Cohiba Gran Reserva - new smokes from Havana

Cohiba Gran Reserva - the new line of ultra premium Havana cigars (what a frightening expression, guess what comes after that!)  will be launched during the 2009 Festival del Habano in Havana taking place by the end of February.

The first Cuban cigars made with aged tobacco came out as Partagas Series D No.4 Reserva and the 5000 boxes made flew off the shelves. When they came out I was exited about the cigar and the project itself. Spanish influence in the marketing strategy of Habanos took its shares and the idea of Reserva cigars was just the first step in the new direction. Famous Spanish wines are available as “normal”, Reserva and Gran Reserva - and subsequently it was only a matter of time until Habanos would launch Gran Reserva cigars.

Now, it seems as the tobacco for the new and very prestigious line has been aged for about 5 years. During one of my last trips to Havana I have seen the new storage facility for special tobacco batches. The enormous warehouse holds the finest selection of tobacco and inside the computer controlled rooms fantastic tobacco matures and ages for some years. Now first stocks of tobacco aged over many years are ready. The cigars for the Cohiba Gran Reserva line will be made at El Laguito factory, the home of Cohiba.

Within the past few days I have seen some controversial discussion about the market release of these new hot smokes. Some sources report they will be produced in a limited quantity of 5000 boxes but sources from the Cuban tobacco industry told me something different than that. According to my information the new Cohiba Gran Reserva is supposed to be a new line of cigars within the Cohiba brand. They shall be available in small quantities only - means they are not a limited one time production but shall be a regular cigar produced whenever tobacco of the according quality is available for production.

In any case there is something in the pipeline I consider as promising. Looking forward to our tasting samples now….

Happy smoking from Hamburg

Christopher Wolters

www.thecigarsmoker.com