The 20th annual Habanos Festival is set for Feb. 26 – March 2, and today Habanos S.A. announced that the Cohiba and Partagás Linea Maduro lines will be featured during the event.

While no specifics were disclosed other than that the tobacco will come from the 2014 harvest, the Cohiba line will get its first Reserva release since the Cohiba Reserva Selección was released in 2003, the debut of the Reserva series. That set included five sizes:

  • Cohiba Reserva Selección Coronas Especiales (6 x 38)
  • Cohiba Reserva Selección Espléndidos (7 x 47)
  • Cohiba Reserva Selección Media Coronas (5 3/5 x 38)
  • Cohiba Reserva Selección Pirámides (6 1/10 x 52)
  • Cohiba Reserva Selección Robustos (4 9/10 x 50)

Habanos S.A.’s Reserva series uses tobacco that has been specially selected for the project and then aged a minimum of three years before the cigars are rolled. This will be just the seventh release in the Reserva series, joining the Cohibas from 2003, the Partagás Serie D No.4 from 2005, the Montecristo Montecristo No.4 from 2007, the Romeo y Julieta Churchill in 2012, the H. Upmann Upmann No.2 from 2014, and the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No.2 from 2016, which has yet to be released.

Joining the Cohiba Reserva in the spotlight will be two new sizes for the Partagás Linea Maduro, which debuted in 2015 in the No. 1 vitola, a 5 1/10 x 52 robusto vitola. An unconfirmed report has suggested that the two new sizes will be the No. 2, a 4 7/10 x 55 short piramide, while the No. 3 will be a 5 7/10 x 40 corona vitola. A representative from Habanos S.A. has not yet replied to an email seeking confirmation of the report.

No release dates for the cigars have been announced, and it can be well over a year after the festival that the cigars arrive at retailers.

Additionally, Habanos S.A. announced an updated registration procedure for the 20th edition of the festival, with distributors getting first crack at registration from Oct. 2 – 13, and each distributor limited to a quota of places for each activity during the festival. Individual attendees will have their registration period opened at the end of October. It also appears that it will be harder for individuals to register for the festival, as Habanos S.A. said that it is prioritizing the attendance of its distributors amid increasing demand.

Pricing to attend all of the festival’s activities is 2,075 CUC, or roughly $2,385 when figuring in the exchange fees of dollars to CUCs.

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Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.