Los Statos De Luxe

[scottm12]

Some fun family history. My Dad used to tell us about an Aunt coming to visit in the 1950s and always smoking cigars. Their name was Michon and he always claimed they owned a cigar factory in Cuba that was taken by Castro, and then they returned to France in '59. Doing some digging and it looks like their family owned the Los Statos De Luxe brand from around 1940-59. The company was E. Michon y Cia. Would love to hear if anyone knows anything about these cigars. I may have found a London shop that actually has a few. I believe this was the branding.

[Lucas Buck]

That’s super cool. I know nothing of the pre-revolution cigars but I do have a few of the MM from the ‘90s. In fact I’ve got one of the Brevas from ‘98 in one of my on deck humidors. Planning on smoking it soon. It’s been years but as I recall they were pretty good smokes. 

[ha_banos]

I don't know much about them. But I've got a few left from the 70s.. Thanks for the info! Will snap some photos later.

[Ryan]

Very interesting story. There is nothing on the record about ownership of the Los Statos Deluxe brand or factory other than Martinez, Hermano y Compania (as on the older boxes) until the revolution when the brand was taken over by Empresa Cubana del Tabaco (later Habanos). 

I can't find any mention of the Michon family name in a list of nearly 5,000 pre-revolution brand names. Do you have any documentation? Always good to have info up to date.

 

 

[Habanoschris]

I have some boxes of their Delirios from the late 90s  Below is taken from CCW. (I think I saw a blurb about them somewhere else with about the same info but maybe a little more history if I find it, I'll share here).

Brand Notes

Status
Los Statos de Luxe is a discontinued pre-revolution brand.
It was classified by Habanos as a Local brand and had a minor market share.

History
Los Statos de Lux was established around 1940 and was deleted from Habanos portfolio around 2005.
In about 1980, the handmade cigars were replaced with machine-made versions. 

Generally
The range comprised medium to full strength cigars.

[scottm12]

From Deep Seek, but the names match up with family tree.

 

[Fugu]

Interesting bit indeed. The beginnings of the brand are obscure to this day. But there appears to be no published information on a Michon owner as far as I can see. There is, for example, a bit in MRN (although he was wrong on a few accounts, that one is an original proof), a report on the brand owner’s factory, Martínez Hno. y Cia., from the mid 1940s, and there is no mentioning of a Michon. If they were the owners at that time and if there had been a company named H. Michon y Cia. it would’ve been (needed to be) mentioned there (I’ll see if I can extract and translate that bit once I find a minute).

Address of Martínez y Cia. at that time was Real 202 in Marianao, up until at least 1958. Not Calle Primera in Vedado.

Furthermore, the Particulares factory had been bought by Alonso Menéndez and partner in the mid 1930s and then the brand pretty soon sold off to Cifuentes. From there on “Particulares” didn’t exist as a factory anymore, only as a brand of the Cifuentes portfolio. So that doesn’t seem to fit either. Unless perhaps it’s a different “Particulares” factory we are talking about here.

What’s perhaps conceivable (though unlikely) is that it was a factory producing for Martínez as a subcontractor. But then again they weren’t the brand owners. Still remains obscure.

So, like @Ryan said, it would need some more documentation before that info could be taken up as substantiated fact to the historical records. But it certainly would be nice to have more info of the brand’s foundations.

[Fugu]

The promised piece…

Taken from Min Ron Nee’s Encyclopedia, under brand entry for ‘Los Statos de Luxe’, excerpt from “Cuba Contemporánea”, chapter “Historia del Tabaco”, dated ca 1945:
 

 

Translation:

FACTORY OF FINE CIGARS

Martinez  y  Cia.

Cable and Telegraph: „MARBECK“
TELEPHONE  FO-711
REAL, 202, MARIANAO
HABANA, CUBA

 

The reputation enjoyed by this important factory is due, in large part, to the magnificent quality of the rich leaf used in its elaboration and to the perfect organization that determines the ample and constant production that is carried out there.

It was in 1905 that this factory was founded by Mr. Carlos E. Beck, having revolved under this name until 1934 when the corporate name was changed for the one it now holds and which is made up of Messrs. Bernardo Martínez and Luis García, having its workshops and offices in Calle Real numbers 202 to 204, Marianao, province of La Habana, post office box number 21 and telephone FO-711, telegraph and cable address "MARBECK".

The factory has more than six hundred people for the production of its cigars and for the different management of the business, who enjoy very good salaries and who are insured in accordance with the social laws of labor, working extensively in a modern building, which consists of three working galleys, belonging to the factory and which is located at number 202 of the aforementioned Real in Marianao.

The production of this factory reaches about fifty thousand cigars a day, occupying the sixth place among the commercial firms destined for the export of tobacco made in Cuba, and its main brands being those famously known by the names of "C. E. Beck", "Sol", "La Devesa de Murias", "Flor de Miramar", "Troya", "los Statos de Luxe", "Santa Rosalia" and others. For its manufacture, only the highest quality tobacco from the areas of San Juan and San Luis, in Vuelta Abajo, province of Pinar del Río, is used, and according to data specified in the latest censuses, this factory has exported in a period from March to November, inclusive, of 1944, a quantity amounting to 7,034,060 cigars for the North American and European markets, taking advantage of the circumstances that have been possible and that have been difficult in recent times, due to the lack of maritime transport.

Mr. Bernardo Martínez y Gutiérrez, manager of the firm, is a native of Oviedo, Spain, where he was born in 1893, having come to Cuba in 1908, and dedicating himself since then to commercial and industrial businesses in which he has a solid and great experience. The business as a manufacturer of cigars was established in 1919, appearing for its activity and dynamism as one of the most valuable and enthusiastic manufacturers in the field.

He is married to the esteemed Mrs. Carmen V. Moreno, with whom he has a daughter named Haydée, who is currently studying Sculpture.

 

Figure caption:

Interior views of the offices of the tobacco factory of Messrs. Martínez y Cia., on Calle Real de Marianao. On the right-hand side of the picture, sitting at his desk, Mr. Bernardo Martínez y Gutiérrez, manager of the firm, dispatching business matters.

 

(To note that at that time, obviously, the "Hermano" was (still) missing in the company's name)

[scottm12]

Excellent thank you for all the great information.