Although the Blanco Cigar Company wasn't founded until 1998, the family's history has roots in the tobacco industry extending all the way back over 80 years to Cuba's famous Pinar del Rio province, and includes their cousins, the renowned Plasencia family. It's no secret that the Plasencia's are one of the tobacco industry's most prolific and important contributors, and together with Cesar Blanco Sr. they helped lay the foundation for what would eventually become Blanco cigars. This did not happen overnight, however, as this family-driven operation experienced decades in the making.
Cesar A. Blanco and his brother Francisco Blanco left Cuba in 1961 to go to Miami, Florida and meet their father, Cesar S. Blanco who had defected there after Fidel Castro's arrival just a couple of years prior. Settling in Chicago in 1963 thanks to government subsidy offered to Cuban refugees, the Blanco family wondered if working with tobacco was a thing of the past. Fast forward to the early 1990s, and meet the son of Cesar A. Blanco - David. In his early 20s, David was inevitably smoking cigars often, and found himself constantly being pressed for both information and cigars themselves from friends and strangers alike. Once he noticed the growing interest wasn't dwindling, David proposed to his father and uncle the idea of starting a cigar company. After some sound advice regarding going all in or not at all, Blanco Cigar Company came to life in 1998.
Even while proudly serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, and also joining the Chicago Fire Department as a paramedic officer, David Blanco had ample time to spend focusing on growing his new venture. With his father as President, his uncle in charge of operations in Tampa's Ybor City, and David himself securing business accounts and managing a dozen other salesmen, Blanco Cigars was becoming more and more successful. After the events of September 11th, 2001, both father and son were activated to serve, and their cigar business had no choice but to remain on hiatus. Nevertheless, upon his return from Afghanistan, David relocated to Chicago and resumed operations with the help of a family tie: the Plasencia factory in Nicaragua, which is where they continue making premium cigars today. Illnesses, deployments, and economical collapses all stood in the way of success, but the Blanco family is persistent and doesn't have the word 'quit' in their vocabulary. That passion is exemplified in their results, and fortunately, they're still not done yet.