Habanos Festival 2019

As we lurch properly into 2019, there are some pretty exciting developments going on in the cigar world! First and foremost, the tail end of February sees the kick off of the Habanos Festival in Cuba, this year celebrating a landmark 21st anniversary, and the goods they have in store over the course of its mammoth 7 days of festivities are pretty damn enthralling! The festival itself will be shining the spotlight on the Cohiba and Partagas brands in particular this year, but there are a few other fairly special offerings ready to be unleashed onto the Habanos profile!

Kicking off the proceedings will be a showcase of the Cohiba Robustos Reserva Cosecha, which promises to be one of Cohiba’s most prestigious releases to date, the first of the Reserva Cosecha series to be released since 2003, with only 5000 boxes being produced and each box containing 20 cigars; the cigar itself being a 50 ring gauge and 4.8” in length. The Robusto Reserva Cosecha 2014 is a particularly unique vitola as all the leaves used in the process (filler and binder) have been subjected to a long three years of ageing. There are more treats for the Cohiba enthusiast in store though, with the announcement of an exclusive production of the Cohiba Novedosos, 50 ring gauge x 6.1” length, which will be distributed exclusively to La Casa del Habano and Habanos Specialist retailers.

Alongside the 20th Anniversary of the Habanos Festival, we see the 50th anniversary of the Trinidad brand, a brand once reserved for dignitaries visiting Cuba, and to celebrate, they’re launching 3 new vitolas: the Esmeralda (53 ring gauge x 5.7”), the Media Luna (50 ring gauge x 4.5”) and a reissuing of the Topes, but now in a 56 ring gauge format!

Hoyo De Monterrey are certainly bringing the goods to the table too, their own Gran Reserva Cosecha 2013 is making an appearance as a Double Corona, with a 49 ring gauge, a whopping 7.6” length and a remarkable 5 year aging process; this is surely to be a Hoyo not for the faint of heart. They’re not stopping there, as we marvel at the inclusion of the latest release of the legendary Serie Le Hoyo range, the Le Hoyo Río Seco. The Le Hoyo De Río Seco rounds out the Serie Le Hoyo range to now also include heavy ring gauge cigars, providing a smoke for people of all preferences! A testament to the versatility of the Hoyo range indeed.

For fans of the scarce and wonderful, the Edicion Limitada range for 2019 is shaping up beautifully, with Montecristo, Ramon Allones and Quai D’Orsay breaking out the big guns! You can expect to look forward to some stellar releases from this trio of excellent Cuban brands. Montecristo will be releasing the Supremo (55 x 5.1”), Ramon Allones are sending a torpedo into the fray with the Allones No. 2 (52 x 5.5”) and last but not least, you can expect to marvel at the Quai D’Orsay Senadores (48 x 6.1”).

Coming in from Punch we have the Punch Short de Punch (50 x 4.7”), a great new vitola for lovers of heavy ring gauge cigars with a shorter smoke.

To close out the Festival week, the focus shifts to the iconic Partagas brand, and the inclusion of two new vitolas to their Maduro range, featuring a maduro wrapper and strongly flavoured filler blend. In the current iteration of the Maduro series, we already have the Maduro No. 1 (52 x 5.1”), it will soon be joined by the Maduro No. 2 (55 x 4.7”) in the figurado shape as often appended to the No. 2 moniker of other brands, and also, the Maduro No. 3 (50 x 5.7”). The Maduro series certainly looks to have become as powerful as the strength of the cigars in its line-up indeed!

What a wonderful time to be a cigar fan!

All images courtesy of Habanos sa