Eladio Díaz Honors His Mother with New Mi Vieja Line

Eladio Díaz is honoring his mother with his newest release, Mi Vieja, due out later this year.

The name comes from the respectful nickname that Díaz and his siblings had for their mother, Maria Petronila Santiago Polanco. When Díaz was just seven years old and already getting his first introduction to cigars, he used to sing a song to his mother by the Ecuadorian singer Julio Jaramillo called “De Cigarro en Cigarro,” which translates as “From a Cigar to a Cigar.” Díaz said that he told his mother that was how he was going to live his life, from a cigar to a cigar, so his mother took him to a small factory in the neighborhood called La Diana, where he would meet his first mentor, Francisco Biloria Vencosme, known as Don Pancho. The cigar maker told young Eladio that the only rule was that you had to love tobacco and cigars, for if he did, he’d never work a day in his life.

The blend uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed wrapper, a corojo binder grown in the southern Dominican Republic, and a primarily Dominican filler that includes habano 2000, piloto cubano, and southern-grown criollo 98, while some Peruvian pelo de oro rounds out the blend. As with several of his other creations, Díaz features tobacco from the southern part of the country, which is reestablishing itself as a growing region for premium cigar tobacco.

“Before lighting, it’s like the feeling of a forest after a rain, the subtle smell of wet earth, and feeling the pleasant aroma of pine trees,” Díaz said. Once lit, he said the cigar gives him sweet and creamy notes, adding that it’s a “pleasant medium body, going from subtle notes to a cigar with some personality,” all eschewing the bitterness that a Connecticut-seed wrapper can have.

The new line comes in three sizes:

• Eladio Diaz Mi Vieja ENB (4 3/4 x 43), named for the Ensanche Bermúdez neighborhood in Santiago de los Caballeros, where Eladio Díaz was born
• Eladio Diaz Mi Vieja El Ejido (5 x 50), named for the neighborhood of the La Diana factory, where Eladio’s first job was
• Eladio Diaz Mi Vieja M.Santiago (6 x 52), named for Eladio’s mother

Pricing has not yet been set, but the company expects to announce it in late August, saying it will be in line with the La Diana and Before & After lines, which would put it in the $8-$17 range per cigar. All three sizes will come in 20-count boxes.

The cigars will debut in September at the 2026 InterTabac trade fair in Dortmund, Germany, and are expected to begin shipping to the U.S. in early November, followed by other markets around the world. Arango Cigar Co. distributes Eladio Díaz’s cigars in the U.S.

Images courtesy of Eladio Díaz Cigars.

Arango
Arango Cigar Co.
Eladio Díaz
Eladio Díaz Cigars
Eladio Díaz Mi Vieja
InterTabac 2026
Maria Petronila Santiago Polanco
Tabacalera Díaz Cabrera