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Home > What's New > Cigar Diary: Wives, Smoking and Cohibas
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Cigar Diary: Wives, Smoking and Cohibas
Workers sort wrappers for Cohiba at El Laguito.
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On the other hand, I think that many people who buy fake Cohibas do so knowingly. They don't
want to pay the price for the real deal, but they want to pose with the cigar in public. I am sure
they are the same people who buy fake Louis Vuitton leather goods and bogus Rolexes for a tiny
fraction of the price of the genuine product.
Regardless, when it's good, Cohiba is great. The cigars offer a rich and powerful character but
show an elegant, refined, balanced style. They are not harsh. They don't hurt the morning after
either. And they age incredibly well. I just recently smoked one of my last Cohiba Siglo Is (4
inches by 40 ring gauge) from 1993. It was still a little bombshell of a smoke, with lots of
espresso and cedar character. I gave it 93 points.
I remember years ago giving actor Peter Weller one of those Siglos, which was from the first
release on the island, and he came down in a cold sweat as he smoked it. I swear he was going to
blow chow at the restaurant in Havana where we were dining. "That's too strong, man," he said,
looking as if he saw a ghost or something. I always liked it. Boom. Lots of flavor.
If you can find a box, look for the Cohiba Selección Reserva. This is how I remember the
original Cohibas from the early 1990s. It's a fabulous "taster" of aged Cohibas in a special cedar
box, with four Espléndidos, six Robustos, six Coronas Especiales, eight Pirámides and six Medias
Coronas. The latter is a unique size (basically a Corona Especiale with half an inch cut off). The
cigars were released at just under $800 a box in 2003. I have seen them again in the market from
London to Havana to Hong Kong.
Cohiba originally was simply the Lancero (popularly called the El Laguito No. 1), Corona
Especiale (El Laguito No. 2) and Panetela (El Laguito No. 3). They were created in the mid-1960s a
few years after the opening of the El Laguito factory as a cigar rolling school for women. It's
the same factory today in the neighborhood of Siboney. A Cohiba Corona was also introduced in the
late 1980s and was made only for a few years. Then came the Espléndido, Robusto and Exquisito in
1989, followed by the Siglos (I through V) in 1992. The Siglo VI was launched in 2002, followed by
this year's introduction of the Maduro 5, including the Genio, Mágico and Secreto. There have been
numerous special-edition Cohiba humidors as well, including the recent Behike, each of which sold
for $18,000 in a special Elie Bleu box with 45 smokes. About 100 were made.
As for the mainstream Cohibas, about 10 million are made every year. Most are produced in
Collazo's factory, Partagas and H. Upmann. Collazo has technicians who regularly monitor the
production of Cohiba in other factories. Nonetheless, he said that he hopes to one day have all
the production on the grounds of El Laguito. This would be difficult because the factory's
capacity is about 2.5 million cigars and I doubt that the Cubans could build big enough buildings
on the grounds to house another 300 rollers. There are just over 100 rollers at the moment.
"The market demands more than we can produce in this factory, so we have to produce some in
other factories," Collazo explained. "But we always make sure that wherever they are produced, the
quality will be at the same level as here. Believe me, this is guaranteed."
The key to the quality of Cohiba has always been the tobacco. First, the best tobacco on the
island is selected for the filler as well as the wrapper. Then it is processed in the best way
possible. Moreover, the strongest tobacco, or ligero, ferments a third time and gets an additional
amount of time in wooden barrels. This gives the power to the blend of Cohiba, but allows it to
maintain a great amount of elegance and refinement.
"The third fermentation is carried out after the first two after the harvest and drying of the
leaves," Collazo said. "There is a technical team that is permanently checking the color,
uniformity and texture of all the tobacco we use for Cohiba."
Collazo has been fine-tuning the flow of production at El Laguito over the last four or five
months. I walked around the factory with him, and he was clearly proud of his work there, pointing
out how he moved various operations from one part of the building to another to maximize
production. "The quality of our production depends on the origins of the raw material and the
training of our workers here," he said. "All this ensures that the Cohiba factory produces the
highest quality level possible."
Cohiba seems to be in good hands at the moment. Now, if he could only smoke at home.
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