Truly extraordinary cigars.
Cuban cigar brands have always made special productions for anniversaries, special retailers, even special customers. This changed when Cuba’s revolutionary government took control of the industry. Manufacturers suddenly had to ask permission before producing a new cigar. From the 1960s to the 1990s, only rarely would a limited edition cigar find its way to the market.
But then, after a flurry of releases in the late 1990’s (Cohiba 30th Anniversary, H. Upmann 150th Anniversary, Habanos 1994, and others), a new category of cigar was released, the Edición Limitada (EL). The concept behind EL was that the cigars would be based on current brands in the Habanos portfolio. But an Edición Limitada would be different in vitola and also in its wrapper. The first in the series were released in 2000. These are distinguished from the heard because the secondary gold and black ring does not list a year. It simply says, “Edición Limitada”. From 2001 until today, the gold and black band declared a year.
The second release of EL cigars was meant to be sold in 2001. But due to delays in Cuba, the cigars did not reach store shelves until well into 2002. This left Habanos with a difficult decision. They decided to skip 2002. But in 2003 they were ready to hit the market again with a set of EL cigars. Since then the cigars have been released every year. It has to be said though that the series seems to be released slightly later in the year with each coming year.
At the dawn of the new millennium, Cuba needed to resurrect its image. It had sold terrible cigars into the international markets over the preceding two or three years. Ediciónes Limitadas were the first foot across the line in a long walk to restoring their image.
Over time, the Edición Limitada program has created a handful of truly extraordinary cigars. Because these are limited in production it can be difficult to find prior year releases. So collectors must smoke the cigars when they first arrive on shelves and determine the number of boxes to buy at that point because in a year the next year’s cigars will be on the shelves.
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