Gran Habano Expands Gran Reserva Line

Gran Habano has added two new cigars to their Gran Reserva line: the Gran Reserva #3 2009 and Gran Reserva #5 2010, both of which have arrived at retail.

The Gran Habano Gran Reserva #3 2009 is available in three sizes:

• Churchill (6 7/8 x 50) – $7.03 (Boxes of 20, $140.50)
• Gran Robusto (6 x 54) – $7.13 (Boxes of 20, $142.50)
• Pyramid (6 1/8 x 52) – $7.33 (Boxes of 20, $146.50)

Each box comes with 20 cigars, and each size was limited to 1200 boxes, meaning 24,000 cigars per size and 72,000 total cigars. The packaging has also been updated to give it a distinctive look from the Gran Reserva #3 2008.

Blended by Rico, it uses a Jalapa Habano wrapper and binder from 2003 that was grown on his family’s La Santa Cruz farm in Nicaragua, while the filler is a mix of seven-year-old Nicaraguan Criollo and Habano ligeros and a varying amount of Corojo viso leaves  from La Santa Cruz and eight-year-old Colombian tobacco from their La Joya del Valle farm. The cigars were rolled over two years ago and have been aging since, which when combined with the aged tobacco gives the cigars a very rich, smooth and complex smoke, according to Rico.

The Gran Habano Gran Reserva #5 2010, also blended by Rico, shares many of the same tobaccos as the Gran Reserva #3 2009, but a different blend of tobaccos gives it a different flavor progression, starting floral and grassy before becoming more earthy and complex and finishing with a fuller body than the other cigars in the line. The wrapper is a 2005 Corojo leaf and the binder is a 2005 Habano leaf, both from the Jalapa valley in Nicaragua. The fillers are a mix of Habano ligero from Jalapa that was picked in 2004 and Habano ligero from Esteli that was harvested in 2003.

It too is available in three sizes, each coming in 20-count boxes.

• Corona Gorda (5 5/8 x 46) – $6.00 (Boxes of 20, $120.00)
• Gran Robusto (6 x 54) – $7.20 (Boxes of 20, $144.00)
• Imperial (6 x 60) – $7.60 (Boxes of 20, $152.00)

Additionally, at least two prominent online retailers are offering two additional vitolas in the Gran Reserva #5 2010:

• Czar (6 x 66) – $8.20 (Boxes of 20, $164.00)
• Grandioso (7 x 70) – $9.00 (Boxes of 20, $180.00)

Production on the Gran Reserva #5 2010 is also limited to 1200 boxes of each size. Rico was not immediately available for comment as to whether the Czar and Grandioso sizes are online exclusives or are available to all retailers.

Both of the new additions to the Gran Reserva line are being made at the company’s GR Tabaqueras Unidas factory in Danlí, Honduras.

UPDATE: George Rico said that the sizes are not exclusive to any particular retailers, though he did mention a special event-only size in this line but did not go into specifics. He also provided additional information on the blends for both cigars.