IPCPR 2019 Spotlight: Gran Habano

When I look at Gran Habano, I immediately think of a company that produces high-quality cigars at a very fair market price. Over the years, Gran Habano has put together a very impressive portfolio of releases that many times have floated under the radar. This year saw a couple of new additions to an existing line and a new vitola added to one of the newer lines.

First up, there was a new line extension to Gran Habano’s Persian King line known as La Contra. The Persian King La Contra is a Nicaraguan puro available in a natural or maduro wrapper. Like the original Persian King, La Contra features Claro leaf twisted around the foot. La Contra is available in the same two sizes as the original Persian King: Rajah (6 x 50) and Tiger (6 x 60). Each is packaged in 50-count boxes. La Contra also has is a tobacco leaf that wraps the cigar itself.

The Persian King La Contra was announced prior to the IPCPR Trade Show. Prior to the IPCPR Trade Show, came word of a legal challenge was made by Leaf Cigars, which caused speculation about whether or not the La Contra would be displayed at IPCPR. Happily, it turned out the La Contra was there.

Last year, Gran Habano unveiled a new line called Blue in Green. It’s a cigar that featured a U.S. Connecticut Shade wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos. In recent years, the trend in the cigar industry has been to make bolder Connecticut Shade offerings, the Blue in Green was more old school positioned as a traditional mild to medium offering. The cigar was released in three sizes. This year, a fourth size was unveiled with the 6 x 44 Gran Corona. Production of the Blue in Green Grand Corona is slated for 1,000 20-count boxes.