H. Upmann Will Get First Gran Reserva at Habanos Festival XIX

The H. Upmann marca will be getting its first Gran Reserva release at the upcoming Festival del Habano XIX, which runs from Feb. 27 to March 3.

Habanos S.A. made the announcement about the H. Upmann Gran Reserva Cosecha 2011 today, but specifics about the size of the cigar have not been officially announced and an email sent to a Habanos S.A. spokesperson has not yet been returned.

However, a list of upcoming Habanos releases that has been made available through various cigar related websites and message boards indicates that the release will come in the Sir Winston vitola, which measures 7 inches long and has a 47 ring gauge.

While this is the first Gran Reserva release for the marca, in 2014 a Reserva edition was released, using the well known No.2 vitola, a 6 1/10 x 52 pyramid.

The Gran Reserva series was launched in 2009 for the global brands of Habanos, and each release uses tobacco from a single crop year that has been specially selected and aged for at least five years before the cigars are rolled. They wear secondary bands that denote the series and come in highly lacquered black boxes.

In addition, Habanos S.A. will be featuring the Quai D’Orsay brand during the festival, as the company has said the brand will have “a promising new stage from this Festival on.” The leaked release list shows that the company is planning two new regular production sizes for the line, Alma (5 3/10 x 54) and Gourmet (4 1/3 x 50), both of which will be available in boxes of 10 and 25 cigars.

Finally, the Montecristo marca will be adding a new line called Linea 1935, a reference to the year the brand was created. There are three sizes said to be in the line, Dumas (5 1/8 x 49), Leyenda (6 1/2 x 55) and Maltes (6 x 53), which will all come in 20-count boxes. Habanos S.A. says it will “become the brand’s most premium and exclusive line.”

Pricing or availability of the new cigars have also not yet been announced.

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.