The journal

Blog

Brand histories, vitola guides and the craft behind Cuban cigars.

What a vitola is, why every Cuban cigar has two size names, and how the main formats compare.

Latest articles

From Indigenous tobacco culture to the factories of nineteenth-century Havana, a concise history of how Cuban cigars earned their reputation.

Similar length, very different proportions: how the classic Corona compares with the popular Robusto.

An overview of the Cuban marques — the famous houses and the smaller names — with links to each brand in the catalogue.

The long, slender Laguito No. 1: what defines a Lancero and why the format has a devoted following.

Created in the 1960s and released to the public in the 1980s, Cohiba is a young marque with a well-told — and partly disputed — origin story.

Named after Winston Churchill, the Julieta No. 2 is a long format built for an unhurried smoke.

Founded in 1935 and reputedly named after a novel read aloud in Havana factories, Montecristo made numbered sizes famous.

Pointed at the head and harder to roll: the torpedo, the Pirámides size and the Montecristo No. 2.

From its 1875 founding to its long association with Winston Churchill, the story of one of Havana’s most recognisable marques.