I didn't want you to miss out. Pre Castro Cohiba

[El Presidente]

 

......he also sells bridges. 

 

Pre-Castro Cohiba 1950's, cigar box, Pre-embargo

 

The legendary pre-Castro Cohiba. Evidence of this brand is almost non-existent.

This Cohiba - complete with Taino profile - existed from around 1955 until 1959 or 1960. It was not rolled in Havana, but rather Villa Clara province.

The brand was first registered by E Chateloin Jr and would have become extinct either through non-renewal of trademark or forced submission to the nationalization process (after which it was struck off). Nothing more is known about this pre-Castro Cohiba and it's safe to say that hardly anyone knows that it existed at all.

 

[Chas.Alpha]

Those wrappers look simply amazing, and the vibrant colors on the bands seem like they were so well preserved that they could have been printed yesterday!...

[BigGuns]

A for effort

[DBNInc]

Are those 109’s???
 

 

Edit: Those bands are actually kinda cool

[Ryan]

The cigars themselves, who knows!

But those bands I've seen before. They have shown up on cigars for sale over the years, at various sales sites, auctions etc. Becoming more commonly seen about 5 years ago.

Those bands themselves though. The design is real. It was a real band. I got a couple of bands a few years ago and gave one to (antique band collector) Punch Joe, who already had some, and laughed. He said Habanos denies all knowledge of the pre-Revolution brand (of course), and has worked quite hard to suppress any information on the brand, though it was a real brand.

The brand was created by an E. Chateloin before the revolution in Sagua La Grande, just east of Havana. Pronounced Sag-wah, rather than a usual Spanish pronunciation of that word, Sag-uu-a, probably because it's a native word, like Qeeen-wah.

That's all I've ever been able to find out.

I don't know if the bands in that picture are real but I know real bands with that design do exist. The ones pictured are probably real.

Again, as for the cigars, I wouldn't get any hopes up. I've never seen cigars of that brand with any decent provenance. I think I'd need to see a picture of them being handed to the owner by Batista!

I've never seen even a picture of any outer packaging for that brand, real or fake.

[Smatthews607]

I've been thinking about trying to pick up some Cohibas with some age on them and these look like they would fit the bill perfectly. Thanks for the notice, El Pres!

[Puros Y Vino]

The last time I saw these there were 6 up for auction.  Now I see 5. I suspect the buyer smoked one, didn't think much of them and is now looking to get some of his/her investment back?  I notice this a lot with vintage cigars that have been put up for auction for many years.  

[Edicion]

Hi all, my first post and new to this forum. Based in Asia.. Mainly smoke CC with a preference for... Lately a lot of PLPC. 

Thought to share this thread I found about this topic from here on FOH

Hope all ok with forum etiquette, apologies if any mistakes. 

Cheers

[BrightonCorgi]

Would've thought there would be more or any oxidation on the gold parts of the band?

[Puros Y Vino]

38 minutes ago, Edicion said:

Hi all, my first post and new to this forum. Based in Asia.. Mainly smoke CC with a preference for... Lately a lot of PLPC. 

Thought to share this thread I found about this topic from here on FOH

Hope all ok with forum etiquette, apologies if any mistakes. 

Cheers

Hmm.. Maybe I didn't see 6?  I could have sworn I did.  ?

[mprach024]

The perfection of those bands has me scratching my head, I’ve seen baseball cards in hermetic covers that still have some signs of fade/degradation.  

[Puros Y Vino]

23 minutes ago, mprach024 said:

The perfection of those bands has me scratching my head, I’ve seen baseball cards in hermetic covers that still have some signs of fade/degradation.  

That's not always the case. I have cigars from every decade from 1920 and a lot of the bands are pristine.  One major exception being 2005 Punch DC's. The gold is pretty much gone from those.