Cuba is the origin against which every other is measured. For centuries the island has been synonymous with the premium cigar, and its full-bodied, aromatic tobacco set the standard that growers everywhere have chased ever since. To understand cigars at all is, in some part, to understand Cuba.
The Story
Cuban tobacco has been cultivated since long before the cigar became a global luxury, and the island's marriage of soil, climate and generations of craft made it the historic benchmark for the category. The great Havana marques became household names, and even as cigar making spread across Central America and the Caribbean — often carried by Cuban families and Cuban seed — Cuba remained the reference point the rest of the world was compared against.
The Regions
- Vuelta Abajo
- In the province of Pinar del Río, widely regarded as the finest cigar-tobacco region on the island, producing wrapper and filler of exceptional quality.
What to Expect
Cuban cigars tend toward full-bodied and aromatic, with spice, earth, leather and a characteristic 'musty' or 'twangy' quality often described as uniquely Cuban. As always these are tendencies; the island's marques span a wide range of strength and refinement.
spicy · earth · musty · salty · leather
Notable Producers
Cohiba · Montecristo · Romeo y Julieta · Partagás