MOLINARI

Andrea G. Molinari · Smoke & Stories

An engineer who waited.

Born in Rome in 1955. Engineer by training, airline builder by trade, and a man of cigars by vocation. MOLINARI is the last chapter of a story that runs from Rome to Havana by way of the sky.

From cabins to cockpits.

After a degree in Mechanical Engineering at La Sapienza, with a thesis on solar hydrogen and the Stirling engine, Andrea designed and sold aircraft interiors at Aviointeriors. There he fitted out the cabins of the first Boeing 737-300s of Niki Lauda’s airline in Vienna.

Lauda did not forget the precision. In 1991 he called, and Andrea founded the Italian Lauda Air, and kept staff card number 001. For thirteen years he ran it from Milan Malpensa: Boeing 767-300ERs to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil, the Maldives, Kenya and Japan.

Later came Air One CityLiner, the business jets of AirFour, and a classroom: airline management at SUPSI in Switzerland and airport logistics in Varese.

Lauda Air Italy Boeing 767-300ER on the runway at Osaka Kansai, 2001
Lauda Air Italy · Kansai · 2001Boeing 767-31AER
Andrea G. Molinari laughing with Niki Lauda, who wears his red cap
With Niki Lauda.
Andrea G. Molinari holding a model of an Air One CityLiner jet
Air One CityLiner2006 – 2009
Tobacco field in the Viñales valley, Cuba, with the limestone mogotes behind

Vuelta Abajo, Cuba

Every flight to Havana ended in a tobacco field.

Havana, after dark.

The airline flew to Cuba, and Andrea followed the leaf. He ran a Casa del Habano in Milan and CIGAIR, a cigar club, lounge and restaurant whose honorary president was Mike Bongiorno. In 1997 he wrote SIGARO, a guide for the apprentice smoker of Cuban cigars, dedicated to its members.

In Havana he sat with Don Alejandro Robaina, the most celebrated of the Cuban growers. In 1999 seeds chosen by Robaina went into the ground in Estelí, Nicaragua, for Andrea. That same February, Fidel Castro signed his humidor.

He also plays bass and sings, and recorded his album Disco Volante partly at the EGREM studios in Havana.

Andrea G. Molinari as Fidel Castro bends to sign a humidor
Havana · 1999The humidor signature.
Andrea G. Molinari playing bass beside Compay Segundo
With Compay Segundo.
Don Alejandro Robaina and Andrea G. Molinari smoking together
Don Alejandro Robaina.
Andrea G. Molinari and Mike Bongiorno under the CIGAIR sign
CIGAIRMike Bongiorno.
Black and white photo of Andrea G. Molinari with Luciano Pavarotti
With Luciano Pavarotti.

OneOff, the first rock star.

Andrea wanted a cigar made his way. In 2001 he created OneOff, rolled by the Plasencia family in Nicaragua in tiny, near-unique batches. The band carried a peace symbol that was also an aircraft, and the first bands were printed with the year 1999 on the back.

OneOff scored above ninety in Cigar Aficionado’s blind tastings between 2002 and 2004 and gathered a following across Europe, Asia and America.

“Cigar Aficionado’s first rock star.” Dion Giolito, Illusione Cigars, on OneOff · Cigar Aficionado, 2017
The back of an original OneOff band, printed with the year 1999
OneOff · original band1999 on the back.
Original OneOff box with the orange peace symbol
An original OneOff cigar, lit, held between fingers
Rows of shade-grown tobacco in Estelí, Nicaragua

Estelí, Nicaragua · 1999

Robaina’s seeds, planted for the wait.

Tobacco One-off Projects.

Between 1999 and 2000 Andrea bought tobaccos from across the Americas: Nicaragua, Kentucky, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Pennsylvania. Then he did the rarest thing in the trade. He waited.

For twenty-four years the bales matured at 17 °C and 70 % humidity. The leaves became MOLINARI: 300,000 cigars rolled by hand at the De Los Reyes factory in Santiago de los Caballeros, a family house of cigar makers.

Three vitolas, 100,000 pieces each. Part of the run has already gone to the Raffles and Fairmont hotels of the KATARA Hospitality group in Doha.

Meet the three cigars
Rows of cigar rollers at work at the De Los Reyes factory
De Los Reyes · Santiago, RDThe rolling floor.
A roller sorting finished cigars at De Los Reyes
Shade-grown tobacco under netting at the De Los Reyes farm

Chronology

  1. 1955

    Rome

    Andrea G. Molinari is born in Rome on 26 September.

  2. 1980

    The engineer

    Degree in Mechanical Engineering at La Sapienza, with a thesis on solar hydrogen powering a Stirling engine.

  3. 1983

    Cabins for Niki Lauda

    At Aviointeriors he fits out the cabins of Lauda Air’s first Boeing 737-300s. Lauda remembers him.

  4. 1991

    Lauda Air, Italy

    Niki Lauda calls. Andrea founds the Italian Lauda Air and runs it until 2004, flying Boeing 767-300ERs to Cuba, the Caribbean and beyond.

  5. 1997

    SIGARO

    He publishes a guide for the apprentice smoker of Cuban cigars, dedicated to the members of CIGAIR.

  6. 1999

    Seeds and signatures

    Seeds selected by Don Alejandro Robaina go into the ground in Estelí. In Havana, Fidel Castro signs his humidor.

  7. 2001

    OneOff

    He creates OneOff, made by the Plasencia family in Nicaragua. Its peace symbol doubles as an aircraft. It becomes a cult.

  8. 2000–24

    The long wait

    The tobaccos bought in 1999 and 2000 mature at 17 °C and 70 % humidity.

  9. 2024

    MOLINARI

    The cigars, rolled by hand at De Los Reyes in Santiago, Dominican Republic, are presented at Milan Malpensa in April.