Rafael González

Rafael González is, says habanos.com, a brand created in the 1930s, whose boxes bear an inscription in English: smoke the cigars within the month following their date of dispatch from Havana, otherwise let them mature carefully for about a year. In 2023 the trade press writes that the brand's old white boxes carried text on the lid. Habanos also writes that its factory vitola is called Cervantes and was first called Lonsdale, after Lord Lonsdale.

Habanos classes it as light in strength; its cigars are entirely hand-rolled, with long filler except for one vitola with short filler, using filler and binder from the Vuelta Abajo, in the province of Pinar del Río. In 2023 the trade press describes it as a very small brand, created in the 1930s, that many smokers barely notice.

In 2023 the trade press gives it four sizes: Perla (4 x 40, launched about ten years earlier), Panetelas Extra (5 x 37), Petit Corona (5 1/8 x 44) and the novelty Coronas de Lonsdales (5 x 48). The Coronas de Lonsdales, named Hermosos No. 4 in the Cuban factories, were presented first in Portugal, at an event of the distributor EMPOR, in a box of 10 (trade press, 2023).

In October 2026 habanos.com lists it among the thirteen "other" brands of its portfolio of 27 brands.

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. Neither habanos.com nor the trade press consulted (survey of the factories from 2011, article from 2023) names its mother factory. The classification of 1 August 2019 (trade press, 21 portfolio brands) placed it in the "other" category; in October 2026 habanos.com lists it among its 27 brands, outside the six global, the five value and the three volume brands. The official page dates it to the 1930s, recalls that its factory vitola is called Cervantes and was first a Lonsdale, after the lord, and says the range is long filler with one exception, short filler.

Range Depth

• Perlas

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild

  Petit corona of 4 x 40 (102 mm), launched about ten years before 2023 according to the trade press. Habanos classes the brand as light in strength.

  Perla

• Panetelas Extra

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild

  5 x 37 (127 mm) according to the trade press (2023), one of the brand's four sizes.

  Ninfas

• Petit Corona

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Mild

  5 1/8 x 44 according to the trade press (2023).

• Coronas de Lonsdales

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo

  New in 2023, 5 x 48, named Hermosos No. 4 in the Cuban factories, the brand's fourth size; box of 10, first presented in Portugal (trade press).

🥃 Pairings

• Second-flush Darjeeling

  Tea

  Suggestion: a light tea for a brand classed as light in strength.

• Amontillado sherry

  Spirits

  Suggestion: a dry sherry, without overwhelming a light cigar.

👤 Associated figures

• Lord Lonsdale

  Habanos writes that the brand's factory vitola Cervantes was first called Lonsdale, after Lord Lonsdale.