H. Upmann

Herman Upmann, a German banker, settled in Havana, founded a bank and a Habanos factory there, then saw the bank close while the brand outlasted it: such is the account on habanos.com. The two versions of its page diverge on the dates: the English one places the settling in 1844, the Spanish one in 1840 and dates only the founding of the bank and the factory to 1844; in its press releases, Habanos dates the birth of the brand to 1844. Wikipedia has him arrive in 1843 for a Bremen firm, Gravenhorst & Co., and places the beginnings of the brand in 1844.

Wikipedia writes that he is sometimes credited with the idea of packing cigars in cedar boxes; Holt's, a retailer, writes that he gave cigars in such boxes to the customers of his bank. The aluminium tube dates from a much later period: according to Simply Cigars, a British retailer, J. Frankau, the brand's London distributor since the 1850s, worked on it with Waldo Braden in 1932-1933 and launched the first H. Upmann in tubes in December 1933.

The gold medals that adorn the box were won at no fewer than eleven international fairs in the nineteenth century, says habanos.com; Havana's city portal counts twelve, from 1855 to 1907, and adds that the factory supplied King Alfonso XII of Spain. Wikipedia and Holt's place the failure of the bank and of the business in 1922. J. Frankau & Co., its agent in London, then bought the brand and the factory: at auction in 1922 according to Wikipedia, in 1925 according to Simply Cigars, which sees Otto Braden, of Braden & Stark, in the purchase. Alonso Menéndez and José García, already behind Montecristo, then acquired H. Upmann: in 1935 according to Holt's, in 1936 according to the trade press (2004), in 1937 according to the trade press (2013 and 2014) and Wikipedia.

Menéndez and García had H. Upmann rolled until the nationalisation of the Cuban tobacco industry, in September 1960 according to Wikipedia; Havana's city portal says the factory has been known since 1960 as the José Martí. The Cuban H. Upmann is made today with Vuelta Abajo leaves for Habanos S.A.; the Dominican H. Upmann, made in La Romana by Altadis, is a different cigar.

Habanos describes the brand as light to medium in strength, made with Vuelta Abajo leaves and hand-rolled with longfiller. Its first Reserva (No. 2, Cosecha 2010) dates from 2014; its first Gran Reserva (Sir Winston, Cosecha 2011) dates from 2017 according to the brand's page and from 15 March 2018 according to the press release.

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 H. Upmann — the José Martí, a name that Havana's city portal dates to 1960 —, which has changed address several times and has occupied, since February 2011 according to the trade press, the former Romeo y Julieta building on Belascoaín, in Centro Habana; in 2015, it rolled all the Cuban H. Upmann there, and part of the Montecristo. In October 2026, the page “The Habanos Brands Academia” on habanos.com places H. Upmann among the six global brands of Habanos, with Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás and Hoyo de Monterrey; the trade press dates this classification to 1 August 2019 and says these brands are sold in every market where Cuban cigars are found. Havana's city portal traces its addresses — San Miguel 85 in the nineteenth century, Virtudes 609 in 1890, calle 20 de Mayo in Cerro in 1955, Belascoaín 853 today (852 according to the trade press) — and recalls that a roller worked there nineteen years: Francisco Repilado, Compay Segundo. The reference site for Havana cigars also makes it the mother factory of Montecristo and Diplomáticos; the trade press sees Montecristo rolled there, and Tobacco Reporter notes there in 2024 H. Upmann, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and sometimes Cohiba. The factory's stages diverge according to the sources: calle Amistad from 1944 to 2003, then a building on calle 23, in Vedado, according to Prensa Latina (2024) and the trade press (2013, which dates it to 2004), whereas Prensa Latina writes in 2025 that it reached Belascoaín on 3 November 2003.

Range Depth

• Sir Winston

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild-Medium

  Vitola de galera Julieta No 2, cepo 47 x 178 mm, says habanos.com. The brand released its first Gran Reserva, Cosecha 2011, in this format: 5 000 numbered lacquered boxes of 15, with Vuelta Abajo leaves harvested in 2011 and aged for five years. Habanos describes the brand as light to medium in strength.

  Sir Winston

• Magnum

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild-Medium

  Habanos writes that the Magnum 46 and the Magnum 50, presented in 2008, form a separate line with a distinct presentation; the Magnum 54 joins the regular range in 2016. The Magnum 46 measures 5 5/8 inches (143 mm) with a cepo 46; the Magnum 50, 160 mm with a cepo 50; the Magnum 54, 4 3/4 inches (120 mm) with a cepo 54, according to a retailer and a 2017 magazine (the house's page does not give its dimensions). The house ranks the Magnum line among its Habanos of mild to medium strength.

  Magnum 46 · Magnum 50 · Magnum 54

• Connoisseur

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild-Medium

  Habanos speaks of a “historic Connossieur Linea” (the spelling of its press releases). The No. 1 measures 5 inches (127 mm) with a cepo 48 and was still in full production in October 2013, the house confirmed. The Connossieur A (Genios, cepo 52 x 140 mm, 9 October 2013) is intended only for Habanos Specialists and Casas del Habano; the B (5 7/8 inches, cepo 54), exclusive to the Casas del Habano and the Habanos Specialists, is launched at the XIX Festival del Habano according to Cigar Coop (16 March 2017), whereas the trade press dates it to 2018; the No. 2 (cepo 51 x 134 mm, mild in strength according to Habanos), presented in Berlin on 24 November 2020, brings the line to four formats.

  Connoisseur No.1 · Connossieur A · Connossieur B · Connossieur No.2

• Half Corona

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild-Medium

  A 44 x 90 mm vitola presented at the thirteenth Festival del Habano, in February 2011. Habanos calls it mild to medium in strength, very aromatic and balanced in taste, and sees in it an invitation to a short smoke.

  Half Corona

🥃 Pairings

• White Burgundy (Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet)

  Wine

  A pairing suggestion for a Sir Winston (cepo 47 x 178 mm), a long vitola, with a brand that Habanos describes as light to medium in strength.

• Glenmorangie 18 years

  Whisky

  A pairing suggestion for a Magnum 46 or a Magnum 50, vitolas of the Magnum line that Habanos places among its Habanos of mild to medium strength.

• Jamaican Blue Mountain

  Coffee

  A pairing suggestion for a Half Corona (44 x 90 mm), a short smoke, according to habanos.com.

👤 Associated figures

• John F. Kennedy

  According to the account of his press secretary Pierre Salinger, Kennedy asked him for about 1 000 Petit Upmann for the following morning; Salinger brought back 1 200, and the president signed the decree banning Cuban products in the United States, in February 1962 (IrishCentral, 2024, which repeats this account).

• Compay Segundo

  The musician Francisco Repilado, known as Compay Segundo, worked as a torcedor for nineteen years in the galeras of the H. Upmann factory, as Havana's city portal (2020) and Prensa Latina (2025) write.

• Herman Upmann

  A German banker, he founded a bank and a Habanos factory in Havana, says habanos.com; the bank closed, the brand remained. Wikipedia writes that he is sometimes credited with packing cigars in cedar boxes.

✨ Notable limited editions

• H. Upmann Robustos EL (2012)
• H. Upmann Magnum 56 EL (2015)
• H. Upmann No. 2 Reserva Cosecha 2010 (2014)
• H. Upmann Sir Winston Gran Reserva Cosecha 2011 (2017-2018)
• H. Upmann Propios EL (2018)
• H. Upmann Magnum 56 Jarra (duty free, 2019)
• H. Upmann Magnum 50 Gran Reserva Cosecha 2019 (2025)