New British Regional Edition Cuban Coming Next Week
A new Cuban cigar made just for the U.K. market is making its debut next week. The La Flor de Cano Selectos No. 3, a relatively slim smoke, will be previewed at three trade events in Britain on February 6. The following day, the cigars will go on sale at a host of British cigar stores, including the country’s Casas del Habano, designated Habanos Specialists and a select number of hotels, restaurants and clubs.
It’s the latest Regional Edition from Britain’s cigar importer Hunters & Frankau.
The Selectos No. 3 is a lonsdale, a modest-sized smoke measuring 6 1/2 inches long by 42 ring gauge. It also goes by the name Cervantes in Cuban cigar factories. If you travelled back in time to the 1950s, slim cigars such as these were tremendously popular, but they were supplanted by robustos and other fatter smokes. Cuba once made a wide variety of lonsdales in the Cervantes shape, but today the only one that remains in regular production is the Montecristo No. 1.
Hunters has made many Regional Edition smokes dating back to 2005, and has even released two Regionals in the same year on several occasions (see table). This is its third La Flor de Cano RE for the United Kingdom, following the Short Robusto (2010) and the Gran Cano (2013). While standard Flor de Canos are handmade with short-filler tobacco, all of those Regional Editions, including this new one, are handmade with long-filler tobacco.
U.K. Regional Edition Cuban Cigars
| Year | Cigar |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Ramon Allones Belicoso Fino (5 1/2 by 52) |
| 2007 | Por Larrañaga Magnifico (6 3/4 by 50) |
| 2008 | La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos (6 1/8 by 50) |
| 2008 | Punch Serie d’Oro No. 1 (6 1/8 by 52) |
| 2009 | El Rey del Mundo Choix De L’Epoque (4 3/8 by 52) |
| 2009 | Juan Lopez Selección Supremas (6 5/8 by 52) |
| 2010 | La Flor de Cano Short Robusto (4 by 50) |
| 2010 | Por Larrañaga Regalias de Londres (5 1/2 by 50) |
| 2011 | Bolivar Británicas (5 3/8 by 48) |
| 2011 | Punch Medalla de Oro (6 1/8 by 50) |
| 2012 | Ramon Allones Petit Belicoso (5 by 52) |
| 2013 | La Flor de Cano Gran Cano (5 1/2 by 50) |
| 2014 | Por Larrañaga Sobresalientes (6 by 53) |
| 2015 | Bolivar Belgravia (5 1/4 by 55) |
| 2015 | Ramon Allones H&F 225 Aniversario (5 1/2 by 50) |
| 2016 | Juan Lopez Selección Superba (5 7/8 by 54) |
| 2017 | La Gloria Cubana Británicas Extra (5 3/8 by 48) |
| 2018 | El Rey del Mundo La Reina (7 1/2 by 38) |
| 2020 | Ramon Allones Private Stock 230 (6 3/4 by 50) |
| 2021 | Por Larrañaga Larrañaga 47 (7 by 47) |
| 2023 | La Flor de Cano Selectos No. 3 (6 by 42) |
Each band on these Regional Edition cigars looks like the familiar Flor de Cano design, with its red, gold and white color scheme, but these have a special touch: the name of the cigar is printed across the logo. Like all Cuban Regional Editions, the cigars are affixed with secondary bands, which in this case read “Exclusivo Reino Unido,” Spanish for “Exclusive United Kingdom.”
The Flor de Cano Selectos No. 3 will retail for £42.50, which converts to roughly $53 apiece. Hunters has commissioned 125,000 of the cigars, or 5,000 boxes of 25. Each box is individually numbered.
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