El Septimo — the ultimate luxury cigar brand

In June 2022 I found myself on Geneva’s shopping street Rue de Rive, wandering in and out of the multitude of shops selling everything from clothing and chocolate to watches — interspersed with cafes, food trucks and even stalls with fresh produce — trying to fill the family’s shopping list. Exactly a year later, Google Maps directed me to the same street on my way to a meeting with Xavier Bento, General Manager of El Septimo Cigars.

About midway down the right-hand side of the street from where I stepped off the bus, I spotted the black sign with El Septimo Cigars written in white jutting out from a pillar. I must have walked past the sign at least five times last year.

Located on the second floor of the building on 8 Rue de Rive, the flagship store with a small smoking lounge serves as the base from which El Septimo has expanded across the globe. Bento, who started with El Septimo as a salesperson when it was established in Geneva in 2014, reinforced, both in his manner and in his words, how cigars truly bring people together regardless of background or profession.

“Walk into any cigar lounge and in no time you will be drawn into conversation with at least one person. It is great for networking in a way that is authentic and unassuming,” he said.

The two things that truly set El Septimo cigars apart are they are only made with aged leaves, making them smoother and easier to smoke, with a lovely draw, and the tobacco is puro Costa Rica, meticulously grown and aged in the country’s San Jose mountains. This comes across in the quality of the smoke and the higher price point of their cigars.

When it comes to price, Bento reminisced on how when he first started selling cigars to tobacconists in Geneva, many believed that there would be no customers for El Septimo. He countered that simply leaving samples for them to try resulted in increased orders just on the basis of the quality of the smoke.

In a previous column I wrote about the El Septimo Short Dream Topaz. “Have you ever had something talked up so much that you start to doubt whether it will actually live up to the seemingly unrealistic expectation that has been built up?” It did live up to the expectation, and more, so I can understand the brilliance of Bento’s sales strategy.

In the early years El Septimo produced cigars of different ages, from five years upwards, with the band colour signifying the year that each cigar was released. In 2019, the company was acquired by La Maison Younan, a subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based Younan Company, headed by Zaya S. Younan.

Since he took over, he has made it his mission to expand El Septimo’s offering in terms of cigars and accompaniments, including cognac, wine, humidors, cutters, bags and other accessories. And fully penetrating the US which from a business perspective makes sense, with North America positioned as the biggest cigar market in the world.

Before sitting down with Bento over an Excepcion Esmeralda (such a delicious, balanced smoke with a dark, silky wrapper) and a glass or three of the El Septimo XO 2004 cognac, he took me through the humidor where I was submerged in the stories of all the different cigars. El Septimo has more than 40 blends of cigars and they have expanded the range to include the Emperor Collection, the Gilgamesh Collection and the Sacred Arts Collection. The Emperor Collection includes Napoleon, Yao, Augustus, and Alexander III. The Gilgamesh Collection, a nod to Younan’s heritage, is named after Gilgamesh, a hero of ancient Mesopotamian mythology, and includes King Sargon, Aqua Anu and Sable Shamash cigars.

I was particularly drawn to the Sacred Arts collection, with its exquisite packaging. All El Septimo packaging and bands are produced in their warehouse in Geneva — paying homage to a renowned artist with a famous artwork from each artist on the box. There are seven cigars representing the seven days of creation from the Bible consisting of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Salvador Dali, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

El Septimo cigars generally come encased in beautiful dark wrappers and so far I have not been disappointed with a single one. There truly is an El Septimo for every occasion and I could have sat for days with Bento sampling every single one. Alas, after three hours of great conversation, I had to let him go.