An old brand gets a new blend. It’s all in the issue of Cigar Insider, an exciting edition of new releases and tastings. From a red-hot boom-time brand to a near-forgotten cigar, Cuba Aliados made its return when Oliva Cigar, now the new owners, reblended and re-released the storied line.
Oliva gave cigar veteran Ernesto Perez-Carrillo the chance to blend a limited-edition Cuba Aliados in the Dominican Republic and Cigar Insider rated the entire brand. One size in particular was truly outstanding.
The Cuba Aliados brand has had a long history and was a very popular cigar at its peak during the cigar boom of the 1990s. Like many cigar brands, Cuba Aliados started in Cuba but was displaced after Fidel Castro seized control of founder Rolando Reyes Sr.’s assets. Production moved between New Jersey, Miami and the Dominican Republic before 1990, when Reyes settled in Honduras, helping to bring legitimacy to the country as a denomination of origin for premium cigars (although there was no Honduran tobacco in the blend).
After the turn of the millennium, as Nicaraguan cigars gained more and more traction in the U.S. market, Cuba Aliados began to fade, struggling to maintain any notable humidor presence. Fast forward to the summer of 2021 when Oliva Cigar Co. made the unexpected announcement that it had purchased the sleepy brand from the Reyes family. Then, at this summer’s PCA trade show, the brand was officially unveiled.
Cuba Aliados comes in two versions under its new owner: the regular-production Cuba Aliados Original, made by JRE Tobacco Co. in Honduras, and the limited-edition Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, made in the Dominican Republic that we rated here.
Perez-Carrillo wasn’t working off any exact formula but based the blend on his memory of Cuba Aliados and the types of tobaccos that Reyes used when he produced the cigar. Only 15,000 boxes of this limited edition were produced for 2022. The outcome of this tasting was quite consistent with three of the five cigars scoring 90 points or higher.
Standing out above the others was the Torpedo, an impressive cigar that scored 94 points—outstanding on the Cigar Aficionado scale.
For a larger view of the Cigar Insider reviews, please click on the images below.
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