Juan López

Juan López is one of the Cuban brands in the Habanos portfolio, ranked in October 2026 among the thirteen "other" brands. Habanos says it was created in the 1870s by a Spaniard of the same name; Wikipedia gives 1876 and Juan López Sena (or Juan López Diaz), cigars rolled on Calle de los Dragones in Havana. In 2019 the trade press noted that only two formats remained in its range.

According to Wikipedia, the brand passed to his heirs in 1908, was sold in 1918 to the Sociedad Cosme del Peso y Cía, which held it until the revolution, and was sometimes labelled Flor de Juan López. Habanos classes it as medium to full in strength; its cigars are entirely hand-rolled with long filler, using filler and wrapper leaves from the Vuelta Abajo. In 2008 the trade press described the Selección No. 2 as a medium to full body reminiscent of a Bordeaux, with notes of leather and tea, improving with time in the box, and in 2019 notes of dried fruit, roasted chestnut and salted caramel.

The Selección No. 2 is a Robusto of 4 7/8 inches on a cepo 50 (124 mm) according to the trade press; habanos.com cites it, with the Selección No. 1, at the heart of the vitolario. The Selección No. 1 measures 5 5/8 inches on a cepo 46 (143 mm): in its entry the trade press lists it as a Toro and calls it a corona gorda in its tasting note.

The Selección Especial, 52 x 170 mm, in a box of 25, was announced at the XXII Festival del Habano (26 February 2020, Cigar Coop) and then presented as a world première in the Benelux on 4 December 2021 (habanos.com); it is sold in the Casas del Habano.

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. Habanos names no factory for Juan López; the trade press (2008) says the Selección No. 2 is made largely at the Partagás factory, and Wikipedia writes that all Juan López cigars are handmade at the "La Habana" factory in Havana: these versions diverge. In October 2026 habanos.com lists it among its 27 brands, in the group of thirteen "other" brands, outside the six global, the five value and the three volume brands; the classification of 1 August 2019 (21 portfolio brands) already placed it in the "other" category (trade press). The official page dates it to the 1870s (1876 according to Wikipedia) and names the Selección No. 1 and No. 2, joined by a Selección Especial for the brand's hundred and fifty years and the thirty years of the La Casa del Habano network.

Range Depth

• Seleccion No.2

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium-Full

  Robusto of 4 7/8 inches on a cepo 50 (124 mm), long filler. In 2008 the trade press notes leather and tea in it, in 2019 dried fruit, roasted chestnut and salted caramel.

  Robusto

• Seleccion No.1

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium-Full

  5 5/8 inches on a cepo 46 (143 mm), a corona gorda according to the trade press (which also lists it as a Toro); Medium-Full strength according to it.

  Corona Gorda

• Selección Especial

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium-Full

  52 x 170 mm (factory name Fortunas according to habanos.com), box of 25, for the brand's 150 years and the 30 years of La Casa del Habano; sold in the Casas del Habano.

🥃 Pairings

• Aged Cuban rum

  Spirits

  Suggestion: an amber rum to stay within the island register.

• Porter

  Beer

  Suggestion: the roasted character of the porter accompanies a cigar with leather notes.