In 1974 a tobacco factory was built in Santiago, Dominican Republic called ‘Hogar del Tabaco’, Home of Tobacco in English. This facility marked the official beginning of the cigar industry in the Dominican Republic. The climate and the soil was perfect for growing tobacco. In 1959, many cigar manufacturers relocated to Santiago right after the Cuban Revolution. It wasn’t until 1974 that the Hogar del Tobaco was built and became the factory for La Aurora, Jose L. Piedra and Vega Fina.
The Koks family moved to Cuba from Holland to set up his cigar business around 1900. Maurice Koks Sr (the second Maurice) who was born in Cuba had also moved to Santiago, Dominican Republic in 1959. He bought the old Hogar del Tobaco facility and started Intercigar. His brother Antonius and son, Maurice Jr (the third Maurice) joined the business and Maurice Jr. took over as President in 2013. The men all worked together and continued to build the business and the reputation of Intercigar with the unique blend called Vallejuelo. They remodeled the old factory in 2019. Koks Sr. passed away in 2020 at the age of 83. That year Cigar Aficionado gave Vallejuelo a 90 rating as recognition for its quality and craftsmanship.
In September 2022 a significant fire from a generator that blew up destroyed the 2019 factory along with several other factories in the area. This tragedy also took the life Antonius Koks age 79. The damage was extensive, with estimates indicating the loss of around 700,000 finished cigars and all raw materials and equipment within the facility. The resilience of the Koks family, now lead by Maurice Jr. rebuilt again and totally modernized the new facility completed in 2023. It is now a state of the art cigar making operation. They have 400 employees of which 200 are rollers and 20 are master rollers.
Maurice Koks Jr. and Jose Rojas worked together to blend Koks y Rojas cigars, fast becoming a star in the premium cigar industry alongside the original Vallejuelo and a cigar called Antonius, a tribute to Koks Jr’s uncle honoring his legacy.
This article is an introduction to Intercigar and the perseverance of Maurice Koks Jr. to continue the family business producing some of the finest cigars in the industry. I will be reviewing all of their blends over the next several months, here at CigarCzars.com.
Here is a portion from my first review I did in 2011 about the Vallejuelo cigar….
The Vallejuelo I reviewed is a robusto, 5” x 54 ring gauge. It has a reddish colored wrapper from Ecuador. The binder is Dominican and the filler is Nicaraguan and Dominican. Being a firm cigar, I expected the draw to be somewhat restrictive, but it wasn’t. It cut easily, drew well, and burned even. I did notice while inspecting the cap that it was triple wrapped, very impressive. The ash was not at all fragile and came off after about 2 inches. The cigar smoked in a little over an hour. It did not generate a lot of smoke. One thing I did notice was that I had a short 5 minute phone call while smoking the cigar and set it down. I thought I would have to relight the cigar afterward, but to my surprise, all I had to do was to puff a couple of times and the cigar came back to life.
The initial aromas from toasting the foot of the cigar were of a roasted coffee, very typical of Ecuador tobacco. The flavor matched up well, also giving you taste of a full-bodied coffee. There was just a small amount of sweetness in the wrapper, maybe some sort of fruit, but it was not very pronounced. The cigar's aroma and flavors toned down from there, and just left you with a mild to medium smoke without anything very remarkable after that. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good smoking cigar. I smoked while drinking a Belgian-style wheat beer from Colorado. It was a great match.
Fast forward to January 2026…..
I just smoked 3 Vallejuelo cigars over the past few days and I believe they are even better than the ones I smoked 15 years ago. This is a cigar that will always have a place in my humidor as will the newer blends of cigars from Intercigar. The cost of the 90 rated Vallejuelo in 2011 was $4.50, less than 50% of similarly rated cigars. The cost of the 2026 Vallejuelo Robusto (Available at Atlantic Cigar) is $4, which is now around 80% less than other highly-rated premium cigars. So, it is a much better value today than it was in 2011. Look for more reviews next month, especially the Koks y Rojas.
