Well.. they’re finally here! As always all Habanos Limited Editions will continue ageing all leaves (filler, binder and wrapper) for at least two years. Montecristo Sublimes, Cuaba Piramides and Partagas Serie D No.5: 2008 Limited Editions.

Havana, April 2008. Montecristo Sublimes , Cuaba Pirámides and Partagás Serie D No 5, 2008 are the brands and sizes selected for this year’s Limited Editions which will be available by the years end.

Cuaba Piramides (Girth 52 x 156 mm in length). In keeping with the rest of the tapered sizes of the brand, Cuaba is having a Limited Edition for the first time, and it´s releasing the pyramids which are packed in Semi Plain boxes with 10 sticks in two layers.

Montecristo Sublimes (Girth 54 x 164 mm in the length) This size was first presented as part of the 2004 Limited Edition in the Cohiba brand. Now, Montecristo brings it back with its characteristic blend. A Habano to remember, respectfully long, with a proper draw and ready to show forth the notably medium to full flavour of said brand. Cigars will be packaged in SBN boxes comprising 10 units.

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Made exclusively by Habanos SA under the request of PCC for the Asia Pacific, two new  sizes in the Por Larranaga & Bolivar brand.
November 2008 witnessed the arrival of two rare Regional Editions cigars for Asia Pacific - Por Larranaga Belicosos Extra and Bolivar Short Bolivar - which will be launched across Asia Pacific by The Pacific Cigar Company Ltd. These rare and special cigars will be exclusive to PCC distributors for the next two years.

Por Larranaga Belicosos Extra (Campana)
The Por Larranaga brand was registered in 1834 by Ignacio Larranaga at 94 O’ Reilly Street, Havana. The name, Por Larranaga, means “by Larranaga”. By the end of the 19th Century, Por Larranaga was a well known cigar brand favoured by the rich and famous. Despite the fame, Por Larranaga has never been a brand of large output, the cigars produced are always in selected quantities and are often sought after by discerning aficionados.

Por Larranaga cigars have a caramel sweet taste. This is the hallmark of the brand. The cigars are also subtly aromatic and age extremely well, with aromas and flavours enhancing over time.

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Since its initial release in 2005 the Partagas Serie P No.2 has proven immensely popular with Havana cigar smokers the world over. In 2005 Habanos were awarded the DFNI product award for the best new product in the tobacco category with this release. And for good reason.. this 156mm x 52 ring gauge torpedo, or piramide, is made by hand with leaves carefully selected from the best tobacco plantations in the Vuelta Abajo area. Recently this classic cigar has been released as a tubos edition. The new aluminium tube packaging is stunning as its predominantly black and red colouring reflects a new contemporary edge for the Partagas brand.  

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Originally discontinued in 1992 Habanos S.A. have now re-released the Bolivar Gold Medal exclusively to La Casa del Habano stores and licensed distributors. The Bolivar Gold Medal traditionally has been one of the most sought after of all Cuban cigars. With its trade mark gold foil wrapper this Cervante has also been one of the most powerful of all Havanas. Originally made in small quantities its quality was also second to none. With a ring gauge of 42 and a length of 165mm the Bolivar Gold Medal is offered in boxes of tens. When discontinued in 1992 it was reported that it wasn’t possible to source the quantity of gold foil required to wrap and finish the Gold Medals. With its reputation etched in the minds of Havana smokers this well loved cigar made a come back in 2005.

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In 1992 Habanos S.A. launched the Línea 1492 line with the range commemerating the Christopher Columbus voyage to the Americas. The initial launch included the Siglo I, Siglo II, Siglo III, Siglo IV and Siglo V. Each of the five vitolas represents the five centuries that have elapsed since the Columbus voyage with the Siglo VI added later in 2002. Rumour has it the original Línea 1492 was a replacement for the Davidoff line that was officially discontinued in 1991. Each of the initial five Siglo vitolas corresponded to a size in the Cuban Davidoff range. All Línea 1492 cigars are manufactured with tobacco leaves grown in the Vuelta Abajo region. The Línea 1492 tobacco, as with all Cohiba tobacco, is unique as it is subjected to a third fermentation process. Cohiba maintain that this process achieves a substantial reduction in residual ammonia, tar and nicotine; giving all Cohiba cigars a unique aroma and taste.

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Since 1960 Cuban cigar boxes have all been branded with the words “Hecho en Cuba” on the underside of the box. It’s worth noting that these brandings are not ink stamps but are actually burnt in by branding the underside of the boxes. If you run your finger over the branding you can actually feel the indentation caused by this method. In addition since 1994 the underside of the boxes have also been branded with “Habanos S.A.” who of course are the only Cuban Enterprise authorized to export Havana Cigars from Cuba.

Since 1989 boxes of traditional long filler Habanos, or Tripa Larga, have been branded “Totalmente a Mano” which translates to “Totally by Hand”. Boxes of short filler Habanos are also branded with the words “Totalmente a Mano” and since 2002 also ink stamped with the letters TC “Tripa Corta” which translates to ”Short Filler”.

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Cigar Aficionado has consistently rated the Romeo y Julieta No.4 Exhibicion highly and scores in the nineties for this cigar are not uncommon. This hand-made hermoso no.4 is 127 mm long with a ring gauge of 48. This high selling vitola comes with a solid reputation as an aromatic, medium to strong smoke with excellent combustion. The drink partnering this cigar for the review is the new Platinum Blonde low-carb beer. Incidentally this beer has just been launched as a private label by the Woolworths supermarket chain in an effort to capture 10% of the $420 million low carb beer market by the end of the Australian summer. Anyway.. on with the review!

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Winston Churchill’s love of Cuban cigars has been well documented over the years and it has been said he typically smoked between eight and ten per day.

Churchill’s favourite brands included Romeo y Julieta and the now extinct La Aroma de Cuba. Churchill had many supply options and even during the prohibitive war years managed to keep stocks high. At Chartwell Manor, his home in the English countryside, Churchill stocked between three and four thousand cigars, most of which were Cuban, in a room adjoining his private study. In storage the cigars were kept in original boxes on the shelves, all of which were labelled. Churchill categorised his cigars in the following groups: large, small, wrapped and naked. The idea was to differentiate the cigar sizes and if in fact they were wrapped in cellophane. Over the years Churchill spent vast amounts of money on his cigar collection. Roy Howells, one of Churchill’s valets, wrote in his book, Simply Churchill, “It took me a little while to get used to the fact that in two days his cigar consumption was the equivalent of my weekly salary.”

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In the early 1920’s the Italian almanac, Il Tabacco, published an interesting article titled “Sigaromanzia”. The article considered the twelve most common ways of holding a cigar and correlated these to psychological characteristics of the smoker.

It appears the study by Italian psychologists was quite accurate. A similar experiment was conducted by a number of modern psychologists and surprisingly the results were comparable. Next time you’re sitting down, smoking a Cuban cigar with a colleague pay attention to the way they hold their cigar. You may learn a little about their character or psyche. What does the way you hold your Cuban cigar say about you?

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The Romeo y Julieta brand was established in 1875 by Inocencio Alvarez and Mannin Garcia. The brand is named after the famous Shakespeare tragedy which has undoubtedly contributed to its popularity. Between 1885 and 1900 Romeo y Julieta won several awards at different tasting events with the gold medals still displayed on the logo today. The brand really blossomed after it was acquired by Jose “Pepin” Rodriguez Fernandez in 1903. Rodriguez constantly travelled across Europe and the U.S. heavily marketing the brand, this included entering his horse, the suitably named Julieta, in races around the world. Sir Winston Churchill is known as the brand’s most famous aficionado with the flagship vitola of the brand named in his honour; the Churchill.

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