Cuaba

Cuaba is a brand of resurrection. Launched in 1996, it takes up the double figurado, tapered at both ends, a style in fashion in the late nineteenth century that habanos.com says was revived a century later, in 1996, at the Romeo y Julieta factory. Wikipedia writes that Habanos launched it on 19 November 1996 in London, at Claridge's, and that figurados, popular in the early twentieth century, declined from the 1950s.

Habanos presents double figurados as the pinnacle of the cigar roller's art. Wikipedia writes that every Cuaba is hand-rolled by grade 7 rollers, the highest level of certification, and that the first ones, made without a mould, varied slightly in size, the moulds arriving only about a year later. The original sizes were Divinos, Tradicionales, Generosos and Exclusivos; Distinguido, Diadema and Salomón joined them in the regular portfolio in 2003, says habanos.com.

Habanos describes the brand as medium to full in strength, with a wrapper and filler from the Vuelta Abajo, in Pinar del Río.

The name is, says habanos.com, an Indian word from the time of Christopher Columbus for a highly combustible bush that was used to light cigars during religious ceremonies; the trade press sees in it a bush that the Taíno used to light their cigars.

Where is it rolled? In Cuba the question has a two-storey answer. Since 2002 each Habanos brand has had a mother factory, responsible for leaf selection and blend, and its cigars may be rolled in any of the island's few dozen factories under the mother's supervision; Habanos does not publish that map, the trade press reconstructs it. Its mother factory is La Corona — the Miguel Fernández Roig —, on 20 de Mayo Avenue, in Cerro, a former cigarette factory converted into a cigar factory in 2000, says the trade press (2011 and 2015), which names it as mother of Cuaba, Hoyo de Monterrey and Punch. In October 2026, the page The Habanos Brands Academia on habanos.com places Cuaba among the thirteen other brands of a portfolio of 27, outside the six global brands, the five value brands and the three volume brands. Habanos writes that the Cuaba style was revived in 1996 at the Romeo y Julieta factory, without naming a mother factory; Wikipedia writes that most Cuaba are made at the Briones Montoto factory, that of Romeo y Julieta, and the trade press places the mother factory at La Corona: both versions are given. Everything is hand-rolled with long filler.

Range Depth

• Salomones

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium-Full

  Salomón, which joined the regular portfolio in 2003 with Distinguido and Diadema, says habanos.com. Wikipedia describes it as a double perfecto of 184 mm with a cepo of 57 (Salomónes I).

  Salomón

• Divinos

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium

  One of the brand's four original sizes, with Tradicionales, Generosos and Exclusivos, says habanos.com. Wikipedia describes it as a small perfecto of 102 mm with a cepo of 43, named Petit Bouquet.

  Petit Bouquet

• Distinguidos and Diademas

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo

  Distinguido and Diadema have completed the regular range since 2003, says habanos.com. Wikipedia gives 162 mm with a cepo of 52 for the Distinguido and 232 mm with a cepo of 55 for the Diadema, a perfecto of very large size.

🥃 Pairings

• 12-year-old amber rum

  Spirits

  A pairing suggestion, with no page behind it, for a brand that Habanos describes as medium to full in strength.

• Strong espresso

  Coffee

  A pairing suggestion, with no page behind it, for one of the brand's double figurados.

👤 Associated figures

• The Taínos

  Cuaba is, says the trade press, the Taíno name of a bush that the island's inhabitants used to light their cigars; habanos.com sees in it an Indian word from the time of Christopher Columbus, a highly combustible bush used in religious ceremonies. The 1996 brand took the word back for double figurados.

• Carlos Izquierdo González

  Wikipedia names him as the creator of the brand, launched on 19 November 1996 in London; he is said to have modelled the blend on that of Montecristo, a claim the same page reports without confirming it.