SAG Imports is a joint U.S. distribution platform bringing together the sales, logistics, and marketing operations of two of the most storied family-owned cigar companies in the world: Joya de Nicaragua and Quesada Cigars — under a unified structure jointly owned and led by the Martínez family and the Quesada family. The partnership is a reunion as much as a launch: Quesada's original SAG Imports arm handled American distribution for both brands until 2008, when Joya de Nicaragua transitioned to Drew Estate — and now, nearly two decades later, the two families have come back together. "The new generation is partnering together," said Raquel Quesada, president of Quesada Cigars. "This is not an acquisition, but a commercial partnership." Between them, these two houses represent a combined 140-plus years of cigar-making heritage — one rooted in the volcanic soils of Estelí, Nicaragua, the other in the tobacco traditions of the Dominican Republic — and SAG exists to bring both of them closer to American retailers and smokers than ever before.
The depth of history behind SAG's two brands is extraordinary. Joya de Nicaragua, founded in 1968 by Cuban exiles, is the oldest premium cigar manufacturer in Nicaragua — a brand that survived being bombed during the Sandinista revolution, weathered U.S. trade embargoes, and famously served as the official cigar of the White House in the 1970s, before being reborn under Dr. Alejandro Martínez Cuenca in 1994 with a renewed commitment to full-bodied, authentically Nicaraguan blends. Quesada traces its roots to 1880s Cuba, where the family rose to become among the largest tobacco exporters on the island — before the Cuban Revolution sent them into exile and Manuel "Manolo" Quesada rebuilt the legacy from scratch in 1974, founding the MATASA factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic with three rollers and $100. Now in its fifth generation under sisters Raquel and Patricia Quesada, the family has grown MATASA into one of the most respected manufacturing operations in the Dominican Republic. Together through SAG, the Martínez and Quesada families are serving the U.S. market — the largest and most influential premium cigar market in the world — with a shared commitment to quality, tradition, and the kind of long-term relationships that only true family businesses can offer.
