Despot Cigars

About

The birthplace of the Despot Cigars brand is not a nation many would associate with fine tobacco. Serbia is a nation famed for its rakija and the beauty of its capital, Belgrade, but the Balkan nation does not often come up in conversation about the great Cuban cigar -loving countries of Europe. This omission is perhaps unfair, as there is a vibrant and passionate cigar scene in Serbia, particularly in the capital, and it was out of that scene that the Despot Cigars brand was born. Today there are a multitude of cigar lounges, including a branch of La Casa del Habano, in Belgrade, thanks in part to more accommodating regulations regarding indoor smoking at hospitality venues. In 2004 this scene was burgeoning, and the Despot name was already involved. The brand itself was formed in 2019 by brothers Jovan and Ugljesa Despot - almost 20 years before, their father had been at the heart of the development of Belgrade’s smoking tobacco-loving community, meaning the brothers grew up steeped in the industry. With the blessing of their father they decided to put the family name to cigars of their own making, choosing Nicaragua as the nation in which they would blend and roll their masterpieces. Working with a factory in Estelí has afforded the Despot brothers easy access to all the beautiful tobacco grown in Nicaragua’s volcanic soil, but they have not restricted themselves to only using leaves grown within the borders of their factory’s home. Wrapper and binder leaves from Ecuador have been chosen to dress the gorgeous blends of filler leaves, and some of that filler comes from the United States of America. The Despots have drawn on the experience of lifetimes immersed in the cigar industry to select just the right blends for the cigars which bear their name. Despot Cigars are presented to the aficionado in carefully curated series. Each comprises four vitolas; each has its own blend of filler leaves, and the different sizes of the cigars in each range allow that blend to