Piloto Cubano is a generic term that means (roughly) "grown in the style of Cuba" or "Cuban Style". After a recent trip to the DR, one of my sources told me he had access to the original Piloto Cubano leaf. Here's the story from Cigarcyclopedia
"Jose “Pepe” Mendez had to leave Cuba in 1960 as the Castro regime began to nationalize the tobacco industry, including his father’s highly-successful tobacco-growing operation in the Pinar del Rio district and his cigarette factory, which produced what was then the most popular cigarette brand on the island, Regalias El Cuno.
Pepe Mendez went first to the U.S., then to Spain and finally landed in the Dominican Republic in 1962. By using Cuban techniques of grading and fermenting leaf, he put Dominican tobacco on the map and American cigar companies began buying it.
At the same time, Mendez began receiving letters from Cuba in envelopes that were also stuffed with cotton. Wrote Seltzer, “Inside the cotton were seeds for Piloto Cubano, a tobacco named for the town it came from in the Pinar del Rio region. In a bold move that changed the future of the post-Cuban cigar industry, Pepe began growing and processing this tobacco in the Dominican Republic.”
Mendez died in 1983, but the company continued to grow and is run today by his son-in-law, a German engineer named Siegfried Maruschke and daughter Mercedes. Their son Siegfried Peter (known as Fito) is also deeply involved.
A team of five agronomists led by Fito constantly monitor the soil conditions in the Cibao Valley, the richest zone for tobacco in the Dominican Republic. Said Fito, “We classify based on taste and characteristics. Each zone has slightly different soil and climate so it all affects the taste.”
According to the story, “Mao, the westernmost zone, has a rich, reddish soil that is very much like that of Cuba. It is a bit drier than the soils of other areas of the Cibao Valley and is perfect for Piloto Cubano tobacco. Navarette, due east from Mao, has sandy soil, but because of its location next to the mountains in the north, cool breezes yield a smoother leaf of Piloto Cubano. A bit further east is Villa Gonzalez and Jacagua, which both yield a milder Olor. To the south of the river is La Canela, whose climate is very dry. The tobacco that grows there is stressed because of the weather and yields heavier leaves or more ligero.”
There you have it. Jose Mendez & Co. continues to offer quality tobaccos from the Dominican Republic to its clients, which start with Altadis U.S.A., but include a “who’s-who” of the top cigar makers outside of Cuba today."
I can verify this information (above), but from what I remember, the story is pretty close to accurate.
"Jose “Pepe” Mendez had to leave Cuba in 1960 as the Castro regime began to nationalize the tobacco industry, including his father’s highly-successful tobacco-growing operation in the Pinar del Rio district and his cigarette factory, which produced what was then the most popular cigarette brand on the island, Regalias El Cuno.
Pepe Mendez went first to the U.S., then to Spain and finally landed in the Dominican Republic in 1962. By using Cuban techniques of grading and fermenting leaf, he put Dominican tobacco on the map and American cigar companies began buying it.
At the same time, Mendez began receiving letters from Cuba in envelopes that were also stuffed with cotton. Wrote Seltzer, “Inside the cotton were seeds for Piloto Cubano, a tobacco named for the town it came from in the Pinar del Rio region. In a bold move that changed the future of the post-Cuban cigar industry, Pepe began growing and processing this tobacco in the Dominican Republic.”
Mendez died in 1983, but the company continued to grow and is run today by his son-in-law, a German engineer named Siegfried Maruschke and daughter Mercedes. Their son Siegfried Peter (known as Fito) is also deeply involved.
A team of five agronomists led by Fito constantly monitor the soil conditions in the Cibao Valley, the richest zone for tobacco in the Dominican Republic. Said Fito, “We classify based on taste and characteristics. Each zone has slightly different soil and climate so it all affects the taste.”
According to the story, “Mao, the westernmost zone, has a rich, reddish soil that is very much like that of Cuba. It is a bit drier than the soils of other areas of the Cibao Valley and is perfect for Piloto Cubano tobacco. Navarette, due east from Mao, has sandy soil, but because of its location next to the mountains in the north, cool breezes yield a smoother leaf of Piloto Cubano. A bit further east is Villa Gonzalez and Jacagua, which both yield a milder Olor. To the south of the river is La Canela, whose climate is very dry. The tobacco that grows there is stressed because of the weather and yields heavier leaves or more ligero.”
There you have it. Jose Mendez & Co. continues to offer quality tobaccos from the Dominican Republic to its clients, which start with Altadis U.S.A., but include a “who’s-who” of the top cigar makers outside of Cuba today."
I can verify this information (above), but from what I remember, the story is pretty close to accurate.