New Jersey-based Cortez Cigars produces exclusive, locally-inspired tobacco blends for the Garden State and beyond

by Jessica Jones-Gorman • Photos by Doug Polle

In a 200-year-old Havana-style home located on a strip of Eatontown’s iconic Main Street, Luis and Christian Cortez have brought their time-honored family traditions and heritage to the center of the Garden State.

“My family has always worked in the tobacco industry—some as growers, some as cigar makers—so creating our own brand was a dream that both my brother and I have worked towards for years,” noted Luis Cortez, describing the eponymous cigar brand that both he and his brother have owned and operated for the past decade. “After years of working with different cigar companies and training in Cuba and in the Dominican Republic, we combined our expertise and started creating some unique blends of tobacco that we could call our own.”

With its high ceilings, private lounge, and expansive walkin humidor, Cortez Cigars is a haven for New Jersey’s stogie aficionados. The smallish factory, where guests can appreciate the art of hand-making, features cigar rollers producing the brothers’ best multi-leaf blends, including a number of locally inspired varieties that helped put the business on the map.

“Our most popular blend is the Navesink, which is hand rolled on-site in two different sizes with a limited production of only 200 a day,” Cortez said. “Our customers like it in part because it’s a made of three different types of fillers and is something exclusive that they can only purchase here. And at the same time, its name pays tribute to a local landmark.”

There’s the Exit 109 too, another top seller named after an iconic Garden State Parkway off-ramp—another of the 30 different blends that Cortez Cigars offers that are exclusive to the shop, which retail for an average of $7 to $9.

“We only make and sell our own blends,” Cortez said. “That is what’s so interesting and attractive about our company. We sell only what we create and the community here is very proud and receptive of that.”

The brothers chose New Jersey as home base after working in the area with another big cigar manufacturer that was headquartered in New York.

“I immediately liked the atmosphere here,” Cortez said. “It’s not hard to see that this is a cigar smoking state. There are a lot of aficionados here, a lot of passion and knowledge, which is very inspiring.”

Together they have built a kind of locally-based tobacco empire: Luis is in charge of blending and growing while Christian takes care of distribution (which has become widespread; Cortez Cigars are currently marketed throughout the United States). They maintain a factory in the Dominican Republic, too, where most of the brand’s wholesale blends are manufactured; but a good percentage of the cigars are produced and manufactured right in Cortez’ New Jersey shop. New blends are released annually, a process which Cortez says takes significant time to complete.

“Before we create a new blend, we work for months, traveling around the world, sampling different types of tobacco from various families and farms,” explained Cortez. “The tobacco leaves then need to be aged for a minimum of three to four years before the final product is made.”

Parties and private events have become a growing part of the business: They were one of the area’s first companies to offer on-site cigar rollers at weddings and corporate functions. The brothers are also working with several varieties of tobacco they have developed and grown themselves in the Dominican Republic, and will be releasing a new blend in March. Plans are in the works to target European and Asian markets, as well as expand distribution in the U.S., and the store’s second location recently opened in Maryland.

Cortez Cigars’ focus, however, remains on creating special, exclusive blends for customers who have become accustomed to their own private, select brand of tobacco.

“With any new blend, it’s important for us to consider how well it will mesh with our brand,” Cortez concluded. “We love bringing classic and new blends to our customers, but at the end of the day our goal is to simply create a good cigar.”

Cortez Cigars
152 Main St., Eatontown / 732.530.1222 / cortezcigars.com