Sancho Panza

The choice of name says it all: not Don Quixote, but his squire — the down-to-earth character, the one who eats, sleeps and does not charge at windmills. The brand, whose first registration habanos.com dates to 1848, now presents itself at medium strength, entirely hand-rolled with long filler.

According to Wikipedia, Emilio Ohmsted registered the name in 1848, for a factory on Angeles Street in Havana; Ramón Allones acquired the brand in the 1880s and the Rey del Mundo Cigar Co. bought it in 1940, before the nationalisation of 15 September 1960. On flavour, the pages differ: a British retailer describes the Belicosos as medium to mild, woody, with touches of caramel and hazelnut; the trade press (2025) calls it medium to full, powerful, very close to dessert.

The Belicoso, at 5 1/2 inches on cepo 52 (about 140 mm), is, the trade press writes in 2025, the brand's only regular production size. The same page presents Sancho Panza as a very small brand in the Habanos portfolio, less well known than Cohiba or Montecristo, at an affordable price.

The range has narrowed: Habanos discontinued the Non Plus (Mareva, 42 x 129 mm) in 2019, in a rationalisation of the brand's portfolio. Do not confuse it with the American namesake: the Honduran cigars sold under this name in the United States belong to General Cigar, which took over the 1981 filing.

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. No source consulted — neither Habanos nor the trade press — names its mother factory; the entry says so rather than choosing. In October 2026, habanos.com places it among the thirteen other brands of the twenty-seven-brand portfolio, outside the six global ones, the five value ones and the three volume ones; the trade press placed it in 2019 in the category of other brands. The official page confirms the first registration in 1848 and three Havanas today, including the Molino, described as famous, whose galera name is Cervantes; it gives no measurements. The trade press (2025), however, names only the Belicoso as a regular production size: the two versions differ. Everything is hand-rolled with long filler, using leaves from the Vuelta Abajo zone, at medium strength.

Range Depth

• Belicosos

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium-Full

  5 1/2 inches on cepo 52 (about 140 mm), the brand's only regular production size according to the trade press (2025), which calls it medium to full, with flavours close to dessert; a British retailer calls it medium to mild.

  Belicoso

• Molinos

  Wrapper Vuelta Abajo · Strength Medium

  The Molino, cited by habanos.com as one of the brand's three Havanas and described as famous; galera vitola Cervantes. The house's page gives neither measurements nor wrapper.

  Molino

🥃 Pairings

• Well-chilled Fino sherry

  Spirits

  Suggestion: a dry, light sherry for a medium-strength cigar.

• Café con leche

  Coffee

  Suggestion: the softness of milk accompanies a medium strength.