50 years of Cohiba

No cigar is more famous than Cohiba, which turns 50 this year. It began as the personal smoke of Fidel Castro, who presented this autographed box of Cohibas to Marvin R. Shanken in 1994.

Once a mythical cigar, Cuba's best-known brand is on every cigar lover's must-smoke list

The plain wooden box of cigars sat on the desk of Jaime Wheelock, a comandante in the Sandinista National Liberation Front and the new Minister of Agriculture in Nicaragua's post-revolutionary government in early 1980. I commented on them, and for the first time in my life, I saw the distinctive yellow and black band with the small white dots. He asked me if I wanted one. I honestly don't remember taking one, or smoking one, but I knew enough about cigars by that time to know that I had laid eyes on a Cohiba, the mythical cigar brand that Cuban President Fidel Castro gave out as diplomatic gifts.

Since the creation of the Cohiba brand in 1966, a special tobacco blend originally produced at the behest of Castro, the world has known about Cuba's "Best of the Best" cigar. By the time it was commercialized in 1982 in Spain and distributed in duty-free shops, every cigar lover was seeking to add the cigar to their humidors. Today, Cohiba remains one of the world's best-known trademarks. Its reputation and high prices have led it to be counterfeited over and over again, and subject to trademark battles in more than one country. But the cigar remains an object of envy and desire, one that every cigar lover dreams about smoking.

"Cohiba was something that was near and dear to [Castro's heart] and it became iconic," says Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado. "When you think of Cuba, you think of cigars, and when you think of Cuban cigars you think of Cohiba."

his year, Cohiba turns 50, and the milestone will be celebrated in grand fashion back in Cuba. "There are going to be a group of activities this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cohiba, which will be done with a lot of enthusiasm," says Inocente Nuñez Blanco, copresident of Habanos S.A., during a recent interview in Havana. "You're going to like what you see," adds copresident Luis Sánchez Harguindey. They refuse to reveal any more details about the big celebration, taking place during the Habanos Festival, which runs February 29 to March 4.

he importance of Cohiba to the Cuban cigar industry cannot be overstated. Fernando Dominguez, the premium cigar director for Imperial Tobacco PLC, a partner with Habanos S.A.'s tobacco business, says Cohiba generates more revenue than any other Cuban cigar brand. Three of Cuba's top 10 selling cigar sizes, he adds, are Cohibas.

The brand was created by Cuba's revolutionary regime, and Cuban government and cigar officials still take pride in its place as an icon of the Revolution. That pride is reflected in how carefully the Cubans have preserved the brand's quality, which suffered less than other brands during the worst period of Cuban cigar production in the late 1990s. But that pride also is revealed in the devotion to the legend of how Cohiba was created. Whether the story is 100 percent accurate or not, there is significant archival material surrounding the brand's beginnings as well as a book published with an official version.

The story starts with Castro's chief bodyguard puffing away while driving in a car with the Cuban leader. According to the official Cohiba history, Castro asked what the bodyguard was smoking. He replied that it was a fuma, a cigar made by a friend, Eduardo Rivera Irizarri, who worked in a cigar factory. Castro asked for one, enjoyed it, and then, ordered more so he could smoke that cigar all the time. He began to give them to his other top lieutenants, including Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The long, thin cigar, really a gran panetela, was closely identified with Cuba's revolutionary leaders. The cigar also became the official diplomatic gift sent to other cigar-smoking world leaders, including, according to the history, Luis Echeverria of Mexico, Omar Torrijos of Panama, Josip Tito of Yugoslavia and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.

Article credit: Gordon Mott
Article Publicized by: Cigar Aficionado