Cohiba

I remember reading the history books about Sir Walter Raleigh bringing tobacco back to England from the America’s and the first voyage of Columbus to the then new world. Columbus visited the island of Cuba and his sailors were introduced to tobacco called "Cohiba" by the natives whom literally took a bunch of dried leaves placing them in a pipe lighting and smoking them.

Cohiba Cuban cigars were introduced initially to non diplomats and a small range was provided being the Lanceros, the Coronas Especiales and the Panatelas. Three more Cigars were then added to the brand in 1989 being the Esplйndidos and the Robustos which are two of my favourite cigars and the Exquisitos. The Siglo range of Cohiba are extremely popular and the Siglo V Cohiba is still considered by many to be the number one cigar in the Cohiba range and of course only the finest tobacco leaves are used in the making of Cohiba cigars.

The Cohíba brand of Cigars was originally a private brand supplied exclusively to Fidel Castro and his high level Cuban government and communist party officials and also given as diplomatic gifts. The original cigars were initially smoked by one of Fidel Castro's bodyguards named "Chicho Perez” which Castro noticed as the aromatic flavour would fill the air. When Chicho was asked by Castro what brand he was smoking replied that it was hand rolled for him by a friend who gave him some of these special cigars as gifts.

The man who made these cigars was a cigar roller who worked at the La Corona factory in Havana named Eduardo Rivera. Castro approached Rivera about rolling cigars for him personally and set him up with five other rollers in a former diplomats mansion in Havana that later became the first cigar factory to be staffed entirely by female cigar rollers; Castro was extremely fond of the long thin cigars rolled for him and these cigars later became known as Lancero and Corona Especial. Like all of the famous Cuban Cigar makers there are limited or special editions produced that are outside of the regular production range, however my personal favourite Cohiba are the Piramid, Robusto and the Esplendido pictured below.