For PCA 2025, La Gloria Cubana turned to an old friend for its signature release. For the past couple of years, we have seen La Gloria Cubana work with some experimental tobaccos and a crowd-sourced project. At the same time, La Gloria Cubana has been a brand looking to reconnect with its roots. First, there was the La Gloria Cubana Eighth Street, which saw La Gloria Cubana return to making a cigar in Little Havana for the first time since Ernesto Perez-Carrillo owned the brand. La Gloria Cubana now turns to Ernesto for an all-new regular production line called Los Gloriosos. This cigar was shown off at the Forged Cigar Company booth at PCA 2025.
When Ernesto Perez-Carrillo sold El Credito to Swedish Match in 1999, he remained with the La Gloria Cubana brand for another decade before founding E.P. Carrillo. Since then, he has had two reunions with the La Gloria Cubana brand: Re+United and Colección Reserva. Both of those are limited editions. This time, Los Gloriosos is a regular production offering.
Blend-wise, Los Gloriosos features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and a mix of Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. It comes in three sizes: Toro, Gigante, and Grandioso – each in 20-count boxes. Like the two previous reunion projects, Perez-Carrillo produced the cigars at his (Casa Carrillo) factory. Pricing comes in between $8.99 and $10.99 per cigar. The cigars were shipped shortly after PCA 2025.
The key to successful collaboration is to have the main contributors actively involved. Although Ernesto couldn’t be physically present at the booth, La Gloria Cubana utilized video footage featuring him at the trade show. Additionally, a humidor signed by Ernesto was raffled off each day for retailers visiting La Gloria Cubana at PCA 2025.
Interview with Cory Beardsley, Forged Cigar Company
