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About Maya Selva Cigars

Since 1995, when Flor de Selva was launched in France, the Maya Selva Cigars collection continues to expand to the amazement of delight of aficionados. Consisting of three brands - FLOR DE SELVA, CUMPAY, and VILLA ZAMORANO - the collections invite the most demanding smokers to discover the tradition of hand-crafted cigars, the cultivated tastes of Maya's personally selected growing areas in Honduras and Nicaragua (their terroir or "spirit of the land") and a uniquely creative vision of the puro.  
 
The success of these outstanding cigars is a fitting tribute to the values that are Maya Selva Cigars' hallmark:
 

  • Respect the taste of the land 

  • Produce top-quality cigars

  • Honor the “totally hand-made” tradition

  • Value a carefully selected channel of distribution

 

These essential principles have always guided and inspired Maya, from the creation of blends, to her relationship with her retailer-ambassadors, from her advertising campaigns, to the design of her packaging. 

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Multi-awarded Maya Selva Cigars are enjoyed in more than 35 countries worldwide.

About Maya

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With a mother from France and a father from Honduras, Maya grew up in Tegucigalpa and returned to France to study at the age of sixteen. After high school, she trained to be an engineer, attended the Ecole Internationale des Sciences du Traitement de l’Information - School of Engineering (EISTI), and finished her education in the United States with a Master of Science degree. Not ready to settle into a career yet, she returned to Honduras in 1991 with the urge to explore various possibilities, in particular, those link to tobacco.

 

MAYA rolled up her sleeves and spent over a year learning how cigars are developed in Danlí, Honduras – from A to Z she learned eagerly about every single parameter essential to producing a top quality cigar.

 

Her meeting with Nestor Plasencia, a renowned tobacco grower and cigar maker proved decisive. In 1994, Maya Selva worked with him to define a set of very stringent specifications for the production and quality of her cigars. And in 1995, the first box branded FLOR DE SELVA, went on sale in France. The new puros were quick to appeal to European aficionados. By 1997, the Flor de Selva Robusto was already called a classic by L’Amateur de Cigare magazine! 


Maya did not stop and in 1999, she debuted with a new brand – CUMPAY - this time from the volcanic highlands of Nicaragua’s Jalapa Valley. And in 2002, she launched VILLA ZAMORANO, making a strong new statement in the cigar world.


To keep business moving forward for a legion of loyal aficionados, Maya juggles her time between the company headquarters in central Paris and a world class distribution center in Blois, France, And Honduras where the tobacco plantations and a brand new factory is located, plus a distribution center for the USA in Hollywood, Florida. 

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