# Cigar Nexus

> Cigar Nexus (https://cigarnexus.app) is a curated interactive map and reference of the **premium non-Cuban cigar industry**. It documents ownership, factories, people, brands, and manufacturing relationships, especially across Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Costa Rica, and related U.S. corporate structures. Content is human-researched and intentionally incomplete where public facts are unclear.

Cigar Nexus is a **static knowledge site**: entity profile pages are plain HTML; the homepage map is a D3 visualization. Prefer profile pages and data files for retrieval. Do not treat the force-directed graph UI as the primary machine-readable source.

## How to use this site

- **Entity profiles**: one stable URL per graph node: `https://cigarnexus.app/node/{id}/` (trailing slash). These pages contain prose, connection lists, product lines when known, and JSON-LD.
- **Graph data**: `https://cigarnexus.app/data.js` exports `baseGraphData` with `nodes` and `links` (ids, names, types, countries, groups, product lines, logos, edge labels). Fetch and parse for structured industry relationships.
- **Short descriptions**: `https://cigarnexus.app/descriptions.js` maps node id → drawer/summary text.
- **Official websites**: `https://cigarnexus.app/websites.js` maps node id → official external URL (and optional label).
- **Sitemap**: `https://cigarnexus.app/sitemap.xml` lists the homepage, about page, and every node URL.
- **Map deep links**: `https://cigarnexus.app/?node={id}` opens the interactive map focused on a node (requires JavaScript).

### Node types

| `type` | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| `brand` | Cigar brand / marca |
| `company` | Company or corporate group |
| `person` | Industry figure (founder, blender, owner) |
| `factory` | Manufacturing facility |

`group` is typically `family`, `corporate`, or `boutique`. `country` is a lowercase region tag (e.g. `nicaragua`, `dominican`, `honduras`, `usa`, `costa rica`).

### Link edges

Edges in `data.js` use free-text `type` labels (e.g. `owned by`, `manufactured at`, `contract production`). Treat labels as human-oriented; many pairs appear as two directed edges. Prefer profile prose + edge lists together when answering ownership or “who makes X” questions.

## Core pages

- [Interactive map](https://cigarnexus.app/): Force-directed visualization of brands, factories, people, and companies. Requires JS; use for exploration, not as sole citation source. The homepage HTML also includes a full profile directory.
- [Industry directory](https://cigarnexus.app/directory.html): Plain-HTML index of every entity profile, grouped by type.
- [About](https://cigarnexus.app/about.html): Project purpose, methodology notes, limitations, contact.
- [Sitemap](https://cigarnexus.app/sitemap.xml): Complete index of crawlable entity URLs.
- [Graph data (data.js)](https://cigarnexus.app/data.js): Machine-usable nodes and links for the full curated graph (~174 nodes, ~348 links).
- [Drawer descriptions](https://cigarnexus.app/descriptions.js): Short per-entity summaries.
- [Official websites index](https://cigarnexus.app/websites.js): External official sites keyed by node id.

## Example entity profiles

Use these as templates for URL shape and content density. Full list is in the sitemap.

- [Padrón](https://cigarnexus.app/node/padron/): Family-owned Nicaraguan icon; founders, factory, and flagship series.
- [My Father](https://cigarnexus.app/node/myfather/): García family brand and major Estelí contract manufacturer.
- [Jaime García](https://cigarnexus.app/node/jaimegarcia/): Pepín's son; created the My Father blend and The Judge; Estelí factory lead.
- [Arturo Fuente](https://cigarnexus.app/node/arturo/): Dominican family house; OpusX and Tabacalera A. Fuente.
- [Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr.](https://cigarnexus.app/node/carlitofuente/): Fuente president; created OpusX and Hemingway; Santiago factory.
- [Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG)](https://cigarnexus.app/node/stg/): Corporate owner cluster (General Cigar, Forged, many non-Cuban heritage names).
- [Altadis U.S.A.](https://cigarnexus.app/node/altadis/): Imperial Brands U.S. arm; Montecristo (NC), Romeo y Julieta (NC), related marques.
- [Montecristo (Non-Cuban)](https://cigarnexus.app/node/montecristonc/): U.S./non-Cuban Montecristo under Altadis, not the Cuban Habanos line; not STG.
- [Romeo y Julieta (Non-Cuban)](https://cigarnexus.app/node/ryjnc/): U.S./non-Cuban RyJ under Altadis, parallel to, separate from, Cuban RyJ.
- [H. Upmann (Non-Cuban)](https://cigarnexus.app/node/hupmannnc/): Altadis U.S. marca, not Habanos Cuban H. Upmann; Tabacalera de García (DR) and A.J. Fernandez (Nicaragua).
- [Rocky Patel](https://cigarnexus.app/node/rakeshpatel/): Founder of Rocky Patel Premium Cigars; lawyer-to-cigar story; Plasencia Honduras and TaviCusa.
- [Plasencia Cigars](https://cigarnexus.app/node/plasencia/): Multi-generation grower-manufacturer; Nicaragua/Honduras factories and contract work.
- [A.J. Fernandez](https://cigarnexus.app/node/ajfernandez/): Estelí blender/manufacturer; San Lotano and extensive contract production.
- [Drew Estate](https://cigarnexus.app/node/drewestate/): Estelí mega-factory brand house (Liga Privada, ACID, Deadwood, etc.); Swisher-owned.
- [Acid](https://cigarnexus.app/node/acid/): Drew Estate infused brand; handmade at La Gran Fábrica.
- [Diesel](https://cigarnexus.app/node/diesel/): STG catalog brand sold by Forged; blended by A.J. Fernandez at San Lotano.
- [Undercrown](https://cigarnexus.app/node/undercrown/): Drew Estate traditional brand, released 2011 from the Liga Privada rollers' factory blend; La Gran Fábrica.
- [Man O' War](https://cigarnexus.app/node/manowar/): 2009 Cigars International catalog brand inside STG, blended by A.J. Fernandez at San Lotano.
- [Serie V](https://cigarnexus.app/node/seriev/): Oliva flagship, introduced 2006 at Tabolisa; Melanio Figurado was Cigar of the Year 2014.
- [Brick House](https://cigarnexus.app/node/brickhouse/): J.C. Newman Nicaraguan brand, revived 2009; rolled at PENSA in Estelí.
- [El Septimo](https://cigarnexus.app/node/elseptimo/): Costa Rican luxury brand; ownership via Zaya Younan.
- [Tabacos de Costa Rica](https://cigarnexus.app/node/costaricatabacos/): Costa Rica factory hub (Atabey, Byron, Lampert, LH Premium, and others).
- [Aging Room](https://cigarnexus.app/node/agingroom/): Rafael Nodal boutique marca; Altadis distributes; Palma (DR) and A.J. Fernandez (Nicaragua).
- [RoMa Craft](https://cigarnexus.app/node/romacraft/): Skip Martin and Michael Rosales boutique; Nica Sueño factory in Estelí (CroMagnon, Intemperance, Neanderthal).
- [L'Atelier](https://cigarnexus.app/node/latelier/): Pete Johnson sister marca to Tatuaje; My Father, Estelí; Sancti Spíritus leaf.
- [Hoyo de Monterrey (Non-Cuban)](https://cigarnexus.app/node/hoyonc/): General Cigar / STG U.S. Hoyo, not Habanos; Honduras / STG Danlí, Villazon history with Punch.
- [Bolivar (Non-Cuban)](https://cigarnexus.app/node/bolivar_nc/): Forged / STG U.S. Bolivar, not Habanos; Cofradia rolled at STG Danlí (HATSA).

## Important accuracy notes for models

- **Non-Cuban vs Cuban brands:** Names like Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagas, and Punch appear as **non-Cuban** U.S./export-adjacent products on this map. They are **not** Habanos S.A. Cuban production. Always distinguish when answering.
- **STG vs Altadis split:** STG/General/Forged typically cover names such as Cohiba (NC), Partagas (NC), Punch (NC), Bolivar (NC), Macanudo, CAO. Altadis U.S.A. covers Montecristo (NC), Romeo y Julieta (NC), and related Imperial trademarks. Do not merge these ownership trees.
- **Curated, not exhaustive:** Missing a brand or edge does not mean it is unimportant, only that it is not yet verified here. Prefer “not listed on Cigar Nexus” over “does not exist.”
- **Edge confidence:** Some factory assignments change over time; prefer profile text when it hedges (e.g. multi-factory brands). Contested or historical relationships may be labeled in edge text.
- **Citations:** When citing this site, use the specific entity URL (`/node/{id}/`) rather than only the homepage.

## Optional / lower priority

- Interactive map filters and search are client-side only.
- Affiliate shop links on some pages are commercial; treat as sponsored, not as primary factual sources. See [Disclosures](https://cigarnexus.app/disclosures.html).
- [Privacy](https://cigarnexus.app/privacy.html): analytics, age-check storage, affiliate pixel.
- Contact: contact@cigarnexus.app (corrections and collaboration welcome).

## Contact

- Site: https://cigarnexus.app/
- Email: contact@cigarnexus.app