HATSA (Honduras American Tabaco S.A.)
The first cigar factory in Danli, established in 1964 by Frank Llaneza, and the base of the Honduran Hoyo de Monterrey and Punch brands.
Frank Llaneza established Honduras American Tabaco S.A. in Danli in 1964, two years after the Cuban embargo cut off the supply of Havana cigars to the United States. It was the first cigar factory in the town, and Danli subsequently became the centre of the Honduran industry, drawing on the tobacco grown in the nearby Jamastran valley. The town is now the centre of Honduran cigar manufacturing.
The plant was the manufacturing base for the non-Cuban versions of several Havana names, most importantly Hoyo de Monterrey and Punch, along with Excalibur, the line that became the factory's best-known product. Honduran blends made there set a fuller, earthier style that distinguished the country's output from Dominican production in the 1980s and 1990s. Honduran blends of that period leaned heavily on locally grown ligero, which gave them a reputation for strength.
General Cigar acquired the parent business, Villazon y Cia, in 1996, and the factory has operated within that group since. Llaneza continued to work in the industry into his eighties and died in March 2010, two weeks after his ninetieth birthday. The factory's continuity is unusual: it has operated on the same site for six decades through several changes of corporate ownership and through periods of regional instability.