CigarsLover Magazine I 2023

CIGARS
JRE Tobacco
Bringing family tradition
to the next generation
by Michel Arlia
JRE Tobacco might be a somewhat young company,
but the well-known family behind it boasts
a long history in tobacco and cigars. The brand
was founded by none other than industry legend
Julio Rafael Eiroa and his oldest son Justo in 2016.
Over the years, Justo’s daughters have also joined the
family business. With their recent introduction to international
markets, the best-kept secret among cigar
lovers is no longer a secret. We had a chat with Justo
about everything JRE Tobacco.
How were you as a kid growing up, and what are your
earliest tobacco-related memories?
Very healthy and pure growing experience, helping
milk the cows, riding horses all day, and getting on
the Steyer tractors. When that young, you are not sure
what you will be doing in the future, but now that I look
back and see the people that work with us at the farm,
they are the kids I grew up with, and we also had their
parents working with us.
What was the deciding moment you realized your
calling as a tobacco grower and cigar maker?
It was 2015 when my father, Julio R. Eiroa, asked me
to return to the family business. We are both very passionate
about tobacco farming, and I also wanted to
return to it.
What did you see in the Honduran soil that the other
countries don't have that made you decide to stay
and continue to grow in Honduras and not move to
other countries over the years?
Honduras was where Jacinto Argudin sent the first
Cuban seed in 1960 to start a pilot program in Honduras,
and this was the first tobacco for cigars that was
grown in the region with Cuban seed. Angel Oliva, a
great visionary of Oliva Tabacco Brokerage Company
in Tampa, saw the Cuban embargo problem on tobacco
supplies for the factories in Tampa and sent my father,
Julio, to do the sorting of that experimental plot.
Mr. Oliva mentioned to my father that the Jamastran
valley tobacco was equal and had as much aroma as
the best from Cuba.
While JRE Tobacco is a relatively young brand, your
father is an industry legend. After selling the Cama-
32 #1-2023 CigarsLover Magazine