When word of the Cohiba 55 Aniversario Edición Limitada 2021 emerged last year, nobody thought it was going to be cheap. But in the immediate aftermath of Cuba’s sweeping price hikes, particularly on the Cohiba brand, the new cigar will carry a price tag more commonly found on vintage smokes than on new releases. According to Phoenicia Trading A.A., one of the largest regional distributors of Cuban cigars in the world, the new Cohibas will sell for $300 each in Beirut, where the company has a grand duty-free store. To put this in perspective, that’s more than triple the price of a Cohiba Esplendido.

The hefty Cohiba 55 Aniversario was launched with great fanfare at an outdoor event in Cyprus held last Saturday and hosted by Phoenicia in celebration of the cigar brand’s 55th anniversary. There were more events happening around the world, including Greece, Iraq, the Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, all of which are countries that get their cigars from Phoenicia Trading. For those who couldn’t attend in person, there was an online portal to join the celebration virtually. 

It was a gorgeous evening in Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus. The mild temperatures and outdoor venue were the perfect setting for an event as auspicious as a Cohiba anniversary. (While the brand turned 55 in 2021, the celebration was delayed, as with so many things in recent years.) The new, pigtailed cigar is a 2021 Edición Limitada that measures  5 7/8 inches long by 57 ring gauge. In Cuban factories, the size is called a Victoria, and it’s one of the thickest cigars in the entire Habanos portfolio. 

Now that the Cohiba 55 Aniversario has had its premiere, it will be appearing next month at the Casa del Habano shops within the Beirut duty-free channels, as well as shops throughout Phoenicia’s participating countries. The cigars come in 10-count boxes, but special-edition five-packs of the cigar will also be available throughout Phoenicia’s territory. Only 10,000 are being produced. 

There’s no official word as to when the Cohiba 55 Aniversario will begin to appear in other countries, but the prices will be similar, as all Cohibas are now uniformly priced to the Hong Kong market, regardless of where they're sold.

Habanos S.A. had made it a tradition to release special cigars for Cohiba anniversaries. In 2006, it launched the Cohiba Behike on the brand’s 40th birthday. Five years later, the Cohiba 1966 Edición Limitada 2011 was released for the 45th anniversary, followed by two cigars in 2016 for Cohiba’s 50th: the Majestuoso 1966 and the 50 Aniversario, both of which came in exclusive humidors. 

Cohiba anniversary cigars tend to appreciate greatly in value on the secondary auction market, even months after they’ve been released.

If you couldn’t make any of the worldwide celebrations, an additional ceremony is planned for September 9 in Havana. 

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