Gran Habano Debuting George Rico El Enemigo at TPE 2023

Next week, Gran Habano will show off its newest line of cigars, one that is made in the Dominican Republic.

The George Rico El Enemigo is a three-size line that uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper over an Ecuadorian habano binder and fillers from Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Gran Habano previewed this cigar at the PCA 2022 Convention & Trade Show last July and hoped to ship the cigar in October, but then delayed the release until 2023.

• George Rico El Enemigo El Insulto (5 x 52) — $15 (Box of 20, $300)
• George Rico El Enemigo El Duelo (6 x 54) — $16 (Box of 20, $320)
• George Rico El Enemigo El Triunfo (6 x 60) — $17 (Box of 20, $340)

Interestingly, the company says this cigar is being produced by TabaDom in the Dominican Republic and not at Gran Habano’s factory in Honduras. TabaDom is the name of Davidoff’s Dominican operations, which includes two factories: Cigars Davidoff and O.K. Cigars, though Gran Habano has not specified which factory is producing the cigars. George A. Rico, the company’s president and the person whose name is used for the line, said that he used this experience to learn from other blenders.

“After many years of creating projects at my Gran Habano factory, I have decided to enter my Rōnin stage in my blending journey. I hope to continue to learn from others and elevate my craft of blending cigars,” said Rico in a press release. “This process has led me to my first project ‘El Enemigo’ outside of my factory at one of the most established cigar factories in the Dominican Republic. I am truly in love with the final blend. It is something totally different than what I have smoked from the factory and gives a completely different perspective on how the same tobaccos can smoke when blended differently. I look forward to more collaborations in the years to come and I hope that you can enjoy my blend utilizing unique tobaccos and rolling techniques.”

El Enemigo is limited to 1,000 boxes per vitola per year and will only be offered to 200 retailers.

Gran Habano will show the line off at next week’s TPE 2023 trade show in Las Vegas and says it will begin shipping the cigars in April.