Melendi Family Crest

The Early Years

The birth of De La Concha reaches back to 1897 in Barcelona, when Paulocato Melendi decided to leave Spain for Havana.  Once settled in Cuba, Paulocato bought some land and began to grow tobacco.  A year later, Antonio Flores left La Lina, near Gibraltar.  Arriving in Brooklyn, Flores opened a small cigar factory, where a few rollers supplied fresh cigars to the people of New York. 

In Havana, Paulocato’s son, Jose Melendi, went from working on the family tobacco far to an apprenticeship with H. Upmann, learning the careful art of cigar rolling.  In 1924, Jose moved to New York, where he was hired by Antonio Flores to roll cigars.  Jose found a job and a wife, marrying Antonio’s daughter and starting a family.  With the support and excitement of his family, Jose opened his own cigar rolling factory in 1931.

A World of Cigar Smoking

Thirty years of supplying cigars to the people of New York gained Jose an undisputed credibility.  As relations between Cuba and the United States became strained in 1961, Nelson Rockefeller called on Jose Melendi to find alternative tobacco sources in Nigeria.  While Jose found that Nigeria did not provide the environment in which tobacco could thrive, he was able to tell Rockefeller about Cameroon.  International interests brought Jose to Nicaragua in 1965 at the requestof General Samosa.  The general asked Jose launch the first government-backed cigar factory in Nicaragua.  Jose declined politely.

As Jose traveled the world as a premier manufacturer and ambassador from New York’s tobacco industry, the next Melendi generation entered the business.  Lionel Melendi joined Herman Lane at Lane Ltd, a New York-based cigar distributor.

De La Concha Begins and Grows

Roberto De La Concha opened a small cigar shop on 6th Avenue in 1964, supplying the foot traffic – locals and guests of the city – with an enjoyable smoke.  Roberto preferred to call Venezuela home and hired Lionel Melendi in 1965 to run the store.  Lionel bought the store, keeping the name De La Concha for the familiarity of his customers. 

The cigar boom put the leaf on everybody’s lips, and the small 6th Avenue shop became a bit tight.  Thus, a remodeled De La Concha opened in 1997 – twice as large and offering a cigar lounge where customers could enjoy a cigar and the view through a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall window.  While the New York City smoking ban enacted in 2003 changed where you could enjoy a cigar, the De La Concha lounge offered a smoking oasis, bringing together people from all walks of life who have a common purpose, enjoying the leaf.

Davidoff purchased De La Concha in December 2006, but a change in ownership really continued the tradition.  Ron Melendi became General Manager of the newly purchased De La Concha.  Like Lionel, Davidoff kept the store’s name, showing the respect for customers and tradition that has been the foundation of this institution.