Five months ago in Las Vegas, Hirochi Robaina more or less made his debut in the U.S. cigar market at the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, tonight in Vegas, the cigar he is tasked with promoting in the U.S. is set for debut.

Hirochi Robaina is the grandson of the late Alejandro Robaina, the legendary Cuban farmer who grew tobacco at his Cuchillas de Barbacoa farm in San Luis, Pinar Del Río. The younger Robaina spent over a decade working under his grandfather and has ran the farm since the elder Robaina’s death in 2010.

In 2011, Robaina was approached by Omar González Alemán, a veteran of Cuba’s cigar industry who had left to work at Cubanacan in Estelí, Nicaragua. The two collaborated to produce HR Habano, a cigar made and distributed by Cubanacan with the help of Robaina.

There are four sizes Hermoso (5 1/8 x 48, $18.99), Belicoso (5 1/2 x 52, $19.99), Toro (6 x 52, $20.99) and Sublime (6 1/2 x 54, $21.99), each offered in boxes of 20. As one might expect, it uses a habano wrapper, more specifically Ecuadorian habano 2000 over a binder from Jalapa, Nicaragua and other Nicaraguan filler tobaccos.

Hirochi Robaina

Tonight, Robaina will be on hand for the cigar’s retail debut at La Casa in Las Vegas, Nev. A total of 30 stores, Cubanacan platinum accounts, will be offered a chance at having an event with Hirochi Robaina, 20 of which are already confirmed:

  • Blend Cigar Bar (Indianapolis, Ind.)
  • Cigar Inn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Cigars On 6th (Denver, Colo.)
  • Corona Cigar Company (Orlando, Fla.)
  • Excalibur Cigar Lounge (San Diego, Calif.)
  • Hollywood Smoke (Santa Monica, Calif.)
  • La Casa (Las Vegas, Nev.)
  • Marcus Daniel Tobacconist (Naples, Fla.)
  • Maxamar Ultimate Cigars (Orange County, Calif.)
  • Miura Cigars (Doral, Fla.)
  • Nat Sherman Cigars (New York, N.Y.)
  • Olde Oaks Cigar Co. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
  • Riverside Cigar Shop & Lounge (Jeffersonville, Ind.)
  • Sanj’s Smoke Shop (Bloomfield, N.J.)
  • Serious Cigars (Houston, Texas)
  • Smoke Inn (Florida)
  • The Smoke Ring (Webster, Texas)
  • STOGIES World Class Cigars (Houston, Texas)
  • The V-Cut (Los Angeles, Calif.)
  • Ye Olde Pipe and Tobacco Shop (Phoenix, Ariz.)

The cigar will be offered at other stores, although Spence Drake, vp of sales for Cubanacan, told halfwheel the company expects to begin limiting the number of accounts in the first quarter of 2015.

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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.