I never knew the Exquisitos was invented for the president of Tabacalera, interesting how they kept Seoane as the factory name for the size.
http://www.graycliff.com/index.php?option=...&Itemid=225
MARVIN SHANKEN'S CIGAR INSIDER - FEBRUARY 1998
THE GODFATHER OF COHIBA - AVELINO LARA, GRAYCLIFF CIGAR COMPANY
Interview with Cigar Insider Editor David Savona
Cohiba is the world's most prestigious cigar brand. Created in 1966 in Havana, the cigars were once available only as gifts to the elite and treasured friends of Cuba. They were made in a new factory called El Laguito; a former cigar school that also made the personal cigars for Cuban president Fidel Castro.
The man mainly responsible for overseeing the production of these special cigars was Avelino Lara, the key manager of El Laguito. Lara, who now supervises the blend and manufacture of Graycliff cigars at Enrico Garzaroli's factory in The Bahamas, visited New York City in December 1997. In a wide-ranging discussion with senior editor David Savona, Lara shared his insights on the creation of Cohiba and shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding the brand's origin.
CI: Take us back to the creation of the cohiba brand. How did people get them?
LARA: The cigars were given as gifts since 1968, to presidents and prime ministers. They were first sold only in Cuba, and in 1982 the brand was launched commercially in Madrid.
CI: Did the cigars have the same band and logo that they have now?
LARA: No. In 1975, I modified the old labels. I didn't like them. They were almost totally black.
CI: And prior to 1982, where in Cuba were the Cohiba cigars sold?
LARA: You could buy them at a shop in the harbor, and at the smoking room next to the H. Upmann factory. There they authorized sales to foreigners.
CI: How many cigars were you making?
LARA: The maximum production would be 22 gifts per month. One box of 100 cigars, plus 25 cigars would be one gift. So around 30,000 cigars per year total.
CI: Did Castro give away the gifts personally, or did others?
LARA: Ministers of Fidel gave the gifts, but everything was authorized by him. It was always a gift by Fidel to these personalities, but it was given through one of his ministers.
CI: And Fidel also smoked cohiba cigars?
LARA: N0. A lot of people thought he was smoking Cohibas, but in reality Fidel was smoking a super blend made at El Laguito, a reserve cigar. They called them Especiales in the factory The best of the best were only for Fidel.
CI: And what was that cigar like? Was it very strong?
LARA: No, the cigar was made with a very aromatic tobacco. Principally, it was a very special selection, especially in the wrapper, the seco and the ligero. (Editor's note: Ligero is the strongest type of filler tobacco used in the manufacture of cigars; seco is the next strongest.) I was fermenting the tobacco for his cigars separately, and keeping them in a separate place altogether. And then the cigar roller worked under a special security check. Fidel gave that special cigar to all his closest friends. It was like a prize.
CI: What about Che Guevara? Did he smoke that as well?
LARA: No. Che Guevara didn't even know the Cohiba factory. When Che left Cuba, the factory was not even a Cohiba factory.
CI: Che is often given credit for helping create Cohiba.
LARA: That is a lot of fantasy. Che was gone.
CI: What size of cigar did Fidel prefer?
LARA: He smoked panetelas and lanceros. Special cigars were made for Fidel, and for Jose Manuel Perez Seoane, the president of Tabacalera S.A. He got the same cigars that Fidel got, but he had paralysis of the mouth, and he could not hold large cigars in his mouth. So in 1982 we created a very spicy and very small cigar, smaller but still strong. That was the Cohiba Exquisito and that's what Fidel began smoking.
CI: What do you think of the Dominican Cohiba cigar?
LARA: I don't know what they have in mind, but I know for sure they are using the name, and the cigar is not the same at all And for sure, they don't have the character of Cuban cigars.
CI: Let's go on to another subject. Tell me about Davidoff Cuban cigars, El Laguito made Davidoffs as well as Cohibas, right?
LARA: Yes. And the Davidoff cigars accounted for most of the production.
CI: Now, the Cohiba Siglo line of cigars came out soon after Davidoff production ceased in Cuba, and the sizes are very similar. Are Cohiba Siglos the same cigar as Cuban Davidoffs?
LARA: No. They are different. Only the sizes are the same.
CI: Tell me about the blend for Cohiba. What tobaccos were you using to make those cigars?
LARA: For Cohiba, we were not using wrapper tobacco from Pinar del Rio. We were using a wrapper grown outside of Havana, in San Antonio del Robainos. The inside was tobacco from Rio Seco.
CI: What a minute. The tobacco in Cohiba cigars didn't come from the Vuelta Abajo?
LARA: No. And I left Cuba because at the beginning of 1993, they stopped letting me choose my own ligero. I had a one-and-a-half year supply left. I couldn't choose my leaves anymore.
CI: You used to be able to pick what you wanted?
LARA: Yes. I could make sure that the leaves I were selecting were the very special leaves. Now I don't know.
CI: Who stopped you from doing that? Habanos?
LARA: No, it was the Ministry of Agriculture.
CI: So after they stopped you from selecting your ligero, you could no longer make Cohiba cigars the way you wanted to make Cohiba, and you left.
LARA: Yes.
CI: Was it difficult for you to leave Cuba? Wasn't Habanos upset?
LARA: Some fellows tried to get me to stay. I asked for the permit to retire, and they never gave me an answer. They never accepted my resignation.
CI: Let's go back for a moment. Tell me about what happened with that special tobacco that was used to make Fidel's cigars.
LARA: When I would get the ligero tobacco for Cohiba, I would open it up and go through it leaf by leaf. And my workers would put aside the leaves they felt were special. I used these for Fidel's cigars.
CI: What were you looking for in the leaves?
LARA: I was not selecting the leaf because of the color, but the grease, the fat content and the thickness.
CI: The oil
LARA: Yes, but when it is too oily, it is no good. Then it does not become elegant.
CI: And we're talking about the ligero now?
LARA: Yes. The is the heart of the tobacco, It gives you 50 percent of the flavor of the cigar.
CI: So the wrapper for Cohiba wasn't so special?
LARA: No, you're wrong. The wrapper was grown in Ariguanabo. Now Vuelta Abajo grows the best tobacco in Cuba overall, but the wrapper coming from Ariguanabo has a very special quality. They are very thin, very oily and very shiny leaves. They burn very well, and you can work them well.
CI: Does the wrapper still come from there?
LARA: I think it might. It is the queen of all the wrappers. They would be stupid to change my recipe.
MARVIN SHANKEN'S CIGAR INSIDER - FEBRUARY 1998
http://www.graycliff.com/index.php?option=...&Itemid=225
MARVIN SHANKEN'S CIGAR INSIDER - FEBRUARY 1998
THE GODFATHER OF COHIBA - AVELINO LARA, GRAYCLIFF CIGAR COMPANY
Interview with Cigar Insider Editor David Savona
Cohiba is the world's most prestigious cigar brand. Created in 1966 in Havana, the cigars were once available only as gifts to the elite and treasured friends of Cuba. They were made in a new factory called El Laguito; a former cigar school that also made the personal cigars for Cuban president Fidel Castro.
The man mainly responsible for overseeing the production of these special cigars was Avelino Lara, the key manager of El Laguito. Lara, who now supervises the blend and manufacture of Graycliff cigars at Enrico Garzaroli's factory in The Bahamas, visited New York City in December 1997. In a wide-ranging discussion with senior editor David Savona, Lara shared his insights on the creation of Cohiba and shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding the brand's origin.
CI: Take us back to the creation of the cohiba brand. How did people get them?
LARA: The cigars were given as gifts since 1968, to presidents and prime ministers. They were first sold only in Cuba, and in 1982 the brand was launched commercially in Madrid.
CI: Did the cigars have the same band and logo that they have now?
LARA: No. In 1975, I modified the old labels. I didn't like them. They were almost totally black.
CI: And prior to 1982, where in Cuba were the Cohiba cigars sold?
LARA: You could buy them at a shop in the harbor, and at the smoking room next to the H. Upmann factory. There they authorized sales to foreigners.
CI: How many cigars were you making?
LARA: The maximum production would be 22 gifts per month. One box of 100 cigars, plus 25 cigars would be one gift. So around 30,000 cigars per year total.
CI: Did Castro give away the gifts personally, or did others?
LARA: Ministers of Fidel gave the gifts, but everything was authorized by him. It was always a gift by Fidel to these personalities, but it was given through one of his ministers.
CI: And Fidel also smoked cohiba cigars?
LARA: N0. A lot of people thought he was smoking Cohibas, but in reality Fidel was smoking a super blend made at El Laguito, a reserve cigar. They called them Especiales in the factory The best of the best were only for Fidel.
CI: And what was that cigar like? Was it very strong?
LARA: No, the cigar was made with a very aromatic tobacco. Principally, it was a very special selection, especially in the wrapper, the seco and the ligero. (Editor's note: Ligero is the strongest type of filler tobacco used in the manufacture of cigars; seco is the next strongest.) I was fermenting the tobacco for his cigars separately, and keeping them in a separate place altogether. And then the cigar roller worked under a special security check. Fidel gave that special cigar to all his closest friends. It was like a prize.
CI: What about Che Guevara? Did he smoke that as well?
LARA: No. Che Guevara didn't even know the Cohiba factory. When Che left Cuba, the factory was not even a Cohiba factory.
CI: Che is often given credit for helping create Cohiba.
LARA: That is a lot of fantasy. Che was gone.
CI: What size of cigar did Fidel prefer?
LARA: He smoked panetelas and lanceros. Special cigars were made for Fidel, and for Jose Manuel Perez Seoane, the president of Tabacalera S.A. He got the same cigars that Fidel got, but he had paralysis of the mouth, and he could not hold large cigars in his mouth. So in 1982 we created a very spicy and very small cigar, smaller but still strong. That was the Cohiba Exquisito and that's what Fidel began smoking.
CI: What do you think of the Dominican Cohiba cigar?
LARA: I don't know what they have in mind, but I know for sure they are using the name, and the cigar is not the same at all And for sure, they don't have the character of Cuban cigars.
CI: Let's go on to another subject. Tell me about Davidoff Cuban cigars, El Laguito made Davidoffs as well as Cohibas, right?
LARA: Yes. And the Davidoff cigars accounted for most of the production.
CI: Now, the Cohiba Siglo line of cigars came out soon after Davidoff production ceased in Cuba, and the sizes are very similar. Are Cohiba Siglos the same cigar as Cuban Davidoffs?
LARA: No. They are different. Only the sizes are the same.
CI: Tell me about the blend for Cohiba. What tobaccos were you using to make those cigars?
LARA: For Cohiba, we were not using wrapper tobacco from Pinar del Rio. We were using a wrapper grown outside of Havana, in San Antonio del Robainos. The inside was tobacco from Rio Seco.
CI: What a minute. The tobacco in Cohiba cigars didn't come from the Vuelta Abajo?
LARA: No. And I left Cuba because at the beginning of 1993, they stopped letting me choose my own ligero. I had a one-and-a-half year supply left. I couldn't choose my leaves anymore.
CI: You used to be able to pick what you wanted?
LARA: Yes. I could make sure that the leaves I were selecting were the very special leaves. Now I don't know.
CI: Who stopped you from doing that? Habanos?
LARA: No, it was the Ministry of Agriculture.
CI: So after they stopped you from selecting your ligero, you could no longer make Cohiba cigars the way you wanted to make Cohiba, and you left.
LARA: Yes.
CI: Was it difficult for you to leave Cuba? Wasn't Habanos upset?
LARA: Some fellows tried to get me to stay. I asked for the permit to retire, and they never gave me an answer. They never accepted my resignation.
CI: Let's go back for a moment. Tell me about what happened with that special tobacco that was used to make Fidel's cigars.
LARA: When I would get the ligero tobacco for Cohiba, I would open it up and go through it leaf by leaf. And my workers would put aside the leaves they felt were special. I used these for Fidel's cigars.
CI: What were you looking for in the leaves?
LARA: I was not selecting the leaf because of the color, but the grease, the fat content and the thickness.
CI: The oil
LARA: Yes, but when it is too oily, it is no good. Then it does not become elegant.
CI: And we're talking about the ligero now?
LARA: Yes. The is the heart of the tobacco, It gives you 50 percent of the flavor of the cigar.
CI: So the wrapper for Cohiba wasn't so special?
LARA: No, you're wrong. The wrapper was grown in Ariguanabo. Now Vuelta Abajo grows the best tobacco in Cuba overall, but the wrapper coming from Ariguanabo has a very special quality. They are very thin, very oily and very shiny leaves. They burn very well, and you can work them well.
CI: Does the wrapper still come from there?
LARA: I think it might. It is the queen of all the wrappers. They would be stupid to change my recipe.
MARVIN SHANKEN'S CIGAR INSIDER - FEBRUARY 1998
