Cohiba is a brand for two kinds of premium cigar, one produced in Cuba for
Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced
in the Dominican Republic for US-based General Cigar Company. The name cohíba
derives from the Taíno word for "tobacco."
The Cuban brand is filled with tobacco that comes from the Vuelta Abajo region
of Cuba which has undergone an extra fermentation process. Cuban Cohiba was
established in 1966 as a limited production private brand supplied
exclusively to Fidel Castro and high-level officials in the Communist
Party of Cuba and Cuban government. Often given as diplomatic gifts, the
Cohiba brand gradually developed a "cult" status. It was first released
commercially for sale to the public in 1982.
The US Cohiba brand name was registered in the United States by the General
Cigar Company in 1978 and cigars using that trademark have been produced for
the American market in the Dominican Republic on a large scale from 1997.
This Cohiba is related to the Cuban product in name only, containing no
Cuban tobacco, and thus is the only "Cohiba" that can be sold legally in the
United States. Cuban Cohiba
= History = Cuban Cohiba's origins trace back to the
middle 1960s, when a bodyguard of Fidel Castro shared some of his private supply
of cigars made by a local artisan named Eduardo Ribera. These cigars pleased
Castro so much that a special production of the unbranded blend, produced under
tight security, was made for Castro and other top government officials.
As Castro himself recalled the tale in 1994:
"I used to see the man smoking a very aromatic, very nice cigar, and I asked
him what brand he was smoking. He told me that it was a special blend, but that
it came from a friend who makes cigars and he gave them to him. I said, let's
find this man. I tried the cigar, and I found it so good that we got in touch
with him and asked him how he made it. Then we set up the house [the El Laguito
factory], and he explained the blend of tobacco he used. He told which leaves he
used from which tobacco plantations. He also told us about the wrappers he used
and other things. We found a group of cigar makers. We gave them the material
and that is how the factory was founded. Now Cohiba is known all over the world."
The production of special cigars for top officials under conditions of tight
security was given extra impetus by fears of ongoing CIA assassination
efforts against Fidel and Raul Castro and Che Guevara. The technical services
department of the agency is now in fact known to have worked on the development
of exploding cigars as a means of assassination from the early 1960s.
The Cuban Cohiba brand was formally launched in 1968 at the direction of
Cubatabaco, the Cuban state tobacco marketing bureau. The head of Cubatabaco
asked Avelino Lara, head of the El Laguito factory, to create a new
super-premium blend which differed from all previously existing Cuban cigars.
During the first few years of production only a few thousand boxes were produced
annually, reserved for the use of high government officials and frequently
given away as diplomatic gifts. The Cuban Cohiba brand was launched as a
premium cigar brand into markets outside of the US in 1982 in conjunction with
the 1982 World Cup held in Spain. At the time of its first public launch, the
Cohiba marque consisted of just three vitolas: the Panetela, the Corona
Especial, and the Lancero. In 1989 three more vitolas were added: the Robusto,
the Exquisito, and the Espléndido. These first six are now collectively known as
the company's Línea Clásica. In 1992 Habanos SA launched the first
sizes in what it calls the Línea 1492, commemorating Christopher Columbus and
his voyage to the Americas, with each size named for a century since Columbus'
discovery. The initial launch included the Siglo I, Siglo II, Siglo III, Siglo
IV, and Siglo V, with a Siglo VI added in 2002.
Besides regular production, Habanos SA regularly releases limited release
Cohíba cigars for such events as the annual Habanos Festival, brand
anniversaries, and their annual Edición Limitada release of special sizes of
their various cigar brands wrapped in a darker vintage leaf. In 2007, Habanos
released a new line of maduro-wrapped Cohibas, called "Maduro 5," in three
sizes. The Cuban Cohiba brand also carries two
machine-made extensions cigarillos: the Mini and the Club.
Habanos SA have used their Cohiba brand name for non-cigar products,
manufacturing Cohiba cigarettes since 1987 and Extra Cohiba Cognac since 1999.
In 1992 approximately 3.4 million cigars were produced in Cuba bearing the Cohiba
label, out of a total Cuban cigar export production of approximately 60 million
pieces. = Tobaccos =
Cuban Cohibas have historically been known to use some of the finest cigar
tobacco available in Cuba. The tobacco for Cohiba is selected from the finest
Vegas Finas de Primera in the San Luis and San Juan y Martinez zones of the
Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río Province. In 1992 just 10 carefully
selected fields totaling about 700 acres were used for production of the Cohiba
brand, their exact location a carefully guarded trade secret. The production of
these fields is further selected for quality, with the output of just five of
these fields used in Cohiba production in an average year.
The tobacco used to fill the cigars is unique among Cuban brands owing to a
special third fermentation in wooden barrels at the El Laguito factory, aimed
at producing a smoother flavor than other cigars. Originally all Cohibas
were made at the El Laguito factory, a mansion located on the outskirts of
Havana converted into a cigar-rolling school for women in 1961. Production of
some Cohiba vitolas was later expanded to the Partagas factory in Havana, which
manufactures its Cohiba product from pre-blended tobacco received from El
Laguito. Cohiba cigars tend to be medium to
full-bodied in flavor. = Vitolas in the Cohiba line =
The following list of vitolas de salida within the Cohiba marque lists their
size and ring gauge in Imperial, their vitolas de galera, and their common name
in American cigar slang. The La Línea Clásica Series
Corona Especial - 6" × 38, Laguito No. 2, a panetela
Espléndido - 7" × 47, Julieta No. 2, a churchill
Exquisito - 4⅞" × 33, Seoane, a small panetela
Lancero - 7½" × 38, Laguito No. 1, a long panetela
Panetela - 4½" × 26, Laguito No. 3, a small panetela
Robusto - 4⅞" × 50, Robusto, a robusto The La Línea 1492 Series
Siglo I - 4" × 40, Perla, a petit corona Siglo II - 5⅛" × 42, Mareva, a petit
corona Siglo III - 6⅛" × 42, Corona Grande, a
long corona Siglo IV - 5⅝" × 46, Corona Gorda, a
grand corona Siglo V - 6¾" × 43, Dalia, a lonsdale
Siglo VI - 5⅞" × 52, Cañonazo, a robusto extra
The Maduro 5 Series Genios - 5½" × 52, Estupendos, a robusto
extra Magicos - 4½" × 52, Magicos, a petit
robusto Secretos - 4⅜" × 40, Reyes, a petit
corona The Behike Series
BHK 52 ring gauge × 119mm in length BHK 54 band gauge × 144mm length
BHK 56 band gauge × 166mm length Edición Limitada Releases
Double Corona - 7⅝" × 49, Prominente, a double corona
Sublime - 6½" × 54, Sublime, a double robusto
Pirámide - 6⅛" × 52, Pirámide, a pyramid Special Releases
Millennium Reserve Pirámide - 6⅛" × 52, Pirámide, a pyramid
Behike - 7½" × 52, Behike, a double robusto
General Cigar Company's Cohiba With the nationalization of the Cuban
tobacco industry along with other businesses after the Cuban Revolution,
many cigar makers fled the island and began growing tobacco in the Dominican
Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua, taking the brand names of their cigars
with them. The Cuban industry contended that the brand names were the property
of the nation, however, and parallel use of the same brand name resulted.
Additionally, post-revolutionary trademark uncertainty and a US embargo
against all Cuban goods made possible the relaunch of other Cuban brand names
by private companies in other countries. The General Cigar Company, a private
firm having no relation whatsoever to the Cuban cigar industry, first
registered the name Cohiba in the United States in 1978 and subsequently began
selling cigars under the Cohiba brand in that country in the 1980s. Manufacture
and sales of General Cigar's brand was significantly expanded during the 1990s
cigar boom, with General Cigar's product known colloquially as "Red Dot Cohiba,"
owing to the red dot in the middle of the "O" in "Cohiba" on its bands and
boxes. In response to General Cigar's use of
the Cohiba name, Cubatabaco, the government-run company in charge of
cigars, and half-owner of Habanos SA along with Altadis SA, launched a
long-running legal campaign to have General Cigar's trademark revoked.
These legal fisticuffs were resolved on June 19, 2006, when the U. S. Supreme
Court denied Cubatabaco's petition. As a result, the February 2005 decision of
the U. S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which confirmed General Cigar Company’s
exclusive ownership of the Cohiba trademark in the United States, is
final. The General Cigar-made Cohiba cigars now have a disclaimer on boxes
that they are not affiliated in any way with the Cuban brand.
However, the United States government, in an amicus curiae brief filed in the
Supreme Court, acknowledged that Cubatabaco could request U.S. government
permission for judicial protection of the brand from the Department of the
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers the U.S.
embargo. Cubatabaco has stated that they intend to pursue this course of action.
In a November 1992 interview, director of Cubatabaco Francisco Padrón indicated
that in the event the American embargo of Cuban products were ended, return of
the Cohiba brand name to Cubatabaco would be a prerequisite for any future
distribution agreement with General Cigar Co. "The first condition is that
they must pass the brand name to us. This is the first condition.
Immediately. If not, forget about it," Padrón declared.
US Supreme Court hands Cuba a victory over its cigars February 25, 2015
The US Supreme Court declined to intervene in a long-running battle
between a US and Cuban company over the Cohiba cigar trademark. By refusing to
hear an appeal, the country's highest court leaves intact a ruling in favor of
the Cuban firm. Due to a US trade embargo with Cuba,
Cubatabaco cannot sell its Cohiba cigars in the United States while they are sold
worldwide and in Cuba. US company General Cigar sells its Dominican
Republic-produced Cohiba cigars in the US. The legal dispute is over whether
the Cuban company has to the right to challenge General Cigar’s trademark in
the US, despite the embargo, as reported by Agence France Presse.
General Cigar obtained a US registration for Cohiba in 1981 and a second
registration in 1995. Cubatabaco had the trademark registered in Cuba in 1972. In
the late 70s, it began registering the logo outside Cuba – in 115 countries –
but was prohibited from selling merchandise in the US by the Cuban
Assets Control Regulation. In the case, Cubatabaco argued the CACR not only
prevented the company from selling in the US, but also prevented it from
challenging General Cigar's registrations.
In June 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor
of the Cuban company by giving it standing to seek a cancelation of the
registrations that block its own ability to register trademarks. The case will
now move forward to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
The challenge comes two months after President Obama announced in December
that he planned to loosen some of the US-Cuba restrictions, including the
easing of the decades-long trade embargo.
Under an easing of travel restrictions between the US and Cuba, American
visitors will be able to buy up to $100 worth of cigars and bring them home.
See also Cigar brands
Cohiba Footnotes
Further reading Anwer Bati, The Cigar Companion: The
Connoisseur's Guide. Third Edition. Philadelphia and London: Running Press,
1997. Bernard LeRoy and Maurice Szafran, The
Illustrated History of Cigars. London: Harold Starke, 1993.
Min Ron Nee and Adriano Martínez Rius, Illustrated Encyclopaedia of
Post-Revolution Havana Cigars. Hong Kong: Interpro Business Corp., 2003.
Richard B. Perelman, Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedia of Havana Cigars. Third
edition. Los Angeles: Perelman, Pioneer & Co., 2005.
David Hall, The Cigar Nut - Cuban Cohiba Cigar History Cohiba Cigar History 2012.
External links Official website of Habanos S.A.
The Color and Complexity of Cuba's Cigars CNN, April 9, 2007
About Cohiba Behike Cigars "CohibaSmoke" Sept 13, 2013