Maya Selva

Maya Selva (born August 9, 1965) is a Honduran cigar maker and tobacco grower.

Early life Maya Selva was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to a French mother and a Honduran father. She grew up in Tegucigalpa, but moved to France at age of sixteen to study. After graduating from high school, she trained to be an engineer in the École internationale des sciences du traitement de l'information - School of Engineering (EISTI) and completed her education in the United States with a Master of Science degree.

In 1991, she returned to Honduras, where she explored several career possibilities, and eventually those links to tobacco.

Early career In 1993, Maya Selva met Nestor Plasencia, a renowned tobacco grower and cigar maker. After sharing with Plasencia her dream of introducing a high-quality premium Honduran cigar to the French market, she began learning the business, with him as her mentor, in his Tabacos de Oriente factory in Danli, Honduras. Maya spent more than a year learning how cigars are made, and how to produce a top quality cigar.

Maya Selva in Honduras Maya was always interested in the cigar know-how and tradition in Honduras, where the hand-rolled cigar activity is considered an Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Republic by the National Congress of Honduras.

She consider Honduras one of her two homes, and her connection with the people who make her cigars in Honduras has a strong bond. The values that are Maya Selva Cigares’ hallmark are stringent quality requirements and respect for the land and its communities.

She is fully involved in the Honduran tobacco industry and is one of the founding members of the Honduran Association of Cigar Makers along with the Plasencias, Eiroas, General Cigar, and Consolidated Cigar. She was one of the organizers of the first cigar festival in Honduras in 2011, called Humo Jaguar.

Maya Selva label In 1995, Maya started Flor de Selva, her first brand, made from tobacco grown in the highlands of the Jamastrán Valley, in El Paraíso, Honduras. Flor de Selva included five cigars that went on sale in France the same year:

In 1999, Maya Selva debuted with a new brand called Cumpay, made from tobacco grown in the volcanic highlands of the Jalapa Valley in Nicaragua.

Maya Selva and her brands are fully established in the European market. The specialized magazine Cigar Journal named her Europe's most prominent female cigar manufacturer, in the 2015 Fall issue.

Maya Selva Cigars awards