New Cuban Cigars From Habanos
The Habanos Festival is a busy time for new product announcements, and this year is a particularly busy one. Habanos Festival executives announced dozens of new releases this week, from the high end to the more modest. Here is what you can expect to see trickle into the cigar world throughout the year.
Romeo y Julieta Amantes
This year marks 150 years of the venerable Romeo y Julieta brand, and there’s a new size in the line called Amantes, which is proudly emblazoned with a golden “150” in the center of its red band. The smoke is a Sobresalientes format, measuring 6 inches long by 53 ring gauge, the first time the Romeo brand has had a cigar of this size. It will come in boxes of 20, as well as in five-unit pouches. Habanos calls the blend medium in body.
Diplomaticos Cancilleres
In a surprise (and welcome) move, Habanos is adding a new size to its small Diplomaticos brand. The Diplomaticos Cancilleres comes in boxes of 25 and will measure 5 by 52, Cuba’s Centrofinos vitola. The best part: it will be a regular release, part of the standard portfolio, and should be relatively modest in price. The blend is described as medium to full in body and, unlike typical Diplomaticos, it’s topped with a pigtail cap.
H. Upmann Magnum 50 Gran Reserva Cosecha 2019
At the very top of the line from Cuba is the rare and expensive Gran Reserva line, made with extra-old tobaccos. This year will see the debut of the H. Upmann Magnum 50 Gran Reserva Cosecha 2019, a toro measuring 6 3/8 by 50. Production is limited to 5,000 boxes, each of them individually numbered, containing 15 cigars. This marks the second time an H. Upmann has been a Gran Reserva. Its “Cosecha 2019” designation indicates that the tobaccos were from a 2019 harvest.
Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de San Luís
In 2014, Cuba reimagined its traditional Le Hoyo Series of cigars with the creation of the Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de San Juan. (The Le Hoyo de Río Seco followed four years later.) Today, Cuba is adding a new size to this line within a line, with the creation of the Le Hoyo de San Luís. Habanos says the cigars are made strictly with tobacco from San Luís, a prized region in Pinar del Río. The size is a shape known as Fragrancias, measuring 6 3/8 by 52. They will come in boxes of 25.
Montecristo Elba Edición Limitada 2025
Cuba typically does three Edición Limitadas per year, and so far, we know of two, starting with the Montecristo Elba Edición Limitada 2025. This cigar is pegged to the 90th anniversary of Montecristo, and this special release is named for the famed isle of Elba referenced in the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. The cigar is of the Encantos size (5 3/4 by 54), and Habanos says it will be medium to full in body. We don’t know when it will launch, but the first market will be Spain, via a five-pack box limited to 10,000 cases. The rest of the world will get this in traditional boxes of 20.
La Gloria Cubana 35 Aniversario
If you know Cuban cigars well, you might wonder why there’s a 35th anniversary edition of La Gloria Cubana, a brand that’s considerably older than 35 (105 years older, to be exact). But this new smoke is named in honor of 35 years of Cuba’s Casa del Habano retail franchise, which now is a global phenomenon. These large torpedoes will be presented in commemorative humidors, each containing 35 of these 7 1/8-by-54 cigars, a shape known as Rodolfos in the Cuban cigar world. This release is limited to only 750 humidors.
Punch Princesas Edición Limitada 2025
Punch is one of Cuba’s oldest brands, and it turns 185 this year. The new Princesas size is an Edmundo vitola, 5 3/8 by 52. The cigars will come in boxes of 20. This is the second of what’s expected to be a trio of Limitadas for 2025, ing the Montecristo referenced above. The third remains a mystery at this point.
Trinidad Villa
Trinidad has received so much attention from Habanos in recent years, and it is now second only to Cohiba in of price for a regular-production cigar. Known as a Julieta No. 3 in Cuban factories, the new Villa size (6 3/4 by 47 ring) will only be sold at Casa del Habano and Habanos Specialist stores. They will come in boxes of 12 cigars, and they are intended to be medium in body. Expect them to be capped with a pigtail.
Cohiba Behike BHK 58
The biggest news from Cuba this week has been the long-awaited expansion of the Cohiba Behike line with the drop of the 58. Read all the details here.
Colección Habanos Bolivar Royal Gigantes
Volume XX of the Habanos Collection has a Bolivar theme, with the Royal Gigantes size (6 7/8 by 53 ), a vitola called Mitos, which Habanos says is a first for Bolivar. It’s intended to be strong: the Cubans describe it as a shape that “embodies the robust and complex personality that defines Bolivar,” which is traditionally one of Cuba’s more powerful cigars. This will come in book-shaped boxes of 20, and is limited to 3,000 boxes.
Partagás Cedros
Cuba is ing the Year of the Snake celebration with the release of Partagás Cedros, a cigar named for the unsung hero of a cigar box, Spanish cedar. These smokes are packed in stylish boxes of 18 with Year of the Snake styling. The cigars inside measure 5 3/8 by 50, and they have two bands, the first, a traditional Partagás band, the second, a footband in gold and red, with a coiled cobra in a golden circle. Habanos said that this release is targeted for the Asian market, Cuba’s largest.
Habanos Festival Cigars
When you attend the Habanos Festival, you receive special gift packs of cigars at each dinner, typically three-packs of new brands showcasing new cigars that won’t go on sale for many months. Habanos is now selling these cigars in Cuba during the Festival week, including the special package of Cohiba Behike BHK cigars that contain all four of the sizes in the line, including the new BHK 58. The cigars can only be bought here, during the Festival, and delivery is staggered so that you don’t get the cigars before the dinners where they are presented. The prices are high, from around $500 to $2,400 for the aforementioned Behike.
