Montecristo cigars

Montecristo is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in La Romana, Dominican Republic for the Franco-Spanish tobacco monopoly Altadis SA.

The Montecristo brand was created in 1935 by Menéndez, García y Cía,[citation needed] then the owners of the popular H. Upmann brand of cigars. Having just purchased the H. Upmann marque from J. Frankau & Co., Menéndez and García decided to produce their own subset of the regular H. Upmann line, called the H. Upmann Montecristo Selection.
The name for the brand was inspired by the Alexandre Dumas, père novel The Count of Monte Cristo, which was supposedly a very popular choice among the torcedores (cigar rollers) in their factory to have read by the lector on the rolling floor.
On the insistence of the John Hunter firm of Great Britain (which would later merge with J. Frankau & Co. to form Hunter & Frankau, Britain's sole importer of Cuban cigars to this day), the name was shortened to simply Montecristo and a new logo was designed for it: the yellow and red "crossed swords" logo the brand still bears today.
Through the efforts of Alfred Dunhill (the company), the Montecristo brand became incredibly popular worldwide and to this day accounts for roughly 50% of Habanos SA's worldwide cigar sales, making it the most popular Cuban cigar in the world. After the Cuban Revolution and the nationalization of the cigar industry in Cuba in 1961, Menéndez and García fled to the Canary Islands where they re-established the brand, but were later forced to quit due to copyright disputes with Cubatabaco. In the mid-1970s, the operation was moved to La Romana in the Dominican Republic and released for the US market, where Cuba's rights to the brand weren't recognized due to the embargo. Menéndez, García, y Cía is now owned by Altadis SA, who controls its distribution and marketing in the United States.
The original line had only five numbered sizes, with a tubed cigar added during the 1940s, but otherwise remained unchanged until after nationalization. With Menendez and Garcia gone after 1959, one of the top grade torcedores, José Manuel Gonzalez, was promoted to floor manager and proceeded to breathe new life into the brand. In the 1970s and 1980s, five new sizes were added: the A, the Especial No. 1 and 2, the Joyita, and the Petit Tubo. Three other sizes, the Montecristo No. 6, No. 7, and B, were released but subsequently discontinued, though the B can occasionally be found in very small releases each year in Cuba.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, Montecristo continued to rise in popularity among cigar smokers and firmly entrenched itself as one of Cuba's top selling cigar lines. The Montecristo No. 4 is, itself, the most popular cigar in the world market.
In 2004, another new edition to the regular line was made with the Edmundo, a large robusto-sized cigar, named for the hero of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès.
Montecristo is also regularly chosen to be featured in Habanos SA's annual Edición Limitada selection of cigars with a darker vintage wrapper and there are numerous limited edition releases of special Montecristo cigars for special occasions, anniversaries, the annual Habanos Festival, charities, etc.
In 2007, a cigar called the Edmundo Dantes Conde 109 was released as a part of Habanos' regional edition series. It uses a Montecristo blend and is believed to have a different name because of trademark right problems in Mexico.
Montecristo also produces three machine-made cigarillos: the Mini, the Club, and the Purito.

The following list of vitolas (sizes) within the Montecristo line lists their measurements in English and metric, their vitolas de galera (factory name), and their conventional name in American cigar slang.
Hand-Made Vitolas
No. 1 - 6 1/2" x 42 (165 x 16.67 mm) Cervantes, a lonsdale
No. 2 - 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo
No. 3 - 5 5/8" x 42 (142 x 16.67 mm) Corona, a corona
No. 4 - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
No. 5 - 4" x 40 (102 x 15.87 mm) Perla, a tres petit corona
A - 9 1/4" x 47 (235 x 18.65 mm) Gran Corona, a presidente or giant
Especial No. 1 - 7 1/2" x 38 (192 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 1, a long panetela
Especial No. 2 - 6" x 38 (152 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 2, a panetela
Joyita - 4 1/2" x 26 (115 x 10.32 mm) Laguito No. 3, a cigarillo
Tubo - 6 1/8" x 42 (155 x 16.67 mm) Corona Grande, a long corona
Petit Tubo - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
Edmundo - 5 3/8" x 52 (135 x 20.64 mm) Edmundo, a robusto
Petit Edmundo - 4 3/8" x 52 (135 x 20.64 mm) Petit Edmundo, a petit robusto
Edición Limitada Releases
Double Corona (2001) - 7 5/8" x 49 (194 x 19.45 mm) Prominente, a double corona
Robusto (2001) - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
C (2003) - 5 5/8" x 46 (143 x 18.26 mm) Corona Gorda, a toro
D (2005) - 6 3/4" x 43 (170 x 17.07 mm) Dalia, a lonsdale
Robusto (2006) - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
Regional Releases
Edmundo Dantes Conde 109 (2007) - 7 2/8" x 50 (184 x 19.84 mm) No. 109, a double corona
Special Releases
Millennium Reserve Robusto - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
B - 5 3/8" x 42 (135 x 16.67 mm) Cosaco, a corona

Raúl Castro

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (born June 3, 1931) is the President of the Cuban Council of State and the head of state of Cuba. The younger brother of Fidel Castro, he is also Second Secretary of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Commander in Chief (Maximum General) of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force).

On July 31, 2006, Raúl Castro assumed the duties of President of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power due to Fidel Castro's illness. According to the Cuban Constitution Article 94, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president.

Raúl Castro was elected President at the 24 February 2008, National Assembly session, as Fidel Castro had announced his intention not to stand for President again on 19 February 2008.

Son of Spanish immigrant Ángel Castro and Lina Ruz, a Cuban woman of Galician ancestry, Raúl is the youngest of the three Castro brothers. He also has four sisters, Angela, Juanita, Enma, and Agustina, and two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio, who were raised by Ángel Castro's first wife. Persistent rumors supported by former CIA analyst Brian Latell are taken to suggest that Batista army loyalist Felipe Miraval, nicknamed "el Chino" is Raúl's, but not Fidel's, father. As youngsters, the Castro brothers were expelled from the first school they attended. Like Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Colegio Belén in Havana. Raúl, as an undergraduate, studied social sciences. Whereas Fidel excelled as a student, Raúl's performance was mostly mediocre. Raúl was a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular (PSP). The brothers participated actively in sometimes violent student political actions. In 1953, Raúl was a member of the 26th of July Movement that attacked the Moncada Barracks, and he spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action. During his exile in Mexico, he participated in the preparations of the expedition of the ship Granma, embarking for Cuba on December 2, 1956.

It was during the period in Mexico that Raúl reportedly befriended Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Mexico City and brought him into Fidel's circle of revolutionaries. Raúl also established contact with Soviet KGB agent Nikolai Leonov, whom he had met two years earlier during a trip to the Soviet-bloc nations. That relationship would persist until the Castro brothers successfully assumed power in Cuba.

Raúl was one of the few survivors of the disastrous Granma landing. He was part of the tiny group of survivors who managed to reach a safe haven in the Sierra Maestra mountains (see the Cuban Revolution). As Fidel's brother and trusted right-hand man he was given progressively bigger commands. On February 27, 1958, Raúl was made comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank País Eastern Front."

As a result of Raúl's "Eastern Front" operations he was not involved in the pivotal Operation Verano (which came close to destroying the main body of fighters but ended up a spectacular victory for Fidel). However, Raúl's forces remained active and grew over time. By October 1958, after being reinforced by Fidel, the two brothers had about 2,000 fighters and they were operating freely throughout Oriente province. In December, while Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos were operating around Santa Clara, Fidel and Raúl's army laid siege to Maffo (capturing it on December 30th). Their victorious army then headed to Santiago de Cuba, the capital of Oriente province.

Thanks to the loss of Santa Clara, Batista fled Cuba on night of December 31-January 1. The two Castro brothers with their army arrived on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba and said their forces would storm the city at 6 PM January 1 if it did not first surrender. The commander (Colonel Rego Rubido) surrendered Santiago de Cuba without a fight. The war was over and Fidel was able to take power in Havana when he arrived on January 6, 1959.

Raúl's abilities as a military leader during the revolution are hard to see clearly. Unlike Che Guevara or Cienfuegos, Raúl had no significant victories he could claim credit for on his own. The last operations (which were clearly successful) were conducted with his older brother Fidel present (and in command).

After Batista's fall, Raúl was responsible for overseeing the summary execution of "scores" of soldiers loyal to deposed president Fulgencio Batista.

Raúl Castro Ruz was a member of the National Leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary PO Organizations (established July 1961; dissolved March 1962) and of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (established March 1962; dissolved October 1965). He has been a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Second Secretary of its Politburo since the Party's formation in October 1965; also, the First Vice President of the Cuban Council of State, of the National Assembly of the Popular Power and of the Council of Ministers since these were created in 1976. He was appointed Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces when the Ministry was founded in October 1959 and served in that capacity until February 2008; he is also the nation's highest ranking general. Castro is credited with persuading his older brother to implement agricultural market reforms in the early 1990s which increased the food supply, after the Soviet Union fell and its generous subsidies to Cuba stopped.

On July 31, 2006, Fidel Castro's personal secretary Carlos Valenciaga announced on state-run television that Fidel Castro would provisionally hand over the duties of President of the Council of State of Cuba, First Secretary of the Communist Party and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to Raúl Castro while Fidel underwent and recovered from intestinal surgery to repair gastrointestinal bleeding.

Many commentators consider Raúl Castro to be a political hardliner who will maintain the Communist Party of Cuba's political power at all costs. However, there are others who believe that he is more pragmatic than his older brother and more willing to institute free market-oriented economic policies. It is speculated that he favours a variant of the current Chinese political and economic model for Cuba in the hopes of preserving some elements of the socialist system. However, none of these speculations has ever been confirmed by Raúl himself.

Several commentators, including some writers on the The Wall Street Journal, call Castro "uncharismatic and widely feared," with a "cold efficien[t]" style. He is accused of the persecution of dissidents and homosexuals. Additionally, some have speculated about Raúl's ill health, specifically alcoholism, raising doubts about his future leadership.

Raúl, considered much less charismatic than his brother Fidel Castro, has remained largely out of public view during the transfer of duty period. His few public appearances included hosting a gathering of leaders of the Non-Aligned nations in September 2006, and leading the national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing, which also became Fidel's belated 80th birthday celebrations.

In a speech to university students, Raúl stated that a communist system in Cuba would remain, and that "Fidel is irreplaceable, unless we all replace him together."

On May 1, 2007, Raúl presided over the May Day celebrations in Havana. According to Granma the crowd reached over one million participants, with delegations from over 225 organizations and 52 countries.

While Fidel Castro historically mesmerized his countrymen with dramatic, extemporaneous speeches stretching over hours, brother Raúl is known for his businesslike, unanimated delivery, rarely bothering to look up from prepared texts. So Raúl offers, after the resignation of his brother Fidel, announced February 19, 2008, a quieter Castro voice.

On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly elected Raúl president of Cuba. Raúl delivered his inaugural address shortly afterward.

Taking his brother's place as President of Cuba in February 2008, Raúl Castro's government has been carrying out many changes. Unlike his brother, Raúl Castro has, among others things, allowed ordinary citizens to buy DVD-players, PC's, scooters and other energy-consuming products. He has also signed two United Nations human rights agreements, given unused state land for farming, freed many prisoners and loosened up travel restrictions for Cubans.

A few weeks after the 1959 victory, Castro married Vilma Espín Guillois, a former MIT chemical engineering student and veteran of the revolution who in 1960 became president of the Cuban Federation of Women. They have three daughters (Déborah, Mariela and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro). Their daughter Mariela currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education. Vilma Espín died on June 18, 2007, a daughter and some relatives of Raúl are believed to reside in Italy.

In an interview in 2006, following his assumption of presidential duties, Raúl Castro commented on his public profile stating: "I am not used to making frequent appearances in public, except at times when it is required … I have always been discreet, that is my way, and in passing I will clarify that I am thinking of continuing in that way."

Camagüey

Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city (founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe around 1515 on the northern coast) was moved inland in 1528. The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made it easier to defend it from any raiders. There are many blind alleys and forked streets that lead to squares of different sizes. There is only one exit from the city; should pirates ever return and succeed in entering the city, the hope was that the local inhabitants would be able to entrap and kill them.

The symbol of the city of Camagüey is the clay pot or tinajón, used to capture rain water to be used later, keeping it fresh. Clay pots are literally everywhere, some as small as a hand, some large enough for two people to stand up in, either as monuments or for real use. Local legend has it that if you drink water from a girl's personal tinajón, you will fall in love with the girl and never leave her.The main secondary education institutions are the University of Camagüey & the Instituto Pedagójico de Camagüey.

In 2004, the municipality of Camagüey had a population of 324,921. With a total area of 1,106 km² (427 sq mi), it has a population density of 293.8/km² (760.9/sq mi).

Camagüey is the birthplace of Ignacio Agramonte (1841), an important figure of the Ten Years' War against Spain in 1868–1878. Agramonte drafted the first Cuban Constitution in 1869, and later, as a Major General, formed the fearsome Camagüey cavalry corps that had the Spaniards on the run. He died in combat in May 11, 1873; his body was burned in the city because the Spanish feared the rebels would attack the city to recover his body.

The outline of Ignacio Agramonte's horseback statue in the Park that bears his name is a symbol of Camagüey. It was set there in 1911, uncovered by his widow, Amalia Simoni.

The Plaza of the Revolution features a bronze Agramonte standing followed by his troops.

The city is also the birthplace of the Cuban national poet Nicolás Guillén.

Camagüey is also the hometown of volleyball player Mireya LuisThe old city layout resembles a real maze, with narrow, short streets always turning in a direction or another. After Henry Morgan burned the city in the 17th century, it was designed like a maze so attackers would find it hard to move around inside the city.

Camagüey has its own international airport, Ignacio Agramonte International Airport. Most tourists going or leaving to the Beach of Santa Lucía do so through the airport.

Although it is not the only grammar school in the City, The Preuniversitario or sometimes called "vocational school" IPVCE - Preuniversitario Institute of Sciences Maximo Gomez Baez, is the largest of its kind in the province of Camaguey.

To become part of their enrolment must conduct a college entrance exam to complete the preparation of the Basic Secondary Education, (7 th to 9 th grade).

During the 3 years following receive intensive preparation for the next test of entry to University.

The center is so extensive that receives the category of city school.

Their students, during the period of 3 years (10th to 12th grade), are influenced not only in academia but rather create bonds of brotherhood that accompany a lifetime.

This centre is homologous to other existing in the rest of the country's provinces, and certainly forms bonds of friendship that endures for a lifetime, but on the other hand, separate the formation of a teenager in the family.

In Camagüey (city), for example there are very few possibilities of making high school from externally. With the exception of several schools for athletes (such as ESPA, EIDE & Manuel Fajardo) and The School of Art, and the Military School (better known as Camilitos) the only other option is the IPVCE or pre-university in Sierra de Cubitas (over 100 km from the city), located in the country site, in which students must perform agricultural work such as collecting oranges.

In November 2007 opens IPVCE.org, website dedicated to collecting and alumni of this institution purports to be the meeting point of all vocational transiting through the network.

Hoyo de Monterrey cigars

Hoyo de Monterrey is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in Honduras for General Cigar.

In 1831, Don José Gener y Batet emigrated to Cuba from Spain at the age of thirteen, where he worked on his uncle's plantation in Vuelta Abajo. Twenty years later, he would open his own cigar factory in Havana and begin producing his own cigar line, La Escepción. In 1865, after using his factory's profits to acquire one of the best tobacco farms in Vuelta Abajo, he registered a cigar line named for it: Hoyo de Monterrey.

Literally translating from Spanish to English as "the hole of Monterrey" in reference to the concave terrain favored by growers of premium tobacco, the brand became incredibly popular, especially in the British market, and José Gener's factory subsequently became one of the largest factories in Cuba. In 1900, Gener died in Spain and his daughter Lutgarda Gener took over the business and it would stay in the family for another thirty years.

In 1931, the Gener family sold their cigar brands in order to focus more on their sugar cane properties. The firm of Fernández, Palicio y Cía bought the Hoyo de Monterrey and La Escepción brands and added them to their impressive lineup, which already included Punch and Belinda. Around this time in the 1940s, the Le Hoyo series (along with the Chateaux series which would later be used to create the Davidoff cigar line) was created for Swiss distributor A Dürr Co.. After the death of partner Ramón Fernández, Fernando Palicio became sole proprietor of the business and by 1958 his cigar lines accounted for 13% of all Havana cigar exports.

After the government of Cuba expropriated the company from its owners, Fernando Palicio fled Cuba for Florida, where he subsequently sold his cigar lines to the Villazon family, which continued to make Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and Belinda cigars in their Tampa, Florida factory from Honduran tobacco for the American market.

Hoyo de Monterrey continued production in Cuba and in Honduras and is still a popular, globally-marketed Cuban cigar line. Among connoisseurs, the Épicure No. 2, Double Coronas, and Le Hoyo series are particularly prized.

Being a globally-marketed brand, Hoyo de Monterrey has been chosen for Habanos' annual Edición Limitada releases since 2000. Of interesting note is the Particular, which had some production problems during the first Edición Limitada lineup in 2000 with few of the cigars getting out to vendors. This prompted Habanos to release it again the next year, the only Edición Limitada cigar so far to have had this happen. In 2004, a new size was added to the Hoyo de Monterrey line, the Petit Robusto, which also wore a slightly-redesigned Hoyo de Monterrey cigar band.

Hoyo de Monterrey also produces two machine-made cigarillos: the Mini and the Midi.

The following list of vitolas (sizes) within the Hoyo de Monterrey line lists their measurements in English and metric, their vitolas de galera (factory name), and their conventional name in American cigar slang.

Hand-Made Vitolas

• Double Corona - 7 5/8" x 49 (194 x 19.45 mm) Prominente, a double corona
• Churchill - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm) Julieta, a churchill
• Épicure No. 1 - 5 5/8" x 46 (143 x 18.26 mm) Corona Gorda, a toro
• Épicure No. 2 - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
• Petit Robusto - 4 1/8" x 50 (102 x 19.84 mm) Petit Robusto, a petit robusto
• Hoyo Corona - 5 5/8" x 42 (142 x 16.67 mm) Corona, a corona
• Short Hoyo Corona - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona

Machine-Made and Hand-Finished Vitolas

• Palma Extra - 5 1/2" x 40 (140 x 15.87 mm) Crema, a corona
• Coronation - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Petit Corona, a petit corona

The Le Hoyo Series

• Le Hoyo des Dieux - 6 1/8" x 42 (155 x 16.67 mm) Corona Grande, a long corona
• Le Hoyo du Député - 4 3/8" x 38 (110 x 15.08 mm) Trabuco, a short panetela
• Le Hoyo du Gourmet - 6 3/4" x 33 (170 x 13.10 mm) Palma, a slim panetela
• Le Hoyo du Maire - 3 7/8" x 30 (100 x 11.91 mm) Entreacto, a small panetela
• Le Hoyo du Prince - 5 1/8" x 40 (130 x 15.87 mm) Almuerzo, a petit corona
• Le Hoyo du Roi - 5 5/8" x 42 (142 x 16.67 mm) Corona, a corona

Edición Limitada Releases

• Particular (2000 and 2001) - 9 1/4" x 47 (235 x 18.65 mm) Gran Corona, a presidente or giant
• Pirámide (2003)- 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo
• Épicure Especial (2004) - 5 1/2" x 50 (141 x 19.84 mm) Gordito, a robusto extra
• Regalos (2007) - 5 1/3" x 56 Coronas Extra, a grand corona

Cohiba cigars

Cohíba is a brand for two kinds of premium cigar, one produced in Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic for General Cigar. The name cohíba derives from the Taino word for "tobacco". The Cuban brand is filled with top-quality tobacco which, unique to Cohiba, has undergone an extra fermentation process; it is a type as well as a brand.

Cohíba was originally a private brand supplied exclusively to Fidel Castro and high level Cuban government and communist party officials. Often given as diplomatic gifts, the Cohíba brand gradually developed a "cult" status. It was released commercially for sale to the public in 1982.

Cuban Cohíbas are known to use some of the finest cigar tobacco available in Cuba. The tobacco for Cohíba is selected from the finest Vegas Finas de Primera (first-class tobacco fields) in da San Luis & San Juan y Martinez zones of the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río Province. The tobacco used to fill the cigars is unique among Cuban marques because it undergoes a third fermentation process in barrels, which is reputed to give it a smoother flavor than other cigars. Originally all Cohíbas were made at the El Laguito factory, a converted mansion located on the outskirts of Havana. Later, production of some Cohiba vitolas was expanded to other factories.

The flavour of these cigars tends towards medium to full-bodied.

Cohíba began with the cigars smoked by a bodyguard of Fidel Castro's named Bienvenido "Chicho" Perez. Castro noticed he often smoked a "very aromatic, very nice" cigar. When asked by Castro what brand he smoked, he replied that it was rolled by a friend of his who would give him some of these special cigars as gifts.

The man in question was a cigar roller working at the La Corona factory in Havana named Eduardo Rivera. Castro approached Rivera about rolling cigars for him personally and set him up with five other rollers in a former diplomatic mansion in a suburb of Havana known as El Laguito (Spanish for "the little lake"). Later, the factory became the first cigar factory to be staffed entirely by women torcedoras (cigar rollers). Historically, security at the factory was tightly regulated, with only designated officials and workers allowed entry into the most critical work areas of the factory.

The cigars were reserved for Castro and other high-ranking Cuban officials, and were often presented to foreign dignitaries as gifts. Additionally, with rumors and fears of a CIA assassination attempt running rampant, it made sense for Castro to smoke only cigars that were manufactured under extremely secure and secretive conditions. (The CIA had allegedly contemplated using exploding cigars as a means of assassinating Castro). Castro himself is said to be particularly fond of the long, thin cigars rolled for him, especially the sizes that would become the Lancero and Corona Especial.

Castro decided to release his personal cigars as a premium cigar brand for public consumption when the 1982 World Cup was held in Spain. When first launched in 1982 the Cohíba marque consisted of three vitolas or sizes: the Panetela, the Corona Especial, and the Lancero. In 1989 three more vitolas, the Robusto, the Exquisito, and the Espléndido, were added; the six are referred to as the Línea Clásica (classic line).

In 1992 Habanos SA launched the first sizes in what it calls the Línea 1492, commemorating Christopher Columbus and his voyage to the Americas, with each size named for a century since Columbus' discovery. The initial launch included the Siglo I, Siglo II, Siglo III, Siglo IV, and Siglo V, with a Siglo VI added in 2002. A long-standing rumor is that the original Línea 1492 was a replacement for the Davidoff marque that recently ceased production in Cuba (each of the first five "Siglos" corresponded to a size in the Davidoff line-up).

Besides regular production, Habanos SA regularly releases limited release Cohíba cigars for such events as the annual Habanos Festival, brand anniversaries, and their annual Edición Limitada (limited edition) release of special sizes of their various cigar brands wrapped in a darker vintage leaf. In 2007, Habanos released a new line of maduro-wrapped Cohibas, called "Maduro 5," in three sizes.

Cohíba also produces two machine-made cigarillos: the Mini and the Club.

Habanos SA have used their Cohiba brand name for non-cigar products, manufacturing Cohiba cigarettes since 1987 and Extra Cohiba Cognac since 1999.

As of late 2006 Cohíba had released three different Edición Limitada Cohíbas: the Pirámide released in 2001 and re-released in 2006, the Double Corona in 2003, and the Sublime in 2004.

The following list of the Cohíba marque includes the size in inches and ring gauge with metric in parenthesis. Also, the vitola de galera or factory name of that size is included along with its popular size name in American cigar vocabulary.

La Línea Clásica

• Lancero - 7 1/2" x 38 (192 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 1, a long panetela
• Corona Especial - 6" x 38 (152 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 2, a panetela
• Panetela - 4 1/2" x 26 (115 x 10.32 mm) Laguito No. 3, a cigarillo
• Exquisito - 4 7/8" x 36 (125 x 14.29 mm) Seoane, a cigarillo
• Robusto - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
• Espléndido - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm) Julieta, a churchill

La Línea 1492

• Siglo I - 4" x 40 (102 x 15.87 mm) Perla, a tres petit corona
• Siglo II - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
• Siglo III - 6 1/8" x 42 (155 x 16.67 mm) Corona Grande, a long corona
• Siglo IV - 5 5/8" x 46 (143 x 18.26 mm) Corona Gorda, a corona gorda
• Siglo V - 6 3/4" x 43 (170 x 17.07 mm) Dalia, a lonsdale
• Siglo VI - 5 7/8" x 52 (150 x 20.64 mm) Cañonazo, a toro

Maduro 5

• Secretos - 4 1/2 x 40 (110 x 15.87 mm) Reyes, a tres petit corona
• Magicos - 4 1/2" x 52 (115 x 20.64 mm) Magicos, a robusto or rothschild
• Genios - 5 1/2 x 52 (140 X 20.64 mm) Estupendos, a robusto extra

Edición Limitada Releases

• Pirámide (2001) - 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo
• Double Corona (2003) - 7 5/8" x 49 (194 x 19.45 mm) Prominente, a double corona
• Sublime (2004) - 6 1/2" x 54 (164 x 21.43 mm) Sublime, a large toro
• Pirámide (2006) - 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo; a remake of the 2001 EL

Special Releases

• Millennium Reserve Pirámide - 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo
• Behike - 7 1/2" x 52 (192 x 20 mm) Behike, a double robusto

Natural resources

The most important Cuban mineral economic resource is nickel. Cuba has the second largest nickel reserves in the world after Russia. Sherritt International, a Canadian energy company, operates a large nickel mining facility in Moa, Cuba. Another leading mineral resource is cobalt, a byproduct of nickel mining operations. Cuba ranks as the fifth largest producer of refined cobalt in the world.

Recent oil exploration has revealed that the North Cuba Basin could produce approximately 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m³) to 9.3 billion barrels (1,480,000,000 m³) of oil. As of 2006, Cuba has now started to test-drill these locations for possible exploitation.