Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia.

Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. is arguably the most acclaimed cigar factory in the world. After losing their operations in Nicaragua and Honduras in the '70s, the Fuente's established a 12,000 square foot facility in Santiago, Dominican Republic. It is here that Arturo Fuente developed into the juggernaut that cigar enthusiasts now adore.

Today, the Fuentes' manufacturing operation has grown to include four facilities, churning out more than 30 million hand-rolled cigars each year. This includes the Fuentes' own brands, as well as near-equally hailed contract brands such as Ashton and J.C. Newman's Diamond Crown. In 2015 Carlos "Carlito" Fuente, Jr. set out to redesign Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. from the ground up, custom-making every aspect of the compound to take on a grandeur unlike anything else the world over—described as a Disney Land or Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory for cigars.

Like nearly all of the world's most respected cigar-making operations, Arturo Fuente benefits from complete vertical integration, handling the process from seed to ash. This is best evidenced by the company's Fuente Fuente OpusX brand, first debuting in the early '90s as, what many consider, the first Dominican puro. Like this industry-changing cigar, Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. operates under the watchful eye of Carlito Fuente, a true visionary in the modern space of premium cigars.