'ESCAMBRAY '70' cuban cigars WTF???

[99call]

Never seen these before.   Not really taken any time to do any research.  What's your thoughts @ATGroom? @Trevor2118 My initial gut feeling is that they are a legit oddity.    Love the fact the font is very 1970's s**t tv series 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

From what I recall Escambray 70 is a variety of tobacco. But that box is very peculiar...

the box stamp puts it post-Rev, either early 1960s or 1979-80. Can't tell without measuring the size. Obviously both stamps are post-Rev but this brand is unknown to me (and apparently anyone else).

Very interesting though. Hopefully there's some info about this.

I just did notice that the leaf logo looks pretty much like the Cubatabco logo. I'm thinking this is some kind of Cubatabaco release.

There also appears to be a journal article behind a paywall called 'Escambray-70'; a new dark tobacco variety for culture without cover.  [1980]
Espino E.; Capote E.; Santiesteban J.; Barroso A.; Ministerio de la Agricultura, Habana (Cuba). Estacion Central de Investigaciones Tabacaleras [Corporate Author]

So they're calling this a "new" strain in 1980 which would make some sense after the panic of the blue mold 1979 harvest. This would have been the only other strain even tried besides Criollo and Corojo. Perhaps Cubatabaco was showing off what they could do with a new strain or trying to bring attention to it. 

[jakebarnes]

I usually tell the local ruffians to escrambray from my lawn. 

[ATGroom]

Not something I'm familiar with, but I think @NSXCIGAR is pretty much on the money.

Have seen a few references to Escambray and Escambray-70 as a Cuban tobacco varietal.

I think the general story that "Corojo is for wrappers and Criollo is for filler" is a very dumbed down version of the reality of what goes on. It's repeated in every book (including mine) simply because Tabacuba doesn't choose to tell us any more than that.

But, there are references to 10 or so varieties being cultivated every year dependant on conditions, and of there being hundreds of different cross breeds that go into the development of a new iteration of the main leaf strains, so I think that the reality is likely that the Tobacco Research Institute probably has access to many, many different strains of tobacco. Some of these end up in cigars, some in cigarettes, some in short filler, and some are cultivated in small amounts for experimental reasons, although those likely end up put to one of those uses anyway.

Agree this looks like a Cubatabaco box, so it follows that this was some kind of Escambray-70 leaf only special production. Maybe something that was distributed internally or sent to buyers as a sample or sold on a very limited basis.

Great find, anyway.

[99call]

Great work fellas.   Would be interesting to find out if the region of growth is actually in, or near the 'Escambray Mountains' north of Trinidad, Cuba. If the crops were sungrown, without cover, I wonder if they were also grown on parts of the Vuelta Arriba that were more hardy in higher altitudes.   Not suggesting in the mountian's,  rather their sloping approaches. 

[Ryan]

15 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

 

There also appears to be a journal article behind a paywall called 'Escambray-70'; a new dark tobacco variety for culture without cover.  [1980]
Espino E.; Capote E.; Santiesteban J.; Barroso A.; Ministerio de la Agricultura, Habana (Cuba). Estacion Central de Investigaciones Tabacaleras [Corporate Author]

So they're calling this a "new" strain in 1980 which would make some sense after the panic of the blue mold 1979 harvest. This would have been the only other strain even tried besides Criollo and Corojo.

As NSXCigar says “Escambray 70” (although no apostrophe) was a Cuban tobacco varietal. One of dozens, if not hundreds of varietals produced in Cuba over the last 120 years or so. Creation of new strains has accelerated recently due to evolution of diseases and climate change. These days there are always dozens of new strains being tested at any time. 
It’s possible the name on those cigars might be a coincidence, “Escambray” was a pivotal front in the Cuban revolution about 10 years prior to “‘70”. It might be some kind of anniversary box.

For those with an interest in this kind of thing, this book is invaluable. There are about 90 strains described in the format below. The author Eumilio Espino, has done more for the creation of new cigar tobacco strains than probably anyone else, ever. I believe he’s still alive.

[99call]

2 hours ago, Ryan said:

“Escambray” was a pivotal front in the Cuban revolution about 10 years prior to “‘70”. It might be some kind of anniversary box.

very interesting Andy.    That book looks to be a wonderful resource 

[Ryan]

Varietals have been changing regularly since at least 1980. It's hasn't been simply "Criollo" and "Corojo" since at least then. The new varietals with the name Corojo or Criollo in them doesn't necessarily mean that they have much to do with the original versions of either. Even the original Corojo was a hybrid created using Criollo. 

I stayed on a farm in Pinar del Rio for a while last November. The farmer, who grows a bit of tobacco, has smoked for 50 years and knows his stuff, was telling me how much he missed the tobacco grown and used from 1988 to 1990 but hadn't smoked a cigar with that tobacco since then. Interesting that even among Cuban farmers, they remember years and eras of good tobacco. The differences. Of course that might not be simply varietal-related. Weather and temperature would have a part to play.

In February I brought him out a box of 1990 Juan Lopez Patricas. That was my most memorable smoke of the year so far, and it wasn't even me smoking, but hearing him describing it.

[99call]

4 minutes ago, Ryan said:

In February I brought him out a box of 1990 Juan Lopez Patricas. That was my most memorable smoke of the year so far, and it wasn't even me smoking, but hearing him describing it.

a lovely gesture, and story.

[99call]

Interesting that the same person is selling these boxes.  Looks like a prototype Vegueros release, and a gifted box for someone working for the National commission of Cuban Tabaco.    These boxes, as @ATGroom mentioned may have been being showed off and consumed during a government event.

[westg]

16 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

From what I recall Escambray 70 is a variety of tobacco. But that box is very peculiar...

the box stamp puts it post-Rev, either early 1960s or 1979-80. Can't tell without measuring the size. But obviously both are post-Rev but this brand is unknown to me (and apparently anyone else).

Very interesting though. Hopefully there's some info about this.

I just did notice that the leaf logo looks pretty much like the Cubatabco logo. I'm thinking this is some kind of Cubatabaco release.

There also appears to be a journal article behind a paywall called 'Escambray-70'; a new dark tobacco variety for culture without cover.  [1980]
Espino E.; Capote E.; Santiesteban J.; Barroso A.; Ministerio de la Agricultura, Habana (Cuba). Estacion Central de Investigaciones Tabacaleras [Corporate Author]

So they're calling this a "new" strain in 1980 which would make some sense after the panic of the blue mold 1979 harvest. This would have been the only other strain even tried besides Criollo and Corojo. Perhaps Cubatabaco was showing off what they could do with a new strain or trying to bring attention to it. 

Always informative . Love reading your responses ! Thanks. 

[Corylax18]

3 hours ago, 99call said:

Great work fellas.   Would be interesting to find out if the region of growth is actually in, or near the 'Escambray Mountains' north of Trinidad, Cuba. If the crops were sungrown, without cover, I wonder if they were also grown on parts of the Vuelta Arriba that were more hardy in higher altitudes.   Not suggesting in the mountian's,  rather their sloping approaches. 

Yeah, I was leaning this way before Andy and Alex nailed it with the strain info. I know they grow a lot of coffee in the Escambray mountains between Trinidad and Cienfuegos, but I've never heard of tobacco being grown there. I too wonder if this was more of an experiment to grow at higher alttitudes. There are definitely cultivated fields on the western slop of the range. Check out Cuba's " Las Vegas":

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Las+Vegas,+Cuba/@21.9864472,-80.2047015,3022m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8f2b222c185efb6b:0x1a9c6b8f440ea3e3!8m2!3d21.9873421!4d-80.1944807!16s%2Fg%2F1hc3z_wpx

[NSXCIGAR]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:24 AM, 99call said:

Looks like a prototype Vegueros release

Looks that way. That box stamp font could be as late as 1994 and that is only a couple years before the brand released. The tobacco for Vegueros would have had to have been designated at least 2-3 years before the release so the brand is something that was almost certainly developed under Cubatabaco and carried forward by HSA. 

Whoever has these boxes was obviously very well connected to something. Probably worked for Cubatabaco in the 80s-90s or was close to someone who did. 

[Puros Y Vino]

Found a snippet that supports this being a tobacco strain. 

Also.

I wonder if this was made for some kind of exhibition or trade show. 

[ATGroom]

Prompted by this thread, I went looking for the book @Ryan mentioned. I didn't find it, but I did find Cuban Cigar Tobacco: Why Cuban Cigars are the World's Best, also by Eumelio Espino Marrero.

Only 80 pages with a lot of photos, but very interesting highly technical book, with by far the best descriptions of the various pests of tobacco cultivation that I've ever seen.

About Escambray-70 he has this to say:

In the 80s, the genetic improvement program at the Experimental Station of San Antonio de los Banos, Havana Province, came up with a new variety known as "Escambray-70." This was the first Cuban black tobacco variety that was resistant to black shank and tobacco mosaic virus, had a high production potential (2,200kg/ha), and good quality, but it produced a large number of shoots, which makes it difficult and expensive to use commercially, so much so that it was not accepted as a commercial variety. What it has been used for is as a source of genes for the different genetic improvement programs.