Slim pickings
All hail the queen! The new El Rey del Mundo La Reina, which harks back to the days of long, slender cigars, could mark a turning point
The El Rey del Mundo La Reina
THE Laguito No 1 is one of the most celebrated vitolas in the world, forever associated with the Cohiba Lanceros, that famous slender wand of tobacco with a little pigtail at its head. The Lanceros was launched in 1982 and it marked the high point of the pencil-like cigar.
I am one of those people old enough to remember when cigars were advertised on the TV. Bach’s Air on the G String still summons images of bald men in photobooths. Among the distant memories I have is an advertisement in which a cigar smoker is caught in a sudden rain shower —luckily, he is passing a hat shop, purchases a fedora with a brim wide enough to shelter his cigar from the elements and continues his walk. To protect the Lanceros from inclement weather, you would require a sombrero—it is 7½in long with a ring gauge of 38.
Throughout the 1980s, the slender Cohiba Lanceros remained the acme, the ultimate expression of Cuban savoir faire. Not only was it a showcase for the tobacco, its long leaves subjected to that extra fermentation that is the hallmark of Cohiba; the size of the cigar made it a test for the torcedores, with only the best rollers put on the manufacture of these cigars.
‘During the 1970s and 1980s, the slim and long panatela-style cigars were highly popular,’ recalls Edward Sahakian of Davidoff. ‘There’s something particularly smooth and delicious about them and, thanks to the length, they start cool. Almost every brand made some sort of long, thin cigar: Punch had the Ninfas, there was the Hoyo du Gourmet, the Romeo y Julieta Shakespeares and the Rey del Mundo Elegante. Alas, they have all ceased production.’
This is why the new UK regional edition is so special, because it overturns the accepted norms of cigars on the threshold of the 2020s: it is delicate where many of today’s cigars pride themselves on a cacophonous assault of flavours and it is slender where others are girthy. Called the La Reina (the Queen), it’s an El Rey del Mundo (the King of the World) in the Laguito No 1 format.
El Rey del Mundo is an interesting brand and I have long been partial to the Choix Supreme, a near robusto with a mild, aromatic character. Given the brand’s relatively recondite status, it’s not always a quick seller and, from time to time, it’s possible to come across old boxes that have matured to a lightly salty, toffee flavour.
As well as being counter-intuitive, La Reina is an interesting cigar for the collector, even if he or she isn’t customarily attracted to lighter cigars. This isn’t only a Laguito No 1 by name, it is an El Laguito by birth. Every single La Reina has been made at the El Laguito factory; a rare, if not unheard of, honour for a relatively niche brand. Think of it like Fiat getting something built in the Ferrari factory. What’s more, I’ve been told that each cigar has been weighed to ensure a high level of quality and consistency.
Readers of the Bolivar column will be familiar with the irritation of a ‘plugged’ or blocked cigar. Sometimes, I have pulled bits of stalk that resemble twigs from cigars; at others, there is simply too much tobacco cocooned in the binder and wrapper and the cigar proves completely unresponsive, as if you’re trying to smoke a broomstick. As well as being in fashion and flooding the palate with flavour, heavierring-gauge cigars have the characteristic of being less prone to blockages, but, so far, I haven’t encountered a La Reina that didn’t burn and draw correctly.
Happily, both the Editor of Country Life and the author of this column were in Havana and at El Laguito when a batch of prototypes rolled (if that’s the correct verb) off the torcedores’ benches. What struck me at the time was the elegance of the cigar in terms of appearance and flavour. Unlike so many punchy cigars, which rely on a direct assault on the palate, we found La Reina more of a seduction— it charmed rather than overpowered. It was also a masterclass in the development and change of character during its life. It was a cigar that had been the subject of much thought and consideration—and it showed.
The batch that has landed in the UK lived up to the promise shown in Havana in early 2018. It begins light on the palate, with a stronger aroma that has something of cinnamon about it. With time, the tart, salty start to the tip of the tongue rounds out into a richer, velvety chocolatey smoothness, with a hint of citrus for structure.
I’m not sure whether La Reina marks a turning point in our attitudes towards cigars, but I would make sure that you lay in a box or two, just in case this proves to be an historically important Havana.
Only the best torcedores were put on the manufacture of these cigars