Retro La Gloria Sports a New Wrapper

David Savona
Posted: July 16, 2011

One of the new cigars that will be on display next week at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailer trade show is a La Gloria Cubana with a first of its kind: a wrapper grown in Honduras.

La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale, which brand owner General Cigar says has been eight years in the making, takes a new look at the venerable La Gloria Cubana brand. Michael Giannini, leader of Team La Gloria, found an old humidor in the El Credito Cigars factory in Miami, where La Glorias were once made. Trying to duplicate the look of the old piece took some time, the result of which is found on this new cigar.

The project included finding a new wrapper by taking a Connecticut seed, crossing it, and growing it in Honduras.

"The wrapper accentuates the fillers and binder so all the components add to the blend rather than the wrapper doing all the work," said Giannini.

The original La Gloria is Cuban, so it wears a Cuban wrapper. The La Glorias made famous in Miami have Ecuadoran Sumatra wrappers. Honduran tobacco is something entirely new to the brand.

The cigar is described as "brash in its full flavor." Made with two binder leaves (one from Nicaragua, another from Mexico) and a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican filler, including some leaf that's proprietary to General Cigar.

La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale will come in four sizes: Taino (7 inches long by 52 ring, which will have a suggested retail price of $7.50); Habanero (6 by 52, $7.25 ); Cubano (6 1/2 by 58, $8.15) and Club (5 3/4 by 47, $7). The cigars will come packed in boxes of 25 and will reach retailers in late September.

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