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UK LAUNCH OF POR LARRANAGA
The UK Launch of the Por Larranaga Magnifico
Havana Cigar, 1st November, 2007 at Boisdale of Belgravia cigar terrace, by
the invitation of the directors of Boisdale and Hunters and Frankau.
The long awaited launch of the Uk regional
speciality, made exclusively for the UK market. Only 1,400 numbered boxes
(1,000 in 10s and 400 in 25s) have been made of this cigar, which is
modelled on the once renowned Por Larranaga Magnum size. It features a
specially reproduced band, which is a replica of the one used by Por
Larranaga a hundred years ago in the first decade of the 20th Century.
I had the pleasure to be one of the first to
taste this latest arrival from Cuba, and all I can say, it is well worth the
wait. Light to medium sweet flavour, medium strength, cool and easy burn and
draw from the beginning to the end. I couldn't put it down. Well balanced
and complex. Silky smooth vein free colorado maduro wrapper. It is truly a
first rate cigar, in my humble opinion.
I only fear that they have underestimated, how
good this cigar is and that there simply won't be enough. Once you've tasted
one, you want more. :o)
Thank you to Hunters and Frankau for organising
once again a perfect cigar launch party! Hope there are more to come!
Best
Michelle
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WHAT ARE REGIONAL SPECIALITIES?
For the last three years, the various companies
that distribute Habanos around the world have been invited to bid for the
chance to develop their own special size in the less well-known Habanos
Brands, which will be made in limited quantities for sale only in their own
markets. They are know as Regional specialities.
In 2005 Hunters & Frankau helped to pioneer the
project with the Ramon Allones Belicoso Fino. However the regional
speciality concept has since been refined by the addition of numbers on all
the boxes and a second band to identify each cigar.
In 2006 it was the turn of other markets to
choose their regional specialities but H&F was determined to come up with
something special to ensure that the UK bid for this year was successful.
Simon Chase, H&F's Marketing Director, continues
the story of how the Magnifico was chosen:
THE STORY OF THE MAGNIFICO AND ITS BAND
"Being an old established company, inevitably we
looked back into the records for a great size to resurrect from yesteryear,
and.. there was one. The 6 3/4" by 50 ring gauge Por Larranaga Magnum, which
in the 1960s and 70's was a holy grail for cigar enthusiasts.
However, Habanos SA had reserved the Magnum size
name for H.Upmann sizes. We reached an agreement to call it the Magnifico
instead, but nevertheless, the idea was parked.
Enter the hand of fate.
In March of last year, I visited a doctor to
discuss a problem about which I shall not bore you. In his consulting room,
I spied that he kept his notes in an old Partagas box. Although he was not a
smoker, he declared that he was descended from a long line of medical men
who had been devoted to Havana's fragrant leaves. We got on famously and the
consultation went on extremely well.
A few days later, a small parcel arrived at my
home. It was from the doctor and it contained a cigar with an accompanying
letter explaining that it had belonged to his grandfather and probably dated
it from the early years of the twentieth century. Though he did not
recommend that I smoke it, he felt it would be of more interest to me than
to him. Measuring eight inches in length, it was a double figurado (pointed
at both ends) with a ring gauge of about fifty-five at its widest point.
Upon rushing to a copy of the 1912 price list, I found the exact shape
staring me in the face.
This was interesting enough, but what really
caught my eye was the magnificent band secured around the cigar's midpoint.
It was printed in two shades of gold leaf with the brand name in perfect
blind embossing (relief lettering in the same colour as it's background)
upon it. The brand was Por Larranaga.
The size and design of the band were familiar,
but I had never seen it printed with such quality. I compared it to examples
from the 1940s and 1970s, which simply could not hold a candle to this one.
From that moment on, the idea of re-creating the
Por Larranaga Magnum size under the name of Magnifico returned to the frame
with the idea that, if it were possible to turn the clock back a century, we
should attempt to reproduce this old band in all its finery.
When it comes to printing in the cigar business,
there is one man who stands out from the rest. As the owner of a company
that recently celebrated its centenary, he is so steeped in lithography's
history, that in his hometown, he founded a museum dedicated to the art.
Above all, he is committed to quality. His name is Peter Vrijdag, his
company is Drukkerij Vrijdag B.V. and his hometown is Eindhoven in the
Netherlands.
At this point, I had never met Peter, We knew
each other by reputation but we had never come face to face. I emailed him
the challenge of re-creating the old band and flew to Eindhoven to discuss
it with him at the very end of August.
Just as with the doctor, we got on famously.
There were technical difficulties involved in replicating the band - hardly
surprising considering the revolution that has taken place in printing over
the last twenty years, let alone the last hundred. Another problem was that
I only wanted 20,000 bands, as that is the number of Magnificos we planned
to make. The job was the smallest Peter had ever undertaken and it was not
going to make his fortune. But, generously, he agreed to take it on.
By Christmas 2006, the breathtaking bands
arrived at my office.
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TESTING THE BLEND
The next step was to produce the cigars that
would bear these elegant bands. During the Festival Del Habano at the end of
February, we met with the factory director Jose Tavier at La Corona in
Havana where Larranaga is made.
I had managed to obtain from a collector four
precious Por Larranaga Magnums from 1972. In La Corona's Tasting room the
factory's professional tasters met with an elite group from the British
Havana trade,
we smoked the new production against it's 35
year old forebears.
Remember this cigar has not been made since
1978. As the comparative tasting progressed, one thing became clear: the
category of flavour of the freshly made cigars was precisely the same as the
old ones - smooth, light to medium and delicious.
The project is now complete and 1,400 numbered
boxes of Por Larranaga Magnificos (400 in 25s and 1,000 are in 10s)
containing a total of 20,000 cigars will be on sale in the UK shortly." |
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ABOUT POR LARRANAGA
The name Por Larranaga, which means "By
Larranaga", was first registered in Havana by a certain Ignacio Larranaga in
1834. In is the oldest brand of hand made Habanos still in production.
For much of the 19th century and into the early
part of 20th the brand was owned by the Rivero family, who built its
reputation for the highest quality particularly amongst the royal house, the
rich and the famous of that time. Its golden ring attracted the attention of
Rudyard Kipling who in his 1890 poem "The Betrothed" asserted that "there's
peace in a Larranaga" (this poem also contains the immortal, if obscure,
line "And a woman is only a woman but a good cigar is a smoke").
In the 1950s and 1960s Por Larranaga's factory
in Havana was a magnet for the finest cigar rollers in Cuba. It gained a
standing for the unrivalled quality of it cigars and its reputation lives on
today in the small range of standard Por Larranaga sizes, which are now made
at the La Corona factory in its new location at 520 Avenida 20 de Mayo.
There is one standard size of Por Larranaga
available in the UK. the Petit corona in Cabinet selection bundles of 50
cigars.
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