In a consumer cigar blind tasting conducted by Manuel's, one of the best and most famous cigar stores in Zürich, Switzerland, Plasencia Cigars, the top manufacturer of premium cigars and the biggest producer of tobacco in Central America, took first place. The Alma del Campo Tribu cigar, one of the company's first brand-name cigars to hit the market, received the honour.

Plasencia's objective is to only employ the finest aged tobacco leaves in their cigars, entrusting them to the finest field workers and factory artists.

Plasencia, Sr., Jr., and five other blenders worked together to craft the Alma Fuerte cigar using only Nicaraguan tobaccos. Using tobaccos from Nicaragua's main growing regions (Condega, Estelí, Jalapa, and Ometepe), the blend centres around the family's Criollo '98 seed. The Plasencias are also employing some of their finest and rarest tobacco leaves from their extensive stockpiles.