In France, there are two distributors of Cuban cigars. One is SEITA, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Group, which distributes the José L. Piedra and Quay D´Orsay brands in France. The other is Coprova, S.A.S.

While Habanos S.A. has limited its Edición Regional series release to one per distributor per year, there’s nothing that prevents two distributors from the same region from both getting a release and that’s exactly what was supposed to happen last year.

SEITA’s cigar, the Quai d’Orsay Robusto Diplomatico, went on sale in December. But it wasn’t the only French regional as part of the 2015 program. Coprova was supposed to get the Por Larrañaga Opera, a 115mm (4 1/2) x 52 petit robusto size.

As with many Edición Regionals, that cigar was delayed, but it appears that it will be available within the next few weeks.

The La Casa del Habano in Knokke announced that it expects to have the Opera in stock by the second week of April. Pricing is steep, although it’s likely due to a secondary mark-up, with the Knokke location pricing 10-count boxes at €170 ($190). The opera is limited to 5,000 boxes.

An email sent to a Coprova representative was not immediately returned.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.