• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 01 / 09 / 2011

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U.S.-based magazine Cigar Aficionado selected a Cuban-made Cohiba cigar as best of 2010, describing it as a “commercial success” as well.

Habanos S.A. launched the Cohiba Behike BHK 52 in February last year, during the Habano Fair.

“The shortish, fat smoke, made with an artful pigtail and clad in gorgeous Colorado wrapper of reddish brown, is a phenomenally rich, delicious smoke that more than lives up to the reputation of cigars with the name Cohiba,” the magazine judged. “It is the finest cigar to come out of Cuba in a long time.”

The company expects to produce 150,000 BHK 52 this year.

“This new smoke has done what no special release Cohiba has done before: win critical acclaim as well as commercial success.

The original Cohiba Behike from 2006 was unavailable to nearly all smokers — only 4,000 cigars were released at a price of $400 or more per cigar. The Cohiba Siglo VI Grand Reserva debuted in 2009 at a price of about $130, with only 75,000 cigars produced.”

No. 9 in the  Top 1o was another Habanos product. The H. Upmann 2 is the “best guarded among Cuba’s secrets,” the magazine said, adding that this shows the consistency of Cuban cigar production and its ability to continuously produce world quality.

The magazine said that 2010 should be considered the year of Cuban cigars, with launches of new brands that convinced both experts and fans. The joint venture with Britain’s Imperial Tobacco that markets Cuban cigars worldwide launched three new Cohiba brands last year.

“We found the quality of Cuban cigars to be at its best since the mid-1990s,” the magazine said.

Source: www.cubastandard.com/2011/01/09/