Cohiba Cigar

There is perhaps no brand name in the world more copied, counterfeited or fought over than the name Cohiba. Setting aside the problem of actual counterfeits, there are three 'legitimate' cigars you can get on many web sites that are called Cohibas. There are those that say that one, two or all three are not authentic and some are called counterfeits. So which is which?

To unravel the mystery, you have to go back to pre-revolutionary Cuba. At that time, a cigar was manufactured in Cuba by Cuban rollers, using Cuban tobaccos and blended by Cuban experts. That cigar called a Cohiba had an excellent reputation as a very strong and well made cigar. When Castro came to power and nationalized tobacco manufacturing, some of the leading experts, rollers and owners of patent rights left the country. They settled in many other countries including the US but the Dominican Republic acquired more than it's share of experts. That is where the problems began. The Cuban Cohiba brand continued to be manufactured in Cuba with less experienced rollers and without the experts that had blended the cigars in the past. In addition, the people that owned the copy rights to the name were now settled in the Dominican Republic.

Soon these immigrants began to do what they did best, grow tobacco and make cigars. They used the rollers and experts that came from Cuba but used Dominican or other tobaccos in their product after the US placed an embargo on Cuban products. The owners of the copy rights naturally started using the brand names they owned even though the product they produced was nothing like the product they had produced in Cuba. Through a series of purchases and mergers, the brand name Cohiba produced in the Dominican Republic was purchased by the General Cigar company. But in the confusion, some of the copy rights were not international copy rights but for specific countries. One such copy right was for cigars manufactured in the Domincan Republic for sale only in the Dominican Republic.

This led to a third brand that was called Cohiba but could only be sold in the Dominican. Some of these cigars were imported to the US under that name. They are manufactured at a factory called 'Montecristi' not to be confused with the brand name 'Montecristo'. Got all that straight? OK. When these cigars started coming into the US, General Cigar sought court action based on copy right infringement. They won the case but the judge ruled that any cigars that were already imported could be sold. No new imports, however, would be allowed. Of course, it is impossible to tell whether certain cigars were imported before or after the court order but there are legitimate cigars that can be purchased with name Cohiba that were manufactured in the Montecristi factory. So now we have three cigars you can purchase under the name of Cohiba. Here's how you tell the difference.

Cigars manufactured in Cuba have a yellow, black and white band. They say 'Cohiba' and have the words 'La Habana, Cuba' under the name. These words were added in the early 90s so should be present unless your buying very old cigars. The Dominican Republic cigars manufactured by General cigar have a completely different band. It is red, black and white with the 'o' in Cohiba filled in red, hence the name Cohiba red dots. The cigars manufactured at the Montecristi factory have a label that is yellow, black and white and similar to the Cuban band. The difference is the words 'La Habana, Cuba' are replaced with words 'Republica Dominicana'. These are commonly called yellow band Dominican Cohiba. So which are the Cohibas your friend said to try? My guess would be the red dots. Cuban Cohibas are, of course, illegal in the US and yellow band Dominican Cohibas by all accounts are not very good cigars. So what's the bottom line.

I have smoked the Cuban and the red dot Cohibas. Both are very good but totally different. They might as well be different brands. I prefer the red dots but that is a matter of taste. These two cigars are expensive and have limited availability. I have not tried the yellow band Dominican Cohibas but have seen them for sale on web sites at a lot less than the red dots. Friends have said they are not as good as the red dots but that's up to you. What you need to do when buying cigars on line is understand what you're buying. If they are advertised as Dominican Cohibas, ask if they are the red dot or yellow band and expect what you order. A second action you can take is to know the person you're buying from. Large legitimate vendors that sell Cuban cigars will only sell Cuban Cohibas. Large vendors that sell Dominican cigars will only sell either the red dots or the yellow bands, not both.

So which are the real Cohibas? In my way of thinking, the only true Cohibas are the pre-revolution cigars. Cigars made after that time under the name Cohiba where made with either different tobaccos or with different rolling and blending expertise. So as my grandmother used to say, 'Yous pays your money and yous makes your choice'.