Cohiba

Cohiba Cognac from Martell

Filed under: Spirits

Few things go as well together as cigars and cognac. When lighting up your favorite stogie, you could open just any bottle of cognac, or you could uncork the latest from Martell.

Specially crafted for and in collaboration with the famed Cuban tobacco company, the Martell Cohiba cognac has been aged from 40 to 50 years before being bottled at 43% alcohol by volume. The special eaux-de-vie has a rich amber hue, and is made to compliment a fine Cohiba cigar.

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Tags: cognac, cohiba, cohiba cognac, martell

Time for a Smoke: Frederique Constant Meets Cohiba

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars, Timepieces / Watches, Men's Style

Swiss luxury watchmaker Frederique Constant has collaborated with classic cigar brand Cohiba on a new limited edition watch and humidor set. The timepieces are designed to evoke the masculine sophistication of the Cohiba brand. The luxury watches feature an elegant case inspired by Toro shaped cigars, an ivory colored dial, tobacco brown Roman numerals and a hand-sewn tobacco brown calfskin strap.The humidor is designed to hold the watch as well as several Cohiba cigars. The watches will be available in a limited run of 188 numbered pieces in stainless steel for $1,650 and 188 pieces in rose gold plate for $1,750. Constant and Cohiba will launch the exclusive timepieces at an event on Sept. 22, 2010 at Club Macanudo in New York.

[Perpetuelle via BornRich]

Tags: cigar, cigars, Club Macanudo, Cohiba, Frederique Constant, humidor, mens style, New York, smoking, stainless steel, timepieces

The Cigar World Loses Alejandro Robaina

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

The world has lost a great tobacco grower. Alejandro Robaina, a legend in Cuba and the rest of the world, died last weekend at the age of 91. His tobacco leaves wrapped some of the finest cigars seen in his lifetime. , starting on his family's fields when he was only 10 year old, having smoked his first cigar a year earlier. Since then, his handiwork was evident in brands such as the Cohiba Esplendidos and Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona.

Robaina was something of a public face for the Cuban tobacco industry, traveling until age would no longer let him do so effectively. That's when smokers worldwide came to him, eager to see the environment – and the man –responsible for some of the most popular cigars on Earth, among others. His grandson, Hiroshi, now runs the show, having taken over as Robaina got older.

Even after Fidel Castro came to power, Robaina remained an independent tobacco grower, and he was named the best in the country by the Cuban government in the mid-1990s, receiving the award from Castro himself. In 1997, Habanos S.A. created the Vegas Robaina brand, the only one named for a Cuban tobacco grower. Yet, it smokes differently from most Cuban cigars, and doesn't appear to have much of Robaina's tobacco in it, according to James Suckling of Cigar Aficionado.

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Tags: cigar, cohiba, habanos, tobacco, tobacco industry

Cuban Cigar Festival Punctuated with Million Dollar Humidor Auction

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars, Auctions

The annual Habanos festival ended Friday with a million-dollar cymbal crash. The week-long event attracted cigar merchants, smokers and collectors from around the world to select, sample and savor ... all leading up to purchases, of course. The main attraction was an auction of ornate cedar and mahogany humidors packed with hecho a mano cigars, ultimately fetching $1.09 million. Hundreds may have attended, but only a small fraction walked away with that level of satisfaction.

The celebration came on the heels of an announcement by Habanos S.A. that its revenue only reached $360 million last year, an 8 percent decline from 2008. The new Romeo y Julieta that was unveiled at the event, designed to appeal to women, is ostensibly a direct response to two consecutive years of revenue declines. Since women comprise only 5 percent to 10 percent of Habanos' customers, the company is hoping that there's room for growth. The company is also relying on an economic recovery in Spain, which is its largest market.

Despite the new "ladies' line," the focus in Cuba last week was on the auction. The top humidor to move contained the new Cohiba Bieke cigar, fetching $681,000, close to two-thirds of the total. According to Oscar Basulto, Vice President of Habanos, this is the top premium cigar on the market – though I'm sure there are a few people in Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic who would disagree.

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Tags: auction, cigar, cigars, cohiba, cohibe-behike-cigar, cuba, cuban, cubans, Habano, habanos, havana, humidor, humidors, romeo y julieta, RomeoYJulieta

Enjoy the Cigar Lounge at The Montague on the Gardens

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars, Luxury Travel & Hotels

As I learned on my last two trips to the United Kingdom, there aren't many places where you can light up a cigar. Had I known about The Montague on the Gardens, I probably would have altered my travel plans a bit. The hotel bar has a dedicated outdoor cigar terrace, which for puffers, amounts to a bit of tranquility in an otherwise hostile world.

Toward the back of the hotel, like-minded guests can gather in the bar for a drink before stepping outside to a blissful smoking location with a great view of the Bedford Estate's private gardens. I tend to bring my own cigars when I travel, but sometimes like to sample the locally available fare and The Montague on the Gardens offers plenty of incentive. The bar has more than 20 brands on hand, including the coveted Cohiba Siglo VI. Smoke it gently while sipping a glass of Remy Martin Louis XIII, and you'll struggle to find a more enjoyable situation.

The hotel itself is designed to impress. It's a Georgian townhouse hotel with 101 rooms and suites – not to mention a two-bedroom apartment. This four-star establishment is within walking distance of the West End and The British Museum, and the "Type A" crowd will be happy to know it isn't far from London's Financial District.

Whatever the day's distraction is, though, return to The Montague on the Gardens and settle down for the evening with the cigar of your choice. Savor each draw, and punctuate it with your preferred spirit. Perfect.

Tags: british museum, BritishMuseum, cigar, cigar lounge, CigarLounge, cigars, cognac, cohiba, england, great britain, GreatBritain, liquor, london, londonengland, louis xiii, LouisXiii, remy, remy martin, RemyMartin, spirits, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, west end, WestEnd

Mexican Cigar Distributor to Fight Counterfeit Cuban Trade

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Mexico's Cuban cigar distributor, Importadora y Exportadora de Puros y Tabacos (IEPT), has taken new steps to prevent the spread of counterfeit Cuban cigars. The company has put together a new certification system that will validate cigar retailers across the country as legitimate sellers.

IEPT is licensed by Habanos S.A., which is the global distributor of Cuban cigars. Habanos has been struggling with counterfeiting for years, with problems in tourist-infested parts of Mexico being particularly severe.

The new campaign is designed to support retailers that sell the real deal, which hopefully will resonate with cigar consumers.

But, let's be realistic. The problem that has to be solved first is the love of "smoking the label." When customers stop wanting people to see that Cohiba label, they'll begin to make better choices.

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Tags: cigar, cigars, cohiba, cuban, cuban cigar, cuban cigars, CubanCigar, CubanCigars, cubans, habanos

What Happens to Cuban Brands Post-Embargo?

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

The biggest problem with access to Cuba may not be production capacity, as many suspect. Trademark and copyright issues have the potential to be a greater problem, and there is no easy solution.

You've probably noticed that brands such as Partagas, Montecristo and Cohiba occupy your local tobacconist's humidor. A saunter through a duty free store at any airport outside the United States will put the same names under your nose. Of course, these cigars have nothing to do with each other. The latter are Cuban, the former are not and the companies have no relationships. Cohibas in the United States are not the "non-Cuban" or "legal" versions of a single company's product.

General Cigar Co. Inc., for example, sells Cohiba cigars in the United States. Cohiba is also a prominent Cuban brand. Unfortunately, Habanos S.A. never registered the name up here. Habanos sued General Cigar, and a nine-year battle followed. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Habanos (shocking, right?), reasoning that the embargo barred a challenge to General Cigar's claim.

When the embargo is lifted, there will be more legal challenges, and several companies will have to change their names and labels – ultimately requiring the reconstruction of brand identities from scratch. Winning the brand battles will have profound consequences. For this reason, General Cigar has "invested" close to $3.5 million on lobbyists over the past 10 years.

As with all other Cuba-related speculation, there is no way to forecast where this issue will go in a post-embargo market. Even if we assume that the Cuban brands will lose their claims, the impact on the market would be nearly impossible to predict. What we do know, however, is that the transition will be far from easy.

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Tags: cigar, cigars, cohiba, cuba, cuban, cuban cigar, cuban cigars, cuban embargo, CubanCigar, CubanCigars, CubanEmbargo, duty free, DutyFree, embargo, humidor, humidors, montecristo, tobacco, tobacco industry, TobaccoIndustry

Cuban Cigar Sales Down, Bad Decisions Averted

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Why are sales of Cuban cigars down? The minute the subprime mortgage crisis turned global, of course, demand had no place to go but down. And, there's always the quality issue that has plagued manufacturers in recent years. So far, the damage hasn't been bad.

Habanos S.A., which makes the storied Montecristo, Cohiba and Partagas brands, moved $390 million in 2008. That's a drop of 3 percent from 2007. The company, a joint venture involving the Cuban government and Altadis, says that this hasn't affected profits significantly.

Unsurprisingly, Habanos blames smoking bans in France, Germany and the United Emirates (among others) in addition to the financial crisis. If you can't find a place to smoke, you aren't likely to do it as much (a trial I endured in Scotland last year).

But, economic conditions are still the main event, particularly when you consider the secondary effects.

International travel took a dive last year ... to the tune of 11 percent. What's that mean? American cigar dilettantes weren't able to piss away as much on Cuban sticks as they may have in the past. Duty free shops thus moved fewer cigars than usual, with total sales in these venues down 24 percent from 2007 to 2008.

Despite the slip in sales and claims that profitability isn't seriously impaired, Habanos isn't optimistic about the future. On the subject of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, typically a favorite topic of speculation, the company would only say that it has "much worse problems to deal with in the world."

[Via Latin American Herald Tribune, photo by Steve Zak]

Tags: cigar, cigars, cohiba, cuba, cuban, cuban cigars, CubanCigars, economic crisis, economic downturn, EconomicCrisis, EconomicDownturn, economy, financial, financial crisis, financialcrisis, habanos, montecristo, mortgage crisis, MortgageCrisis, smoke, smoker, smokers, smoking, smoking ban, SmokingBan, tobacco, tobacco industry, TobaccoIndustry

Hunters & Frankau Cigar Sets

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Two new cigar gift packs have been put together exclusively for the British market by a partnership between Hunters & Frankau and Habanos S.A.. Both of the companies are distributors of Cuban cigars, Hunters & Frankau in Britain and Habanos S.A. internationally. The Cohiba set (£79) comes with four individually packed Siglo IV cigars and the Trinidad set (£69) includes three individually packed Robusto Extra cigars. Each of the two limited edition sets comes in a varnished wooden box, and only 1,000 of each will be made available.

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Tags: britain, cigar, cigars, cohiba, cuban cigars, cubans, england, uk

Cohiba "Behike" Cigar Released

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

After hearing about the upcoming release several months ago, the Cohiba "Behike" cigars have finally hit the market. They were named after the cheif of one of Cuba's indigenous tribes and are said to be the most expensive cigars in the world. Only 4,000 were rolled, all to be sold in groups of 40 in specially designed humidors for $18,860 - which comes out to about $470 per cigar. Every one of the cigars was hand-rolled by Norma Fernandez, the cigar roller at the El Laguito factory in Havana.

A bit of trivia: no one knows how they taste. Aside from the few who approved the original tobacco blend designed by Norma and used in the cigars, no one has smoked one of the completed cigars yet.

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Tags: behike, cigar, cigars, cohiba, expensive cigars

Joseph Fiennes Attends Cigar Festival To Celebrate New Cigar

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

We recently mentioned the Fesitval del Habano that is taking place this week. In order to promote the new short Chuchill size from the Romeo y Julieta brand, they brought in Joseph Fiennes, famous for playing the bard in "Shakespeare in Love." It was Fiennes first visit to Cuba and her tossed off a few lines from Romeo and Juliet at the cigar festival. The festival will also bring the announcement of a new mystery cigar to celebrate the 40th birthday of Cohiba.

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Tags: cigar festival, cigars, cohiba, cuba, cubans, habanos, havana, romeo y julieta

Festival del Habano

by Gustad Mody (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Make your way down to Havana on February 27th for the VIII Festival del Habano. The 5 day event offers a variety of activities to celebrate and promote cigars. Visits of tobacco plantations and even a tour of the factory which was once home to Davidoff, Cohiba and Trinidad will take place. There will also be special cigar and spirit matching sessions. The whole cigar fest will set you back about 1,260 Cuban Convertible Pesos. Perhaps we should convert to a more useful currency, like US dollars. So if we multiply by the number of US dollars per convertible peso, that comes out to ... 1,260 US dollars.

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Tags: churchill, cigar, claro, cohiba, corona, cuba, davidoff, destival, havana, maduro, oscuro, pantela, pesos, robusto, smoke, tobacco, torpedo