About Florida Sun Grown

In the 1890ʼs, Cuba was fighting for their independence from Spain. To escape the war and the blockade on Havana harbor, some Cuban tobacco growers established large tobacco farms in Fort Mead, Florida so they could continue to supply American cigar factories with tobacco. With Florida having a very similar climate, altitude and close proximity to Cuba, their tobacco farms thrived.

Unfortunately, due to the invention of the cigarette and the gradual decline in cigar consumption, the resulting closure of thousands of American cigar factories, the invention of homogenized tobacco wrappers, the high cost of American labor and the low cost of foreign labor, it was no longer economically feasible for Floridaʼs farmers to grow cigar tobacco. For the next 70 years, the cigar industry continued to get smaller each year and as a result, the last crop of Florida cigar tobacco was grown in 1977 on a farm in Gadsen County, Florida.

As a proud American, President & Founder of Corona Cigar Company, Jeff Borysiewicz believed it was possible to bring cigar tobacco farming back to Florida – on a small-scale, limited production way. As a cigar retailer, Jeff believed consumers would be willing to pay a little more for a cigars that contained genuine Florida grown cigar tobacco, as long as the tobacco was unique, distinctive, flavorful and of the highest quality.

So in 2012, Corona Cigar Co. purchased a 20 acre plot of farm land 30 miles west – of Orlando, in the town of Clermont, Florida. We began clearing the land, prepping the the soil, constructing our unique tobacco curing barn, installing irrigation and purchasing equipment.

In 2013 we planted our first test crop of Cuban seed Corojo tobacco not knowing what the results would be. History as well as science told us that we could successfully grow quality cigar tobacco in Florida and our test crop proved that with just nature alone, we could grow good tobacco. With proper funding, research, modern agriscience combined with proven methods of cultivation, a lot of hard work and a dedicated team, we could grow GREAT tobacco.

Since that first test crop we have grown six successful crops to date. Each year we continue to improve as we make adjustments to adapt to our unique growing environment. Our farm team understands what it takes to make a premium cigar. They take pride in growing the finest tobacco leaves and they know, years later, their tobacco will bear the Florida Sun Grown name on world class cigars.

It has been forty years since any cigars were made with Florida tobacco. We are extremely happy to be able to bring back one of Americaʼs finest tobaccos and reintroduce the unique flavor of Florida tobacco to cigar aficionados world wide. We hope you enjoy these special cigars as much as we do.