Four Edición Regionals Hit Stores

Habanos S.A. appears to be getting close to finally having all 15 Edición Regionals for the 2014 program released. Over the last month or so four of those cigars have hit their respective markets, leaving only four more before the program has completely shipped.

In March, the Saint Luis Rey Inca (4 x 50), a regional for Peru, made its first appearance. The cigar is limited to 1,000 cabinets of 50. Also arriving last month was the Sancho Panza Eslavo, a 7 1/4 x 50 double robusto made for Serbia. That cigar is made in the popular 109 vitola, meaning the cap is slightly tapered. It’s also limited to 1,000 cabinets of 50.

Last week, Pacific Cigar Ltd. announced that it was shipping the Diplomaticos Bushido to retailers, another cigar done in the 109 vitola. While it is also limited to 50,000 cigars, the Bushido will be sold in boxes of 25. According to Cigar Insider, pricing in Hong Kong is $43.60 per cigar.

Pacific Cigar Co. distributes to over 30 places across Asia including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau and Singapore, however it is not the distributor for mainland China, India, Kazakhstan nor Russia.

Also arriving this month is the Bolívar Bosphorus, a 4 1/3 x 52 Petit Edmundo made for Turkey.

The Bosphorus is limited to 50,000 cigars divided into 2,000 boxes of 25. Phoenicia Trading A.A., the Habanos S.A. distributor for Turkey, did not respond to multiple emails for comment, but retailers began informing customers they had taken delivery of the cigar in the first week of April.

That leaves four Edición Regional 2014s remaining: the Juan López Chiado 1864 for Portugal, the La Gloria Cubana Paraiso, the Ramón Allones 898 for Germany and Ramón Allones Sur for Lebanon.

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.

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.