There is no one like Sandy Cobas in the cigar industry. If ever there was such a thing as a cigar celebrity, Cobas would fit the bill. She’s the founder of El Titan de Bronze, a cigar factory located in Little Havana, and easily one of the most well-known figures in the cigar industry today. Though she’s Cuban American, she does not come from a tobacco family. Cobas launched her cigar business after discovering a lack of cigars for her high-end liquor store’s customers. When she couldn’t get her hands on enough cigars to meet the demand of her customers during the boom, she resorted to the next-best solution and started making her own.
That was nearly 30 years ago. Since 1995, El Titan de Bronze has withstood various changes and challenges, including the end of the cigar boom, the 2008 financial crash, and the global pandemic in 2020. El Titan de Bronze has not just remained busy and become a go-to for several brands, including La Palina, Warped, Cohiba, and Padilla (to name just a few), but it has thrived.
Helping El Titan de Bronze achieve this goal is Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), which has called upon Sandy Cobas and those in her team to help put their spin on the iconic Cohiba blend, and is also now helping El Titan de Bronze to get its own branded cigar lines into retail tobacco stores across the U.S. Even though El Titan de Bronze may be small in size and square footage, there’s no denying the colossal impact it and its founder, Sandy Cobas, have had on cigar enthusiasts worldwide.
Making Cigars and Breaking the Law
Sandy Cobas’ entry into the premium cigar business was a true entrepreneurial endeavor. Initially, Cobas was working in the liquor business and quickly noticed the strong connection between spirits and cigars. This was during the height of the ’90s cigar boom, a period when premium cigars transitioned from a niche to a widespread cultural phenomenon, and Cobas discovered a new potential business opportunity, as any good entrepreneur would. While she was busy selling spirits, her customers were also asking her for premium cigars.
“I couldn’t get cigars,” she explains in an exasperated tone. “That’s when I said, ‘What the hell, I can’t get them so I’m going to make them. That’s what happened. I started making them, I hired rollers, we kept the ball going for years. I should be in jail!”
Cobas’s “jail” confession isn’t made in jest. It’s a reality that she thankfully avoided. After asking friends such as Ernesto Perez-Carrillo for cigars to meet her customers’ needs, she found that there were not enough cigars available to satisfy the demand. Rather than give up and move on, it was at this moment that Cobas decided to find a Cuban roller and start making her own cigars.
“I went out—it was at the Mayfair Hotel in Coconut Grove—and I saw this Cuban man rolling cigars. I said, ‘Oh my God, look at all this stuff!’ I asked him if he could make cigars for me, and he said that on weekends he could come to where I was. I got so excited! I went out and got a [rolling] table and everything.”
Cobas and her new team started making and selling cigars out of her liquor store. One of her store’s regular customers was actually an undercover ATF agent. “I’m making my own cigar,” she excitedly announced to this regular customer, who froze and quickly told her, “You can’t do this.”
She pointed to the store’s license, which was hanging on the wall, and emphasized that it stated, “ATF,” as in “Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms.” Her ATF customer shook his head and explained to her that the license she had only applied to alcohol and cigarettes, not to making and selling premium cigars.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, what am I gonna do? This is going to cost me more than my divorce! Now what?”
Her customer told her to stop making cigars immediately, and he would see what he could do to help her get the appropriate license. Once she obtained the proper licenses, she continued to build her tobacco business. She hired nine rollers but had very limited space for this new venture. In the front, she still sold spirits, but in the back of the warehouse, she had her nine cigar rollers busily working. After her divorce, she gave up her stake in the liquor business but kept the cigar business. Although the divorce meant she had to start over, she had the support of her family and a growing team of rollers who helped her and El Titan de Bronze build a formidable reputation in the cigar category.
Finding Redemption
Since El Titan de Bronze’s early days of operation, Cobas has never knocked on anyone’s door to ask for business. La Palina became one of El Titan de Bronze’s first customers, calling upon the small Little Havana cigar factory to help it make its Goldie. Cobas and her factory soon caught the attention of many cigar makers who were seeking a personal touch and something distinct in terms of a blend. Drew Estate called on El Titan de Bronze to help it craft something that was from “back home.” That is how Drew Estate’s Herrera Estelí line came to be. Warped is another popular premium cigar brand that has relied on the expertise of Sandy Cobas and those at El Titan de Bronze to bring its cigars to life.
Cobas has become a favorite collaborator of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. In 2021, STG tapped Cobas to help produce the Cohiba Series M, the first Cohiba-branded cigar handcrafted in the U.S. These cigars are brought to life by exciting blends and also small details that bring the old-world Cuban touch to the brand, including a fantail head and closed foot.
“It has truly been a pleasure to work with Sandy, Giselle and the family at El Titan. And that’s just how they make you feel when you’re there—like family,” says Sean Williams, brand ambassador for Cohiba. “Since the first project I ever did with them over 15 years ago, I continue to be amazed by their intimate, small batch, artisanal approach to cigar making. That, coupled with the prominence of the Cohiba brand, is what makes the Serie M project so special year after year.”
In March 2024, El Titan de Bronze’s partnership with STG entered a new stage. It was announced that the STG would distribute El Titan de Bronze’s Redemption brand. Redemption is a blend worked on by Sandy and her daughter, Giselle. Although it was available for purchase at El Titan de Bronze’s Little Havana factory, this distribution enabled the factory’s cigar line to reach a wider audience of cigar enthusiasts across the U.S. Redemption is crafted by eight certified Level 9 Cuban expatriate cigarmakers and four Nicaraguan cigarmakers. Level 9 is the highest level that a cigarmaker can achieve, with only a select few rollers meeting the stringent qualifications.
“When Willy got hired by DE [Drew Estate], everybody was like, ‘Oh, poor Sandy. Willy’s going to leave, and they’re going to go out of business. And she goes, ‘Wait a second, I’m not going to go out of this. I’m so happy he’s going to Drew Estate because, in the end, it’s better for my daughter and my grandkids. I was here before and I’ll be here after Willy,” Giselle recalls her mother saying. “I’m going to make my own cigar, which is my winner.
The first blend Sandy created was the My Way cigar line, followed by the Redemption line that serves as El Titan de Bronze’s core house brand. Years later, when the partnership with STG came about, Sandy was asked what cigar she would like to introduce herself with to the cigar industry. As she thought about all of the cigars she had created, she concluded that she wanted to release something that was truly an embodiment of herself and decided to revisit the Redemption line. This time, however, the blend was crafted by Giselle, whom Sandy affectionately refers to as “Master G” because of her skills and her service as the factory’s new master blender.
“We were fooling around with different blends, and I thought, ‘You know, I really like this.’ But I didn’t say anything because it was her call,” Giselle says of her mother as they worked on the blend for Redemption. “I have a trusted panel, including my husband, and he tried it, asking, ‘What is this?’ This is really good. It’s really, really good!’ I said, ‘Is it that good?’ He said, ‘Yes—whatever it is, go with it.’ And that’s how we came out with this spin on the Redemption.”
“I have been a fan and customer of El Titan for years, so I was so honored when Chris Tarr (VP of Marketing at STG) chose me to work on this project,” says John Hakim, STG’s brand manager for El Titan de Bronze’s Redemption line. “Working with Sandy and Giselle on packaging and marketing, as well as being the liaison between El Titan de Bronze and STG, has been really exciting for me. It is such a unique position to work for one of the largest of the premium handmade cigar companies and simultaneously working with one of smallest of the boutique companies. They really are like family, from calling to offer condolences in tough times to sharing laughs and successes to heated discussions. I probably speak to Giselle more than I do my own family!”
The new Redemption features an Ecuador Habano sun-grown wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler. It is available in three sizes: Corona, 5 5/8 x 46; Robusto, 5 x 50; and Toro, 6 x 52. They are available in 10-count boxes and are distributed in the U.S. by STG’s General Cigar Company.
Continuing Impact
El Titan de Bronze may physically be a small space that occupies part of 8th Street, but it has had a significant impact on the premium cigar industry in its 30 years of business. Cobas and her team have brought the Cuban tradition of making cigars to Miami, creating unique blends that have made this small factory a significant player in today’s cigar industry.
“So far, we’ve been very successful,” Sandy Cobas states. “Thirty years is a long time. It’s a beautiful industry. People come in from all over to see us, they follow us on Instagram or read about us on websites and blogs. It’s exciting for us.”
As to what’s next for Sandy Cobas and El Titan de Bronze, expansion and growth are the main focuses. With a new generation of cigar smokers coming into the industry, El Titan de Bronze has its work cut out for it. There will be more cigar blends needing to be created, more rollers to expertly craft Cubanesque premium cigars, and more memories to be made by the lively Sandy Cobas and her passionate, expert team at El Titan de Bronze in Little Havana, Miami.
– Photography by Adam Friedman. Story by Antoine Reid, content director at Premium Cigar Association (PCA). You can reach him at antoine@premiumcigars.org.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 3, 2025. To receive a copy of this magazine, you must be a current PCA member. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.