Cuba Gets New Edición Regional with Diplomáticos Leal

A new Edición Regional release from Habanos S.A. is set to arrive in Cuba this month, as the Diplomáticos Leal was previewed at a launch event on Dec. 8, with the cigar slated to be released at La Casa del Habano stores and other cigar merchants in the country in the second half of December.

The cigar comes in the Duke vitola, a robusto extra that measures 5 1/2 inches (140mm) long with a ring gauge of 54. It’s a vitola that debuted in 2009 with the Romeo y Julieta Dukes, an Edición Limitada release, and which has been used for a number of Edición Regional releases since that time. It’s also the same vitola of the Partagás Serie E No.2 and the Bolívar Soberanos, a 2018 Edición Limitada release. A total of 10,000 numbered dress boxes have been released, making for a total of 100,000 cigars.

The Diplomáticos Leal is named for Eusebio Leal, a Cuban historian and the director of the restoration of Habana Vieja, or Old Havana. During his time as the municipal historian of Havana and the director of the restoration project, Havana’s historic center was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. Leal passed away on July 31, 2020, following a battle with cancer.

This is the seventh Edición Regional release for the Cuban market:

• La Gloria Cubana Deliciosos — 2009
• El Rey del Mundo Infantes — 2013
• Diplomáticos Excelencia — 2015
• Saint Luis Rey Marquéz — 2016
• San Cristóbal de la Habana La Cabaña — 2017
• Punch La Isla — 2018
• Diplomáticos Leal — 2021

As is often the case with Edición Regional releases, the cigar does not debut in the year that it was intended to; in the case of the Diplomáticos Leal, it was part of the 2021 class of Edición Regional releases. The Punch La Isla, while designated as a 2018 release, did not appear until mid-2019, while the San Cristóbal de la Habana La Cabaña was a 2017 release but didn’t arrive until late 2019.

Pricing for the Diplomáticos has not yet been announced.

Image courtesy of Habanos S.A.