Current Edition- 2005
Read the story of the Makens' journey to bring the perfect cigar to the world...
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the article. »
August- 2005
...and Flor de Jardin, operated in Danli by two American entrepreneurs..
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the article. »
October - 2005
...Flor de Jardin bear discovering and enjoying...
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the article. (image only) »
November - 2005
While visiting Honduras three years ago, Texas entrepreneur Michael Makens sought some premium smokes...
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the article. (image only) »
September - 2005
Smokers who shun small-caliber cigars will overlook the best product from
Flor de Jardin. The company's blend of Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos reaches
its flavor zenith in the long slim Lancero ...
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the article. (*.pdf format) »
Fall - 2005
...9.6 Superior..."Bring more of these on!"...
Read all the reviews from SMOKE. (*.pdf format) »
Summer - 2005
... An even younger Honduran cigar brand had its genesis in 2002, when
Texas-based landscape designer Bill Makens toured the country, checking out
colonial gardens and architecture around the capital, and in his words, "trying
to buy a cigar." Informed by a local that the true heart of cigar manufacturing
was in Danlí, he made a special side trip - a mission, to track down someone
who could make him a good cigar. "You can call it fate or destiny," he says
now, "but I came across a man who happened to be running a small cigar
factory." The man was Juan Benigno Valdes, who quickly developed a bond with
the inquisitive American, and eventually a cigar brand, Flor de Jardín ("Garden
Flower," a reference to Makens's other business, designing English gardens). To
create the brand, a Honduran/Nicaraguan filler blend, available in Ecuadorian
natural or Nicaraguan maduro wrappers, Valdes employs less than 20 people at
the factory, developing about 5,000 cigars a month, sold mostly in the
Dallas/Fort Worth area and slowly expanding northward into other markets. The
slow pace agrees with Makens, who is thrilled to be in the business. "In any
business it's hard to find people that you really have such a level of trust,"
he says of his partner, Valdes. "Juan and his family are such genuine people.
We're a small company, and we need to do everything right - and that means a
commitment to quality over quantity." A Rose Among the Ruins.
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the article. (*.pdf format) »
June - 2005
Texas entrepreneur Michael Makens became familiar with the term walkabout while
attending university in Australia. With the ability to speak four languages,
including Chinese and Spanish, he took the term to heart and has traveled or
lived in over 30 different countries...more »
N.A.T.O.
Exposition 2005Las Vegas, March 29-31, 2005
Photo: Smoke Magazine's Ted Hoyt (left) stops by the Flor de
Jardin booth at the 2005 NATO Conference in Las Vegas.
News & Views
BIRTH OF A NEW BRAND: FLOR DE JARDIN
Los Angeles, April 5 - How do new brands start? What makes someone want to
bring a new brand to market in the face of more than 1,000 already there?
Flor de Jardin made its first commercial splash at last week's National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) exposition in Las Vegas. Owner Michael Makens was busy at the booth, welcoming buyers and handing out samples of his new line.
It's only the beginning of the business, but it was also the culmination of three years of work since Makens fell head over heels for a cigar he tried at a tiny factory in Danli, Honduras... read more »