这是2017年1月的一篇旧闻。

多米尼加之花雪茄公司是 Cigar Aficionado杂志社2016年度最佳雪茄安达卢西亚公牛雪茄的制造商，在经过一年创纪录的雪茄销售高峰后，该公司计划在多米尼加的坦博里尔扩建雪茄厂。

力图·戈麦斯（Litto Gomez）和妻子伊内斯·洛伦佐·戈麦斯（Ines Lorenzo-Gomez）共同经营多米尼加之花雪茄，他说：我们度过了有史以来最好的一年，我们连续加班了三个半月。

戈麦斯新招募了24名卷茄师，总数达到了90名。2016年，他们工厂卷制了370万支雪茄，预计扩张后的产能可以达到每年450万支。

在电话采访里，他说：我们要扩充产能了，不能老是加班。

他在安达卢西亚公牛雪茄被评为年度最佳雪茄之前，已经有了扩充产能的计划。这款雪茄在杂志社的盲评里得分96分，在美国的零售价是每支15美元，供不应求。

戈麦斯计划在2月24日ProCigar雪茄节结束之后开始扩建工厂，预计一个月的时间。

1994年以来，戈麦斯一直在多米尼加共和国生产雪茄，他从没有想过自己的业务会发展的那么好。

他说：目前业务的繁忙比我想象的要多。在美国雪茄热的时代，我们也只有14名卷茄师。我们没有足够的发酵烟叶可以用。

上世纪90年代中期，他每年生产的雪茄还不到100万支。戈麦斯也在多米尼加共和国的拉卡内卡的一个农场种植自己的烟叶，他暂时没有扩大种植面积的考虑。

La Flor Dominicana, makers of the Andalusian Bull, Cigar Aficionado's 2016 Cigar of the Year, is expanding its factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic, after a year of record cigar sales.

"We had the best year ever," said Litto Gomez, who owns La Flor Dominicana with his wife, Ines Lorenzo-Gomez. "We worked [the equivalent] of three-and-a-half months of overtime. I'm remodeling."

Gomez is adding 24 cigarmakers, which would put his factory at 90 rollers. He made around 3.7 million cigars in 2016 and expects the expansion to increase his factory's annual production to more than 4.5 million cigars.

"I had to do it," he told Cigar Aficionado during a phone interview. "I cannot be working that much overtime."

The expansion was planned even before his La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull was named Cigar of the Year. That smoke, which rated 96 points and retails for $15 before taxes, is on back order.

Gomez intends to begin the expansion after the ProCigar Festival, which concludes on February 24. He said the work should take about one month.

Gomez has been making cigars in the Dominican Republic since 1994, but never dreamed his business would become so large.

"That's way more than I ever planned. More than I ever dreamed of," he said. "You have to remember—during the cigar boom we had 14 rollers here." In the mid-1990s, he was making fewer than 1 million cigars a year. "There was no tobacco here, there was no tobacco available."

Gomez, who also grows his own tobacco on a farm in La Canela, Dominican Republic, says he will not expand operations any further. "That's it," he said. "No more."