Habanos SA has just introduced three new cigars, under the elite Cohiba brand, that was originally created for Fidel Castro in 1966 and only made more generally available in 1982. They were originally made in secret and under high security, for the President, to avoid sabotage as some of Castro's enemies had the idea of blowing his head off with an exploding cigar! Castro also gave these cigars to heads of state and, according to Simon Chase at Hunters & Frankau, the UK consignment used to end up with the Prince of Wales, who (being a non-smoker), often handed some on to disc-jockey and TV host, Sir Jimmy Saville. Presumably, now, the young Princes, who appear to smoke, will be on the bandwagon but, somehow, I doubt whether their courtiers will advise them to smoke big Havana cigars infront of the paparazzi, for fear of fomenting republican feeling. There has to be an irony in that. However, points to the Princes for smoking at all and, for doing it in public, they deserve a gold cigar case each.
'Cohiba' is the old Cuban word for 'cigar' as smoked by the Taino Tribe. The new range, called 'Behike', is named after the priest or medicine man who led the ritualized smoking of the tobacco leaves. The new cigars come in new vitolas (configurations) and include unique ring gauges (the cigar's diameter, measured in 1/64ths of an inch; although the lengths are measured in millimetres): 52 (119mm long), 54 (144mm long) and 56 (166 mm long). These cigars include the rare Medio Tiempo leaf which comes from the very top leaves of some sun-grown plants (and not all plants produce it). Of course, these cigars come at a premium price but they are held out as the best of the best, in terms of modern Havana cigar production.