Factory Located at the
Independence St.
(Santiago, DR)

La Aurora is located in the heart of Santiago de los Caballeros, a city which has become known as the capital of Dominican cigars.

La Aurora began in 1903, in the agricultural community of Guazumal just outside of Santiago where 18-year-old Eduardo León Jimenes founded the cigar factory. No stranger to tobacco, Don Eduardo was the son of tobacco growers.  From his parents, he inherited his love of the soil, farming, tobacco and hard work.

From the outset, he implemented a tobacco farming and cigar rolling style of his own, using the most skilled artisans of the region. He began his operations with a modest investment, but with an ambitious goal: to create a product of world-class quality.

By 1912, the factory was moved into the now flourishing city of Santiago at the suggestion of Don Eduardo's brother Herminio who had joined him in the company. This change helped drive the demand because of its new proximity to the larger market.  A few years later, due to the hard work of the León Jimenes brothers, the factory grew.  By 1926, the La Aurora Lion became incorporated into the company's  logo.  In 1930, with the addition of sisters María Mercedes and Trinidad, the company formally became E. León Jimenes, CxA, the producer of "La Aurora" cigars.

Don Eduardo León Jimenes was the spark that would set things in motion, as well as a living proof that it is possible to create a role model company of uninterrupted productivity, yet willing to serve the Dominican people. After he passed away at age 52, his brother Herminio assumed the company's leadership where he remained for 14 years. 

Don Eduardo León Jimenes
(Founder)

Don Fernando León Asensio

In the 1950s,  Don Eduardo's son, Eduardo León Asensio took over the company.  He remained true to his father's vision of world class production, yet with a social responsibility to his workers and the country. In 1957, León Jimenes became the first private company in the Dominican Republic to form a union of tobacco workers and sign a collective bargaining agreement. The younger Eduardo relied on his family for help during this time.  Don Fernando took over the more agricultural responsibilities in the line of sowing and harvesting of tobacco. His younger siblings, Guillermo and José, also assumed their share of responsibility in the company.

By 1963, the company went through major transformations and as a result to those changes, it began the making of cigarettes. The company needed more room, having outgrown its facilities and moved into a new headquarters at Villa Progreso, in Santiago. The first cigarette were made under the company's  own brands, but a few years later, Philip Morris recognized the quality of León Jimenes and formed an alliance with them to make the internationally recognized Marlboro brand.

Mr. Guillermo
León Herbert,
at a tobacco house.

Under the leadership of the León Asensio generation, the company continued to flourish.  Using family values along with a solid technical education, the company expanded into new ventures and began marketing on a global scale. By 2006, the company wanted to focus on its roots of cigar making and ended its partnership with Phillip Morris, letting them take back all cigarette manufacture and sales.

Today, under the leadership of Guillermo León, Don Fernando's son, La Aurora still maintains its century old tradition of delivering a world-class, hand-made product. The quality of La Aurora is unmistakable, which is why consumers experience the perfection, taste and aroma with every puff.  This is thanks to the experience and skill of the Dominican artisans who satisfy the most demanding expectations.

But the company has never forgotten its commitment to family values which have aided in the development of the tobacco industry -- from the sowing of the seed, through harvest, fermentation, aging and finally creation of the cigar. Hundreds of thousands of Dominicans have found a stable source of work and pride in the cigar industry. Santiago proudly calls itself the "World's Capital of Cigar Manufacturing" with La Aurora as  one of the largest cigar exporters in the country. The Dominican aroma and taste are world renown and La Aurora cigars are considered some of the best in the world.