Bolivar Belgravia Nears Release

In June, Hunters & Frankau, the U.K.’s importer of Cuban cigars, held a party to celebrate the release of the Ramón Allones Hunters & Frankau Aniversario 225, a cigar made for the company’s 225th anniversary. At the party, the company also previewed another exclusive cigar, the Bolivar Belgravia.

The Belgravia is the official Edición Regional release for the U.K. in 2015, although the Ramón Allones also carried similar branding and function, as it was only released in the U.K.

As for the Belgravia, it measures 5 1/8 (130mm) x 55. The cigar is expected to ship in November with pricing set around £23 (approximately $35) per cigar and production limited to 5,000 numbered boxes of 10.

The cigar is named after the Belgrave Square, which contains a statue of Simón Bolívar containing the quote, “I am convinced that England alone is capable of protecting the world’s precious rights as she is great, glorious and wise.” Coincidentally, the Hunters & Frankau’s 225th anniversary party was held in the neighborhood.

I have summarized the Edición Regional program previously:

The Edición Regional program sees Habanos S.A., the marketing and distribution company behind Cuban cigars, create unique, limited vitolas for its distributors around the world. Sizes must be those that are in the Habanos S.A. portfolio, but not amongst the regular production offerings for the brand, although some discontinued regular sizes can be created. New vitolas created for a certain brand are also not eligible to be used. In addition, the “global” brands—i.e. Cohiba, H. Upmann, Hoyo de Monterrey, José L. Piedra, Montecristo, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta—are not eligible to be made into an Edición Regional.

Since 2012, distributors have been limited to a single release per year, a change from prior years when some distributors would receive multiple releases per year. Distributors are the ones to initiate the idea of a new release, and the cost for any new Edición Regional must be underwritten by the distributor. There is no guarantee that any particular region will get a new release in a given year.