Brands
Cohiba
Cohiba was founded in 1966 and was initially reserved exclusively for diplomatic gifts and the heads of state. The name reaches far back: “Cohiba” is said to have been the Taíno word for the rolled tobacco leaves they smoked long before the arrival of the Spanish. The origin of the brand itself is tradition with prominent witnesses — according to this account, Fidel Castro’s attention was drawn to the privately rolled cigars of a torcedor from the circle of his bodyguard, whose blend gave rise to the new state cigar.
Production takes place to this day at El Laguito, a villa in western Havana that served as both factory and school — it was here that women were first trained systematically as Torcedoras. The raw material consists of selected tobaccos from the Vuelta Abajo; a distinctive feature is the additional third fermentation of a portion of the filler tobaccos in barrels, said to give the blend its much-cited smoothness.
In 1982 the brand entered free sale with three formats — among them the slender Lancero, its hallmark to this day. In 1992, for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s landing, the Línea 1492 followed with the Siglo vitolas; in 2010 the Behike range extended the portfolio upwards. Cohiba has since been regarded as the flagship of Cuban cigar craftsmanship — and is simultaneously probably the most frequently counterfeited marca in the world.