CLE Cigar Company

CLE Cigar Company is a premium-cigar business founded in 2012 by Christian Luís Eiroa after his departure from Camacho. The initials C.L.E. come from his name. The company reconnects Eiroa with Honduran tobacco farming and manufacturing while also supporting brands and products made in Nicaragua.

The company portfolio centers on CLE, Eiroa and Asylum, with additional distribution relationships that have changed over time. CLE's history is inseparable from the Eiroa family's Corojo work, but the company should not be confused with Camacho, which the family sold to Oettinger Davidoff in 2008.

Christian Eiroa Before CLE

Christian Eiroa grew up in the Eiroa family tobacco operation and became the longtime president of Camacho Cigars. Working with his father Julio, he helped build Camacho's modern Honduran identity around Jamastrán Valley tobacco and Corojo-seed cultivation.

The family sold Camacho and its cigar business to Oettinger Davidoff in 2008. Christian remained with the organization for a period, then left before returning to the premium-cigar business under his own initials.

The 2012 Return to the Cigar Business

CLE Cigar Company was announced in 2012. The first CLE releases included CLE Corojo and CLE Cuarenta, with the latter named for Eiroa's approaching 40th birthday. The new venture was presented as a long-term multi-brand business rather than a single-cigar project.

Early production drew on factories in Honduras and Nicaragua. Eiroa also used the Tabacaleras Unidas and Fabricas Unidas names as umbrella concepts during the company's formative years, so archived sources may use different corporate labels for related operations.

Honduran Farms, Factory and Corojo

CLE's current official presentation emphasizes more than a century and three generations of family tobacco work, with products grown and made in Honduras. Christian Eiroa is described as directly involved in tobacco selection, manufacturing, packaging and quality control.

Trade sources identify the company's Honduran production as Tabacalera C.L.E. or the El Aladino factory in Danlí. The Eiroa family also owns tobacco farms, making CLE more vertically connected to agriculture than a brand that only contracts finished cigars.

CLE, Camacho and Aladino Are Distinct Entities

Camacho is the earlier Eiroa-led brand sold to Oettinger Davidoff and is no longer owned by Christian Eiroa. CLE is Christian's post-Camacho company, founded in 2012. The companies share family history and Honduran Corojo themes but are separate ownership entities.

Aladino began as a Julio Eiroa project associated with CLE distribution and family factories. It later developed under JRE Tobacco. A current CLE page should link to Aladino's separate manufacturer or brand record rather than treating every Aladino release as a CLE-owned product.

The Asylum Partnership

Asylum emerged in 2012 through a partnership involving Tom Lazuka and Christian Eiroa. The brand became especially visible for very large ring gauges, experimental formats, unconventional names and pricing designed to reach a broad premium-cigar audience.

Asylum production has included Nicaragua and Honduras. The brand's structure differs from the more traditional CLE and Eiroa families, so product pages must identify the line, factory, blend and size rather than assuming one universal Asylum recipe.

Ownership, Distribution and Manufacturing Model

CLE Cigar Company is led by founder Christian Eiroa. The company combines brand ownership, tobacco farming, cigar manufacturing and distribution, but those roles differ across the portfolio and across outside brands it may distribute.

Honduras is the company's central identity and production base, while selected products have been made in Nicaragua. Factory and distribution relationships should be verified at the named-brand and named-release level.

Major Collections and Standout Lines

CLE Core Portfolio

The flagship CLE family has included Corojo, Habano, Connecticut, Prieto, Signature and other wrapper-led directions. A 2025 portfolio update added CLE Maduro, which earned a place in Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 of 2025.

Eiroa

The Eiroa brand is the more explicit family-heritage platform. Lines such as Eiroa Classic, Dark and The First 20 Years use Honduran tobacco stories, high-priming leaves or anniversary themes tied directly to Christian Eiroa's career.

Asylum and Asylum 13

Asylum is the company's experimental and large-ring-gauge platform. Asylum 13, Ogre, Insidious, Schizo and other extensions have distinct blends, formats and sometimes different countries of production.

CLE 25th Anniversary and Milestone Releases

CLE 25th Anniversary marked Christian Eiroa's years in the cigar industry rather than the age of the company itself. Anniversary, TAA and PCA exclusives should be dated and separated from regular-production core lines.

Distributed and Historical Relationships

CLE has distributed or represented outside and related brands including Patoro and Reyes Family Cigars, and historically handled Aladino through the Eiroa family network. Distribution does not automatically establish ownership or manufacturing control.

CLE Cigar Company in the Ashology Network

The manufacturer page should be the parent hub for Christian Eiroa's Camacho background, the 2012 launch, Honduran farms and factory, Corojo identity, Asylum partnership, core brands and distribution history. Individual cigar pages should hold blend, vitola and evaluation evidence.

CLE should not receive one universal Ashology score. A Honduran CLE Corojo, multinational CLE Maduro, Eiroa family release and Nicaraguan-made Asylum cigar have different production and tobacco records. Only a named cigar and vitola can be evaluated.