The Newman family, who own Diamond Crown cigars, have been a part of the American cigar industry since its earliest days. The J.C. Newman company was founded in 1895 when young Julius Caeser Newman built his first cigar table in the family barn in Cleveland. And while the family has since relocated to the Ybor City district in Tampa, Florida, they have always remained a piece of classic Americana.
They’re “America’s oldest family-owned premium cigar maker.” Not a bad claim to fame, eh?
Diamond Crown cigars represent an evolution. While the parent operation produces brands known worldwide like Cuesta-Rey, El Baton, Quorum, and Brick House, there eventually came a need to do something truly spectacular. As the family reached its 100th anniversary in business, they needed a proper way to celebrate their centennial. To do this, they needed to find a proper partner. And they found one of the very best in the world: the Fuente family.
From one leading cigar family to the other, Diamond Crown cigars represent a partnership of respect and understanding. This is the kind of bond that you can only have when you see that another family has the same reverence for tradition and ancestral pride that you do. When you add that the Fuentes have multiple Cigar Aficionado Cigar of the Year wins spanning decades of excellence, it would be hard to do better than this when it comes to a production partner.
Diamond Crown cigars have a number of signature attributes that make them a cut above many of the other value blends offered by the J.C. Newman cigar company.
One of them is the quality of construction. They’re rolled by some of the best tobacco artisans in the Fuente operation, who are not judged by production numbers. Instead, they’re paid a fixed amount and can therefore focus on exquisite quality. There’s no need to hurry. For a family like the Newmans, who work in the famous El Reloj clocktower factory in Tampa, it’s a perfect fit in with the Fuente motto: “We will never rush the hands of time.”
Further patience is required to create Diamond Crown cigars due to a double fermentation process. This is perhaps the secret sauce of this brand line. After the normal fermentation, select leaves are graded and passed along for a second round of fermentation. This leads to a smooth and rich flavor and a beautiful rosado color. The Connecticut wrapper of the core line is then aged for around five years as it develops into the ultimate cover leaf for these premium cigars.
The final signature was that Diamond Crowns were one of the first brands to increase the ring gauge of the lines to 54. At the time, it was unusual, but it allowed more tobacco into the blend. Time has shown that this trend was only getting started, but Stanford Newman was ahead of his time, even while being a staunch traditionalist in many other ways. However, he saw what was needed to make a truly stellar cigar.
Now, we can all wear the Diamond Crown while we happily puff away.
Please browse our selection of Diamond Crown cigars at your leisure.
