Flor de Selva

Maya. One word is enough to command respect. She is a monument of the cigar world, and thanks to her, women are proudly represented. Maya is Madame Blue Smoke's favourite; an evening at Royal Cigar to meet Maya in the flesh. It's the discovery of an incredibly broad and deep personality, proud of her country and her origins. It's the breath of charisma in her words, her radiant authenticity, the resonance of her values in her deep voice.

Like a warrior, she wanted to raise the Honduran flag as high as possible in the world of cigars. It's a mission accomplished, because in 2024, Maya is crowned with the " LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2024″

Madame Blue Smoke has an idol: Maya Selva.

That's where the emotion comes in. Maya is an incredibly charismatic leader. Inspiring, sunny, warm. When she speaks, she mesmerises the crowd. A male crowd. She stands high on the list of cigar monuments, alongside Eric M. Newman and Robert C. Newman, Rocky Patel, Manuel Quesada, Benjamin "Benji" Menendez and Carlito Fuente.

But I don't think that's what motivates Maya. She sincerely wants to raise the profile of Honduras, create jobs, (re)burnish the image of the cigar industry and make her country a key player in the field.

Maya is a team. Every member we met - advisors, importers, sales people, brand managers - speaks with respect and conviction about their values, convinced of the products and moving in the same direction.

So it was with great emotion that we watched him take to the stage at the ceremony. Cigar Trophy Award 2024.

Maya's core value: ethics

Maya's aim is to create jobs in Honduras, and to involve every trade that contributes to making a cigar. In the tobacco fields, but also in all the packaging that wraps the cigars. Every single box produced, including the raw materials, comes from Honduras.

Maya doesn't lie. Its brand manager, Nina Cobos Rosa, tells us at Intertabac: "Initially, the new 'Villa Zamorano' brand rings were to have a gold shade with green. The material for the gold finish was not available in Honduras, so it was impossible to obtain. Maya decided to change the tones of the ring to a greener shade, in order to make this 100% ring in Honduras".

Where did this Honduran icon come from?

Born to a French mother and a Honduran father, Maya grew up in Tegucigalpa. After studying engineering in France and the USA, Maya returned to Honduras with a master's degree in her pocket, but not yet ready to decide on a career.

She then spent a year learning how cigars are made in the Danli region. It was through the prism of her studies that she meticulously studied all the parameters essential to the design of high quality cigars.

In 1994, it was her meeting with Nestor Plasencia that was to prove decisive for her career. And it was a year later, after planning the production criteria for her cigars with Nestor, that she launched "Flor de Selva" on the French market.

Read the story of Maya Selva