Home | Cuban Cigar Brands | Profile of Cohiba
Cohiba Cuban Cigars Brand
For nearly thirty years, cigar aficionados have considered
Cohiba Cuban cigars
to be unequaled in quality and flavor.
Introduced in 1966, Cohiba was originally a private
brand reserved exclusively for Fidel Castro and high level government
officials, which made it the most coveted cigar in the world.
Cohiba quickly became the flagship brand of the Cuban
cigar industry. Often handed out as gifts of diplomacy, it wasn’t
until 1982 that they were released commercially for sale to the public.
A Rich, Smooth Drawing Cigar
Without a doubt, Cuban Cohibas represents some of the best
cigars available. Listed as being medium-to-full bodied among Havanas, they
are abundantly rich with aromas and flavors of chocolate and coffee. The secret
to their superb flavor rests in the tobacco leaves.
Most of the tobacco used for Cohiba comes from a few
select plantations in the the San Luis and San Juan y Martinez zones of
the Vuelta Abajo region. Many experts believe the ideal conditions of
this region can never be duplicated.
What also makes these cigars so extraordinary is the
unique fermentation process. Cohiba is the only cigar brand that undergoes
three fermentations for the ligero, seco and volado leaves.
The leaves are stacked and fermented in small wooden
barrels for as long as 18 months, depending on the tobacco. This third
fermentation further reduces the tar and nicotine in the leaves –
giving the Cohiba its refined aroma and smooth flavor.
El Laguito – Home of the Cohiba
The El Laguito factory started as a cigar-rolling school
for young women. Since the late 1960s, it has been producing the Cohiba
brand, at one point exclusively.
Cuba produces about 6.5 million cigars each year, of
which approximately 2 million are Cohibas. Another 1 to 1.5 million Cohibas
each year - the Cohiba Robusto
and the Cohiba Esplendidos - are produced outside of El Laguito, mainly at the H.
Upmann, Partagas and La Corona factories.
Another 1 million Cohibas in the Siglo
series are made at La Corona factory.
Cohiba Cuban Cigars
Three sizes of cigars have always been made at the El Laguito factory.
The factory workers call them the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, but outside
they are better known as the Cohiba
Lanceros, Cohiba
Corona Especiales and Cohiba
Panatelas.
These are the long, elegant cigars Cohiba built its reputation on. Another
slender cigar, the Cohiba
Exquisito, was introduced around 1984.
The Cohiba
Siglo range, consisting of five cigars, was introduced in 1992 to commemorate
the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the Americas.
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