Vivid artwork depicting a parrot in a tropical landscape was chosen for the boxes and the bands on San Cristobal cigars. The original blend is drawn from a succulent Ecuador Habano Oscuro wrapper and an earthy interior of Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos that deliver a plethora of spices. As cigar lovers and critics smoked San Cristobal for the first time, the brand stood out with its beautiful presentation and complex, Cubanesque taste. San Cristobal countered the trend many cigar companies of the era relied on – macabre marketing gimmicks with a fixation on skulls, crossbones, and morose themes intended to elicit shock to get the attention of consumers.
As San Cristobal took off and the Garcias began to create new cigars for their recently christened My Father Cigars portfolio in 2008, the family opened a sprawling new cigar-making facility in Estelí, Nicaragua, to meet increased demand. Ashton was honored to be the factory’s first official client with San Cristobal.
Many Pepin-made cigars are characterized by their rich, zesty taste thanks to the fertile volcanic soils on the Garcia family’s Nicaraguan estates. Today, they grow premium tobacco in all of the country’s most desirable regions: Estelí, Jalapa, Condega, and Namanji. The cigars the family makes are revered for their quality and consistency because the Garcias control the production process from seed to smoke. Their success in Nicaragua has vastly transformed the landscape in and around Estelí with their now-booming cigar-making operation. Much investment and economic development in the region emerged as a result.
San Cristobal is a top-rated brand with growing portfolio of blends that a number of aficionados applaud. The brand is exclusively handcrafted at the Garcia family’s esteemed My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.
SAN CRISTOBAL BRAND OVERVIEW
In addition to the first San Cristobal blend, which came out in 2007 and scored an impressive 93 points in Cigar Aficionado, the brand’s portfolio has grown to include a versatile collection of well-aged premium cigars.
In 2011, San Cristobal Elegancia debuted with a silky Ecuador Connecticut wrapper over a creamy, balanced core of Nicaraguan long-fillers. The 91-rated blend is a bestseller and proof of Pepin’s ability to craft a milder, more approachable cigar. Elegancia remains an excellent introduction to Nicaraguan tobaccos with its 91-rated profile of white pepper, leather, nuts, and coffee bean notes.
One of the brand’s fastest-selling lines, San Cristobal Revelation premiered in 2013. An Ecuador Sumatra wrapper leaf covers select Nicaraguan tobaccos that yield flavors of smoked almond, cedar, coffee bean, cinnamon, and black pepper. The blend has received several top ratings, including a 93-point score in 2024 from Cigar Aficionado.
In 2015, an ultra-rare limited edition debuted, San Cristobal Ovation. The small-batch blend is released in limited quantities in a trio of classic formats. Production is limited due to the rarity and extensive age of the cigar’s tobaccos – a shimmering San Andrés wrapper leaf and a bold interior of Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The names of each size, Decadence, Opulence, and Eminence, reflect the cigar’s decadent, full-bodied profile of hickory, dark cocoa, and cedar with a deep and creamy zest.
Rated a classic 95 points and ranked as the ‘#3 Cigar of the Year’ for 2021 in Cigar Aficionado, San Cristobal Quintessence is handcrafted from a caramel-hued Cuban-seed wrapper leaf grown in Ecuador over a refined but potent center of premium aged Nicaraguan tobaccos. Notes of cedar, cocoa, molasses, coffee bean, and spice create a profile perfect for pairing with a top-shelf bourbon or scotch.
San Cristobal cigars show off a marvelous collection of savory, well-rounded and refined flavors. The brand is an amazing value, too, starting around $7 per cigar. Smoke a San Cristobal cigar today, or add one of our bestselling San Cristobal samplers to your humidor, and taste some of Pepin Garcia’s finest work.
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