La Palina is one of the most historically significant American cigar marcas, tracing to 1896 when Ukrainian émigré Samuel Paley founded the Congress Cigar Factory in Chicago—the city that was then home to hundreds of cigar operations. Paley named his first cigar range La Palina in honor of his wife, Goldie Drell Paley; at its height Congress rolled roughly one million cigars per day. The Great Depression eventually closed the factory, but not before Paley family capital helped launch what became CBS under Sam's son William S. Paley—linking America's broadcast era to one of its great Gilded Age cigarmakers.
William "Bill" Paley—Sam's great-grandson—revived the brand in 2010 on a New York rooftop as a personal luxury cigar project, after an early, short-lived collaboration with Graycliff in the Bahamas tied to the family's Lyford Cay estate. La Palina 2.0 is a negociant: it does not own a factory, but it does own its tobacco, finished products, and brands. Five years after relaunch, Bill partnered with veterans Samuel "Sammy" Phillips (Rocky Patel, Alec Bradley) and Clay Roberts (Alec Bradley, A.J. Fernandez); today they steward operations while Bill remains chairman. Portfolio cigars are crafted in Honduras, Nicaragua with A.J. Fernandez, the Dominican Republic (including PDR Cigars), and Miami—where the limited-production Goldie line is rolled at El Titan de Bronze. Current releases span Goldie, Mr. Sam, Classic, White/Black/Blue/Bronze/Silver Label, Family Series Miami, La Palina 1948, and the 125 Anos anniversary edition.