Cohiba 40 Aniversario

Cohiba has been the flag ship brand of Habanos S.A. for a number of years. Rumor has it that it was created in 1966 for President Fidel Castro himself. At first, Cohiba's were only produced for visiting dignitaries and highly placed local officials. The name Cohiba is the ancient Taino Indian word for the bunches of tobacco leaves that Columbus first saw being smoked by the indigenous Cubans, the earliest know cigar. The Cohiba cigars are produced from the five finest Vegas Finas de Primera in the San Juan y Martinez and San Luis areas of the Vuelta Abajo region, earning them the name of 'the selection of the selections' .  In 1982 Cohiba was finally made available on the open market. Unique amongst Habanos, Cohiba's blend leaves undergo a third fermentation in barrels (as opposed to the regular two fermentation processes applied to all other standard production brands). Cohiba has two distinctive lines: the medium to full flavored Linea Clasica, introduced between 1966 and 1989 (includes the Robustos, the Esplendidos, the Lanceros, the Exquisitos, the Panatelas and the Coronas Especiales) and the medium flavored Linea 1492 brought out in 1992 to mark the 500th Anniversary of the Columbus voyage (includes the Siglo I, II, III, IV, V and VI). This year's Festival del Habano saw the 40th Anniversary of Cohiba, marked by the launch of the new Cohiba Behike. The Cohiba Behike has the same length as the Lanceros and the same girth as the Siglo VI. Only produced in 100 boxes of 40 cigars (double-ringed and each cigar numbered from 1 to 4,000) and presented in 100 specially designed humidors (numbered and engraved with the name of the owner) made by the prestigious Paris-based company Elie Bleu. The price of each of these Humidors will be 15'000 Euro ($18'000.00), and will be sold only upon exclusive orders to a Habanos S.A. dealer.