Diplomaticos Genios Regional Edition Debuts In Cuba
Cuban cigar distributor Phoenicia Trading A.A. unveiled its newest Regional Edition Cuban cigar at a private event last night in Cuba at the Packard Hotel. The cigar is the Diplomaticos Genios Exclusivo Phoenicia, a straight-sided smoke measuring 5 1/2 inches long by 52 ring gauge.
Walid Saleh, chief executive officer of Phoenicia, told Cigar Aficionado that he expects the cigars to go on sale starting March 1. The cigars will retail for $29 apiece.
As with all Regional Editions, these are limited in quantity. These particular cigars—which are packed in cabinets of 50, a rarity nowadays—will have a run of 4,000 cabinets, or a total of 200,000 cigars. Each box will be individually numbered, and Saleh said that this is the first time the Diplomaticos brand has been packaged in a 50-count cabinet.
The format and size of the boxes are a preference of Phoenicia’s chairman Mohamed Zeidan. “They age better, and it’s better for the cigar; that’s why I prefer to go to 50,” Zeidan once told Cigar Aficionado. “If you are cooking at home, to make the food, if you make it in a big bowl for a family it tastes better.”
The size, known as a Genios (Spanish for geniuses), is one that originated with the Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios in 2007, and is also shared with the H. Upmann Connoisseur A. In Cigar Aficionado tastings, cigars of this size fall into our toro/corona gorda category.
The release is meant to commemorate the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the nation of Cyprus (where Phoenicia is headquartered) and Cuba.
Phoenicia is one of the world’s most important and prominent distributors of Cuban cigars, and it is responsible for the Cuban cigars that are sold in some 60 countries, including the entire Middle East, part of Europe (Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Ukraine) and most of Africa. It’s a company that produces Regional Editions on a regular basis. Last year, it launched the Por Larrañaga Fénix, which rated 94 points in a Cigar Aficionado blind taste test. In 2022, it was the Juan Lopez Hat Trick, released to coincide with soccer’s World Cup in Qatar, one of Phoenicia’s many territories.
Look for a review of the new cigar in an upcoming edition of Cigar Insider.
Read Next: The State Of Habanos: 2024 Was A Record Year; China Still The No. 1 Market
