Ana Joaquina Rodríguez Vargas grew up in the city of Danlí, department of El Paraíso, in eastern Honduras, considered the cradle of the local tobacco. She remembers that from a very young age, because she lived near a factory, the smell of tobacco that permeated the environment attracted her attention, and that the smoke did not displease her.
Daughter of the landowner Don José Gustavo Rodríguez and Doña Graciela Vargas Betanco, an administration professional, she also grew up among cows, horses, and the coffee farms of her maternal relatives. “It was always peculiar,'” he recalls. When I was little, I wanted to be a diplomat.” But in the end she opted for Industrial Engineering, to become an entrepreneur knowing a little about everything: marketing, finance, production, quality…
She knew that at some point she would undertake something personal. So in 2011 she decided to create a cigars brand, and Joaquín Blanco became known at the international event Honduras is Open for Business, as a gift for businessmen, sheikhs and presidents who met in San Pedro Sula. “It was an unforgettable experience”, because she doesn’t even imagine its capacity and scope.
In the end she was satisfied with what she obtained, because many people believed that she had been in the World of Tobacco for some time. “The doors got open for me. Since then I have continued between great and small achievements, as well as overcoming the obstacles that every enterprise faces. The important thing is to move forward.”
RAÍCES CUBANAS
Ana Joaquina is the first and only person in her family dedicated to tobacco. As in Danlí there is an important community of Cubans – some of them, friends of his father – she knocked on the doors of his acquaintances. She approached Lipa Endemaño and her son Hugo, owners of the Raíces Cubanas factory, who “embraced the project since the first moment.” With them, she had – very well advised – her first smokes and pairings.
She spent the whole day in the establishment, observing the packaging, the destemming, the work of rollers and boncheros, and the selection of the different types of leaves. Its launch production was about 3,500 cigars, which is a lot to start with.
At first, she presented the Robusto, Torpedo, Toro and Churchill vitolas, with three blends. The mild, Connecticut wrapper; the medium, double wrapper and Habana, and the bold, Mexican Negro San Andrés. Ana Joaquina met more people related to the industry, other factories, and at the moment she is an experienced smoker.
“I choose tobacco and not another business because it is a luxury, elegant accessory; A product with distinction that also goes with my personality. I am a woman of firm convictions”, she continues, “and despite being a world considered for men, I did not see it as an obstacle, but as an opportunity.”
THE BRAND
Deciding on the name of the brand was easy. In addition to being his name, it is a tribute to his great-grandfather, Don Joaquín Zavala, who took care of his father – the man she admired the most – when at the age of nine he lost his own father. “Blanco”, also a family name, was a complement that sounds good and turned out to be commercially appropriated.
Then I designed a logo and everything needed for the launch. “The names of the blends, presentations, logos, etc. everything has being done by my own hand. My motto, which is Family Legend…, the rings, the designs… I have the ability to get everything I’ve done with Joaquín Blanco right, and whatever came to my mind has remained like this.”
REENGINEERING
Ana Joaquina maintained other professional activities and the business was not always walking. Between 2014 and 2016 she continued vending and people asking for cigars, “but I didn’t have a plan.” Her return to Danlí marked a resurgence, she applied a reengineering with new blends, improvement of the presentations and different, new, fresh things … From there it hasn’t stopped.
She met Adín Pérez and Raidel Lescano – Cubans too – from the San Judas Tadeo cigar factory, with whom “we started making some blends and I loved it; I have stayed with them until today. Although I maintain a very nice friendship with the Raíces Cubanas owners.”
Now Joaquín Blanco offers seven blends – including the Platinum, which will be presented in mid-2023 and commemorates its 11th anniversary. Valle Corojo, with a corojo wrapper, in a Robusto format; Mr. 1944 is presented in Rothschild and Churchill vitolas; the G&G Series, in Toro and Lancero; King Solomon is a double-wrapped Figurado; in the 2010 Edition there is a Toro and Petit Corona; the Special Edition Gold box press, and the new Gordo G short of 6 inches, ring gauge 58 “that will delight the greatest aficionados…”.
About the recent Gold Special Edition, she considers that “it is a wonderful cigar. I tell all my clients that I never have a single smoke, but two. It is an exquisite cigar, full body, pressed in an Habana wrapper, with a mild to medium strength and a very nice presentation. The palates feel some woody notes, but sweet, and a bit of chocolate.”
The idea is to give options to newly and experimented smokers, and to those who look for a cigar from time to time, with short and long smokes. And for giving a great variety, there are the accessories, such as a line of humidors that includes premium boxes, equipped to fulfill a humidor function. There’s also the Panorama box, with four levels and 20 pieces of our four blends.
GROWTH
The renewal of Joaquín Blanco drew attention at an international level. The client portfolio continues to increase in countries such as Nicaragua, Cuba, Argentina, the United States, Belgium, El Salvador, China, Vietnam or Spain, and the product reaches the consumer directly from Honduras. Negotiations will take place this year with distributors in the USA, Spain and Italy.
Although the Habano has been the par excellence tobacco, throughout the region there are cigars of the highest quality. Those of Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras are widely accepted. “It is an encouraging situation”, but it does not close its eyes to the local market, which since 2020 has grown impressively.
For Ana Joaquina int was enough to take her cigars into an event in San Pedro Sula, to be invited to different embassies, private tastings and weddings abroad. She stablished an alliance with a bank, and for five years she has been sponsor of the Honduras International Billfish Open, the best sport fishing tournament in the Caribbean.
In addition, she was invited to be a guest at the Cigar Week in Texas, USA, and she made this announcement at the launch of a car with Grupo Q, an international company: “They told me, like everyone here, that I was the first brand to do it… although in Honduras there are big brands.”
The Covid-19 pandemic also changed the scenario. It made known the empowerment of women in the Tobacco World, as they connected and coincided in the global movement Sisters of the Leaf (SOTL). The live interviews made visible the CEO of Joaquín Blanco, and the brand itself.
Evaluating the last few years, Ana Joaquina admits to being happy with what has been done, “I have an unlimited vision, both of the brand and of me in this position. Because there is an Honduran before me in the Tobacco World: Mrs. Maya Selva, whom I respect a lot, with a trajectory of 25 years. We are talking about a very successful businesswoman, and being the second in this country fills me with satisfaction and joy.”
