La Flor del Caney first appeared in the 70's decade by the hand of the Briones Montoto Factory also known for Romeo y Julieta. It had a different name, Caney on its own. It was in 1977 when the production of Caney stopped, that a different cigar band appeared with the logo La Flor del Caney, whose production discontinued in the 80's decade. It seems quite difficult to find a real specimen of these cigars nowadays. Finally, as a reference to its commercial production, if we check the official Cubatabaco cigar lists, we can just find seven models, all of the machine-made.

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Created in 1884 by Tomas and Jose Cano, this brand is often hard to find due to the small production quantities, but it offers a medium-strength cigars and excellent workmanship in the handmade sizes.

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First of all, we may remark a very funny anecdote. The name of these cigars is La Escepcion, but had to be La Excepcion (meaning exception in English). So this misspelling became one of the most famous in the history of Havana cigars. This brand has always been linked to Hoyo de Monterrey and after being sold several times, it finally remains in the hands of the firm F. Palacio y Cia. Production was not at all affected by the Revolution and eight models were listed in Cubatabaco official catalogue. It was in the 80's decade when a drop in production can be appreciated, perhaps because the most remarkable characteristic of these cigars, their extreme strength, is no longer liked by the customers. The brand was discontinued in 1989.

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Coming from the biggest cigar factory in Cuba at the end of the 19th century, the firm kept on moving from hand to hand until it finally settled in the "Iron House" known with this name because of being the first building in Cuba with a framework in steel. The production was discontinued in the 70's decade, but La Corona was reintroduced in 1989 with cheap machine-made cigar models. These new La Corona cigars are mild in flavor with earthy and peppery connotations. 2/5 strength.

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Here is one of the few Havana brands which is offered only in handmade styles, started in 1876 by Juan Lopez Diaz. The range of sizes is limited, but the workmanship is first-rate and the flavour is considered to be medium to strong, with light and almost aromatic overtones. A sampling of this cigar may develop into a long term love for it.

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Jose L. Piedra is a popular brand for domestic consumption in Cuba. Apart from the original six smaller Jose L. Piedra cigars which are machine-made, this Jose L. Piedra brand started producing a new full range of hand-made sizes (which have recently become unavailable). Made in the regional factory in Santa Clara, Cuba, this Jose L. Piedra brand continues to have very competitive pricing. Jose L. Piedra brand cigars are considered to have a mild-to-medium body with strong flavours.

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Established by Jose Gener in 1865, the name roughly means "valley of Monterrey," a particularly fertile site in the Vuelta Abajo, which had been farmed by Gener since at least 1860. The brand offers a lighter flavour and a wide range of sizes, the largest of which are much celebrated. The Le Hoyo series cigars was introduced about 1970 and presents a stronger flavour

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As famous a brand as there is in the world of cigars, the H. Upmann brand dates back to 1844, when Herman Upmann, a German banker, began using specially imprinted boxes of cigars as promotional items for his banking firm. The combination proved successful, so the H. Upmann brand was born and continues to this day. The success of this brand was buoyed by the award of seven gold medals in seven international exhibitions between 1862 and 1893; these awards still adorn the lithographed interior of the box today. The brand was sold to the British firm of J. Frankau in 1922 and finally in 1935 to Menendez, Garcia & Cia. prior to nationalization, continues today in the H. Upmann factory, now known as Jose Marti. The famous request of President John F. Kennedy to his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, to obtain cigars on the evening prior to the declaration of the American trade embargo in 1961, was for Petit Upmanns. Available in a stunning range of handmade and machine-made sizes, the brand offers a mild to medium strength.

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This recently announced product from Cuba has now been released. Guantanamera's are very mild cigars originating from the Vuelta Arriba region, and are very competitively priced. This is the ultimate Cuban cigar for a beginner or for any cigar smoker who likes a very mild and light bodied cigar

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The production of this brand did not stop with the Revolution. It started with eleven models, as 1972 Cubatabaco official catalogue shows and became quite famous, but the production of these cigars decreased when instead of the initial eleven models, the manufacturers decided to make just three models (the machine-made Habaneros No.2 and the two hand-made Coronas and Petit Coronas Deluxe). From these three models we only have nowadays the machine-made Habaneros No.2 as the two hand-made cigars were discontinued in 1993. The brand comprised 0.1% of the total exportations of Habanos S.A. and it is catalogued to have mild flavours with no special characteristics.

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This brand whose name means "The King of the World" was developed in 1848 and under the direction of Antonio Allones, it was celebrated as one of the great Havana brands. Well known for it's dark and oily wrappers, it was one of the most expensive Havanas available in the middle of the 20th century. The El Rey del Mundo factory still produces this brand and numerous others cigars under the name Lazaro Pena today in a wide variety of models that are considered to be light in strength.

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The image of Francisco Fonseca, who developed this brand in 1906, still adorns the box today. Only in limited distribution, the Fonseca brand is considered to exhibit a rich but mild flavour.

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When Dunhill first settled as a serious brand, it had the purpose of competing with Davidoff, something that came to the beginning of the end because of strong disagreements between the British Company and Cubatabaco (they had previously signed a manufacturing contract in 1982). As a result of this disagreement, this contract was finished in 1991 and the brand Dunhill was discontinued. Dunhill lived from 1984 to 1991. The most popular cigars produced by Dunhill could be Cabinetta, with medium strength and mixed balanced flavours such as fruits, honey and nuts, or Estupendos, similar to Cabinetta but richer in taste.

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This brand was introduced in 1966 as essentially a second value line of the Montecristo brand, primarily aimed at the French market. One of the few Havana brands which is exclusively devoted to handmade cigars, the sizes and names essentially mirror the Montecristo nomenclature and the Diplimaticos line is produced at the Jose Marti factory, as is most of the Montecristo range. They are generally considered to be medium to full bodied.

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Zino Davidoff, the creator of this brand, is originally from Kiev, Russia. The empire started with a very small shop, but the Second World War brought the opportunity to enter in a much wider market located in Switzerland, that was a neutral country and the unofficial store for the wealthy customers. Taking this as the origin of Davidoff well-known cigars brand, the 70's decade saw how the initial small shop became into a worldwide chain. One can appreciate in Davidoff cigars those complex subtle flavours. If you are looking for a strong cigar, this is not the one, as we can describe them as medium or even mild but, in any case, good quality if we take a look to the way they age.

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First introduced in London in 1996, the Cuaba brand was the first new Cuban cigar brand to be introduced into commercial production since 1968. Historicaly, Cuaba is the Taino Indian word for the special cuban bush used to light the �Cohiba� or �Tobacco� on the Island.
All four of the Cuaba vitoles are in the figurado (perfecto) shape: the Exclusivos, the Generosos, the Tradicionales and the Divinos. This shape was popular until the beginning of the 20th century. Habanos S.A. decided to revive the British tradition of smoking figurados; hence the fitting unveiling of the brand in London, England. Habanos, S.A. has since reintroduced other historic brands and shapes

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A new brand which was introduced only in 1968, Cohiba quickly became the flagship brand of the Cuban cigar industry. Developed initially as a medium bodied protocol cigar for presentation only by officials of the Cuban government, Cohiba was marketed widely beginning in 1982. The initial sizes were the Lancero, the Corona Especiale and the Panetela, with the Esplendido, Robusto and Exquisito added in 1989. In 1992, in salute to the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Caribbean, the Siglo series was introduced. The Cohiba series was initially made in the El Laguito factory in Havana, but production is now also in the Fernando Perez German factory.

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The creator of this brand was Ramon Cifuentes, owner of the Partagas factory before the Revolution. When the Revolution takes place, we can observe that the production of Cifuentes is not interrupted. But what the Revolution was unable to do, is going to be done by years of litigation between the members of the Cifuentes family about the ownership of the Cuban brand. The production of Cifuentes is discontinued in the 90's decade, after the workers of the Partagas factory made an extremely small amount of cigars in those last 15 years, what makes it really difficult to find someone who has ever smoked one of these cigars or even seen a box.

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It is the Spaniard Francisco Caba�as who should take the credit of history for having registered in Cuba one of the oldest Habano marks heard of, and also when the Tobacco Monopoly was still in force. Thus, he registered in 1810 the Caba�as brand, and in 1895 he joined others manufacturers to develop a new trademark: Hija de Caba�as y Carbajal y C�a.
In today's version, marked for trade to Eastern Europe, this brand exhibits full flavored in all-machine-made or machine-bunched with a hand-finished style

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Introduced in 1901, the powerful flavour of the Bolivar range is almost as widely know as it's namesake, Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), the celebrated Venezuelan warrior who liberated all or part of what is today Venezuela, Columbia, Peru and Bolivia. The cigar brand was developed by the Jose Rocha Company and manufactured at the El Crepusculo factory, but was later acquired by Menendez, Garcia y Cia.

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