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Regular Production Cuban Cigars
The world of Cuban Cigars is full of variety and choice. 27 different brands, some nearly 200 years old, some only a touch over 30 - offer a huge rage of vitolas and flavor profiles to the millions of cigar smokers around the world for whom Havana cigars are the benchmark for quality. While much of the press and fanfare may be given to special releases, such as the Limited Edition and Regional Edition programmes, the bedrock of this extraordinary portfolio are the Regular Production cigars those which are in constant supply, rolled in Havana every day and in eternal demand by consumers.
Each Habanos SA brand is assigned one of four marketing tiers by the company Global, Value, Volume or Other and the number of regular production cigars within their selection varies immensely. Some have only a handful, while the six Global brands have the most. Cohiba, Montecristo, Hoyo de Monterrey, H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta and Partagas are the brands which will always be available in any premises which has Cuban cigars for sale. Their full catalogues are vast, sometimes such as in the cases of Cohiba and Montecristo containing more than one sub-collection with a variety of strength profiles. The Global brands are those who have built the largest following over the years, and whose continued success is vital to La Habana remaining at the pinnacle of the global cigar industry.
While these top brands may have huge selections some of the smaller macas choose to focus on only a few, ensuring their quality is not compromised by spreading themselves too thin. Diplomaticos now has only 1 cigar in constant supply, the Diplomaticos No. 2 but is a favorite of distributors choosing their yearly Regional Editions. Vegueros make only four vitolas, as do Por Larrañaga and Quai d’Orsay, three excellent examples of smaller brands building their reputations by doing just a few cigars extremely well.
It's easy for cigar collectors and smokers to be seduced by the second band and extravagant packaging of the special editions, but it should not be forgotten that the brands chosen for these releases built their names on their regular production lines. Going back to basics when investigating new brands is the best way to further your cigar knowledge as it allows you to discover the true character behind the name. No journey can begin halfway down the path. By exploring the cigars which have been produced, in some cases, for 70 years or more, by savoring each and every tasting note until you have a thorough knowledge of the flavor profile, you will better equip yourself to truly understand the nuances of special releases as and when they come your way.
Regular Production Cuban cigars are also favorable for the aficionado for the simple reason that they are produced regularly. When we fall in love with a particular vitola from a particular brand, is it not better that we can enjoy them as often as we like? Becoming too attached to cigars which are in short supply will only lead to ultimate disappointment when the well eventually runs dry. Better, then, to sample as many of those which will always be around as possible, allowing oneself to compile a list of favorites which will be able to grace a home humidor for as long as needed.
Not only does the regularity of these cigars present a practical benefit to the smoker, but there is an economic upside as well. The simple fact they will always be around means the prices of each stick remain fairly constant, and reasonable. Gran Reservas are marvelous smokes for momentous occasions but can pose a sever risk to our savings pots if picked up in large quantities, and will only become more and more valuable as the existing stocks are enjoyed. Excellent for investment, less so for every day.
Regular production also presents interesting opportunities for comparison of brands, due to the lack of restrictions on vitolas used. While special releases tend to use a wide range of shapes and sizes, there are a few within the regular collection which are identical across several brands, allowing us to compare their blends safe in the knowledge the flavor changes are solely down to the blends of tobacco used, and not the size of the stick. For lovers of slim cigars, the Mareva (42 x 5 ⅛″) is used across no fewer than 7 brands; if a thicker ring gauge is more to your taste, the ever-popular Robusto (50 x 4 ⅞″) features in 8 line-ups. Adding a few of each to your collection will enable you to spend some time identifying the nuances of each, comparing and contrasting as you go, until you have a proper understanding of exactly which brands you want to call your favorites.
For those smokers who are at the early stages of their relationship with fine tobacco, the number of choices from Cuba alone can be overwhelming. Advice flies in from all angles as well-meaning, but sometimes over-enthusiastic, aficionados extoll the virtues of the latest obscure regional they picked up on a recent trip. This information can be vital, and enormously interesting, but if followed too closely can deprive the novice of one of the best parts of what will surely become a lifetime love – the discovery. For those same aficionados who have sampled most of what is out there, regular production Cubans offer the exact opposite of that discovery: a trip down memory lane, and a romantic reminder of exactly why they fell in love with cigars in the first place.
Whichever of these two camps you fall into, or even if you are currently somewhere between the two, our collection of Regular Production Cuban cigars is sure to offer you exactly what you need to curate a collection full of variety of flavor, intensity and smoking time. The only problem will be deciding which to grab now, and which can wait until your next visit.
