This is the most emblematic reference when it comes to Habanos, a brand that has been singled out for the many trends and preferences it has set in the realm of Premium cigars since its big break in the market back in 1982, with its different lines, vitolas and Special Editions – considered legit trendsetters today.

Through different ways and in a multitude of forms people praise Cohiba in Cuba, its birthplace. But the talk is also going on outside the island nation, in the farthest spots on the face of the earth where the brand has caught on tremendously among smokers from all walks of life. Google or any other major Internet search engine harbor dozens of millions of references on this name that, like Morro, has also become a token to identify the island nation. I’m glad to share with you what a journalist colleague of mine wrote a few months ago from Chile’s Valparaiso: “the most curious thing about my clinging to Cuba pops up every time I receive a Habano, especially a Cohiba, because with its company I always end up relaxed and ready to overcome the sluggish passage of time in this place. It’s just as if I were riding on a cloud blown away by a gusty wind that runs through the solar silence in a quick flight. It’s as if it could put me back on this land I miss like crazy, to its history which it’s also mine, just to plump into the brownish colors of Santiago or any other city there, feeling nourished by a sap of vitality that spills all over me and takes me into profound and serene pleasure. “This is kind of company I long for and appreciate the most when I’m tense, rather than going straight into a sauna or get a good massage. It’s better than the pleasure of flesh and the imaginary delicacies of paradise. It’s a company I can only compare in my memory with the relaxation my children used to give me when they were kids.” Cohiba is the most recognized brand of Habanos (D.O.P.), its pinnacle, its most heightened expression, a tradition benchmarked into a golden rule, the cream of the top whose vitolas and different lines have marked all tastes and trends in the world of premium cigars. It’s a product rolled completely by hand and boasting the finest and best-treated raw materials from the prestigious plantations of San Luis and San Juan y Martinez, in Pinar del Rio’s Vuelta Abajo, the land of the world’s very best black tobacco. Its name harks back to the origins of tobacco’s amazing history when 520 years ago, following the landing of Christopher Columbus in Cuba, Europeans learned about its existence and a genuine passion unleashed around it. They had found the original islanders enthusiastically plunged into the ritual pleasure of billowing rings of smoke from some sort of musket made of twisted leaves, in a very rudimentary fashion the aboriginals used to call Cohiba, a smoke that could put them in a very special mood. A Brief History of Immenseness Founded in 1966 to be given as gifts to the greatest friends of the island nation and its Revolution, the brand’s mystic halo accrued as it hit the markets in 1982 and people learned it had been a creation of Commander Fidel Castro. The oldest employees at the El Laguito factory remember the times when they saw the leader puffing on the blends of Cohiba vitolas during his years as a smoker, or just picking up a handful of cigars for a good comrade of cause somewhere around the world. Cohiba features four lines: Clasica, made up of half a dozen vitolas and developed between 1966 and 1989; the 1492 that saw the light of day in 1992 to mark the fifth centennial of Christopher Columbus’s landing in Cuba. The latter had five vitolas until 2002 when Siglo VI – a key reference in the realm of tobacco – joined the pack. The Maduro 5 line was rolled out in 2007 with three new vitolas that added a ripe wrapper that had been aged for five years –the so-called Genios. And last but not least, the celebrated Cohiba Behike was unveiled in 2010 as the brand’s most exclusive line. Its three vitolas boasted for the first time the “medio tiempo”, the extremely odd and scarce two upper leaves of the sun-grown tobacco plant that give this Habano exceptional character and taste. The BHK 52, BHK 54 and BHK 56 are exclusive format from Cohiba’s youngest line. In addition to the excellent burning and draw their thick ring gauge provide, this trio allows smokers to assess and revel in all the intensity and taste range this exquisite and unique blend has to offer: smoking strength and delicious scent. But in this abridged summary of the Cohiba brand, the most demanding and passionate enthusiasts of Habanos and its flagship brand won’t forgive us if we fail to mention some of the major milestones that have buttressed its stance as the world’s leading premium cigar. Two cases in point are the 2002 Reserve and the 2009 Grand Reserve, made of tobacco leaves that have been aged for at least three and five years respectively, two gems that collectors and followers treasure as their most cherished keepsakes. For advocates and followers, we must say that Cohiba is attending this 14th Habano Festival with a new premiere: the Pirámides Extra, the first figurado to join the brand’s permanent stock. And to top it all off, this new beauty is lodged inside fancy tubes, the first of its kind within the Linea Clasica, combining an equally elegant design and character due to the logo relief, something such a classy Habano requires.