Gran Habano Connecticut #1 Robusto

The Gran Habano line is produced in a small Honduran factory under the careful scrutiny of father and son team Guillermo and George Rico. They epitomize small time boutique, but their blends—which include the Blue Label and 92-rated 3 Siglos lines as well as Gran Habano—are always right on the money. Gran Habano is a delicious medium-bodied handmade with a Connecticut shade wrapper and mellow Dominican long-fillers. The construction is top-notch. No surprise—the Gran Habano was named one of the world’s Top 50 Cigars and it received an outstanding ’90’ rating from Cigar Aficionado which noted: "A dark, attractive smoke with an elegant draw and burn. It’s salty and rich. There are creamy, coffee notes and a touch of nuts and earth, and the finish is long." Our panelists also noted a touch of citrus. All in all, a perfect match for your favorite cognac or barleywine style ale.

Honduras has been a tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing area for hundreds of years, but it was the Communist revolution in Cuba that really put Honduras on the map. In the 1960s, many Cuban cigar makers fled their homeland and arrived in Honduras to re-establish their way of life. The immigrants took advantage of the climate, soil, and geography, which were well-suited to tobacco growing, and began producing high quality cigars. The center of the Honduran cigar industry is the city of Danli and the nearby Jamastran Valley. The majority of the world’s pure Corojo tobacco is grown here, now that Cuba has stopped production of this iconic, spicy, and rich variety in favor of Corojo hybrids. Other important areas of Honduran cigar production include the Talanga Valley, Copan, and Trojes.