History

Dos Santos S.A.U. is a Canarian company celebrating 100 years of history as an industrial manufacturer of tobacco products in the Canary Islands. Since its foundation in 1921, the company has been a family business in which the third and fourth generation of the family currently coexist. Its 100% Canarian capital defines the commitment of Dos Santos to the society and economy of the islands. Being a centenary Canarian company implies fidelity to the values and knowledge acquired during so many years of history, together with the capacity to adapt and innovate in order to face the innovative formulas of the present and a highly globalised and competitive market.

Since the beginning of its activity, Dos Santos has been able to combine tradition and innovation, based on a specialised and highly qualified human team.

The first Dos Santos S.A.U. tobacco factory, “La Regenta”, was founded in 1921 in the emblematic Perojo street in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria by Don Joaquín Jesús Dos Santos González, who ran the family business for almost two decades. During this time, the family tobacco business was based on the production of cigarettes and fine-cut tobacco.

It was not until the 1940s, with the arrival of Don Joaquín Roberto, son of the founder of Dos Santos S.A.U., that the company was modernised by adding the manufacture of mechanised and handmade cigars to the brand’s portfolio. This new modernising impulse came about thanks to the good relationship and understanding between the founder of the brand and his son, committed to the search for excellence in tobacco, which allowed Dos Santos to become one of the main references in the Spanish tobacco market.

The 1980s brought with it the incorporation of the third generation of the family into the management of the company, following the death of Don Joaquín Roberto in 1983. Despite the significant difficulties that the Canary Islands tobacco sector has gone through, Dos Santos S.A.U. has not only survived the phenomenon of market loss in the sector, but has also managed to constantly reinvent itself to adapt to the new demands of consumers, maintaining a spirit of daily improvement and permanence.

Currently, the fourth generation of the Dos Santos family has already joined the company and is carrying out improvements in production, strengthening sales in existing markets, technological advances, improvements in facilities, the comfort and safety of its employees, and investments in research and development.

Proof of this is the investment made in 2019, with more than 9 million euros in the new production plant that guarantees the incorporation of the latest technologies developed in the tobacco industry and the path towards efficiency that will enable it to meet expectations from an environmental point of view.

Its production centre is located in Gran Canaria. Dos Santos has been expanding its business through the development of a sales structure in the peninsula from which it provides direct and personalised service to the network of tobacconists in Spain. In addition, during 2022, commercial agreements have been signed with different distributors, such as La Casa del Tabaco, which has allowed the company to penetrate the mainland market, a historical demand from national consumers.

For the company, it is essential for consumers to know that its various products have been made in its facilities in the Canary Islands since 1921, without losing their distinctly Canary Island flavour. The Elaborado en Canarias brand makes it easier to convey to consumers the history of the Canary Islands company and its firm commitment to combat the difficulties faced by the Canary Islands industry due to the uniqueness of its territory and the complexity of adapting to changes in a globalised market.

Dos Santos is fully committed to its customers, its workers, society and the economy of the islands and is firmly committed to the quality and competitiveness of products made in the Canary Islands.

At present, Dos Santos S.A.U. is one of the main cigarette factories not only in Spain, but also in Europe. In addition, it has agreements with world benchmark companies in the sector, such as Philip Morris, which has enabled it to achieve record manufacturing and export figures: it manufactures more than 1 billion cigarettes, 6 million mechanised cigars, 38 million cigarillos and half a million hand-made cigars and exports to countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Chile, China, Hungary, Angola…