About Us
Pictured above are the partners: Billy, Luis, Jaime and John not pictured is our incredible office manager, Dorothy.
A Cuban Experience began as a group of friends, cigar aficionados and boaters. We would meet in the summer Waukegan Harbor on beautiful Lake Michigan enjoying out cigars while sharing boating stories. What started as a summer time dock event quickly stretched into the off boating season. We continued to share our love of cigars with one another and before you knew it, we had formed a social smoking group that continued to grow in size. A few of our members have had the privilege of touring manufacturing sites in Honduras and even Cuba to visit Havana and the famous Robaina plantation.
Over time, our cigar knowledge and experience grew into rolling cigars for our own enjoyment. We invested in a rolling machine, molds and a cigar press. We enjoyed ordering leaves, bunching, rolling and wrapping our own blends. We were quickly learning the best blends to put together and also which ones not too! Our friends enjoyed trying out new blends that we rolled and provided us with test market feedback. This drove our passion and desire to bring a one of a kind lounge and on-site rolling manufacturing facility to Waukegan, Illinois.
In June of 2015, A Cuban Experience moved to the next level and became incorporated. We opened our new 6,000 sq. ft. Cigar Lounge and Retail Shop in July of 2016. In 2018 we received our federal cigar manufacturing license. In July of 2019, our own line of cigars, From the Heart, debuted at the national trade show. In 2022, the production of our brand began being rolled exclusively in our facility.
We are located in the heart or downtown Waukegan, in a beautiful historic building on Genesee St., just sees from the Historic Genesee Theatre in the Arts and Theatre District.
Before the buildout began!!!!
