C.L.E. Cigar Made Exclusively For France Arrives At Retail

[JohnS]

It was only this month that a Non-Cuban cigar was been released in Switzerland, now come news that C.L.E. is releasing a Non-Cuban cigar in the French Market. On my recent trip to France, @Li Bai and I visited a cigar store in Paris, only to find that the shop was nearly full with Non-Cuban cigar product. @Li Bai told me that such a thing was 'unthinkable' just twenty years ago.

And now this Non-Cuban release. How times have changed!

C.L.E. Cigar Made Exclusively For France Arrives At Retail

Nov 11, 2025 - By David Clough 

Photos/C.L.E.

A new C.L.E. cigar has landed at tobacconists, but you won’t find it in the United States. Made just for the French market, the limited-edition C.L.E. Exclusivo Regionales France arrived in Paris and other cities last week.

Brand owner Christian Eiroa says he decided to release the cigar in France because of the size of the market and his personal connection to the country.

“This is a very special cigar to me,” Eiroa tells Cigar Aficionado. “France is our second-largest market after the United States. I spent all my summers there when I was younger. Every year my parents would send me off to France, about 60 miles north of Paris. I attended summer school and would stay for around two-and-a-half months. My parents wanted to keep me out of trouble in Honduras.” 

C.L.E. Exclusivo Regionales France is rolled with a Honduran wrapper the company refers to as “Cameroon seed,” a Honduran binder and filler tobacco from Honduras and Colombia. The cigar comes in a single vitola called 11/18, a curvy figurado that bulges in the middle and tapers at both ends.

Measuring 6 inches long and 54 ring gauge at its thickest circumference, the 11/18 is a signature size for Eiroa, named after his mother’s birthday (November 18th). The 11/18 has appeared in brands such as C.L.E., Eiroa, Asylum and Camacho. 

Eiroa says the Exclusivo Regionales France is unique in the company’s portfolio and not based on an existing C.L.E. blend.

“It’s not based on a previous cigar. It’s its own thing,” Eiroa says. “When the production runs are very small the cigars are incredible. You handpick the tobacco and the blends are really special. You can have a lot of fun with it.”

Exclusivo Regionales France comes in 10-count wooden boxes and has a suggested retail price of 20 euros per cigar, which converts to around $23. Only 250 individually numbered boxes will be released. The cigar is distributed by Paris-based company Albana Tobacco and rolled at the C.L.E. factory in Honduras.

C.L.E. Exclusivo Regionales France is the second cigar in the company’s regional exclusive program. The first was released in Bulgaria in 2024.

Source: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/c-l-e-cigar-made-exclusively-for-france-arrives-at-retail

[JohnS]

CLE Exclusivo Regionales France Goes on Sale

November 6, 2025 - Charlie Minato

Last year, CLE sent a limited edition regional exclusive to Bulgaria. This year, the company has sent one to France.

Whereas the Bulgarian exclusive was a special vitola of the Eiroa Classic, the new CLE Exclusivo Regionales France is not simply a line extension to an existing brand. It is an 11/18 vitola that uses a Cameroon-seed wrapper that was grown in Honduras. Christian Eiroa, founder of CLE, declined to disclose the rest of the blend to halfwheel. The 11/18 is a 6 x 48/54/48 perfecto vitola that the Eiroa family made famous when it still owned Camacho and that Eiroa has continued to produce at CLE.

Each cigar has an SRP of €20 ($23.10) and production is limited to 250 boxes of 10 cigars.

Albana Tobacco is CLE’s distributor in France. The Paris-based company began delivering the CLE Exclusivo Regionales France to stores earlier this week.

Source: https://halfwheel.com/cle-exclusivo-regionales-france-goes-on-sale/456258/

[Li Bai]

34 minutes ago, JohnS said:

@Li Bai told me that such a thing was 'unthinkable' just twenty years ago

Even only 5 years ago nobody would have thought it possible!

32 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Albana Tobacco is CLE’s distributor in France.

Albana Tobacco was founded by Charles-Hervé Spriet, owner of the famous "A la Civette" 10 years ago, in order to distribute Christian Eiroa's cigars in France so they should be easy to find there, if anyone's interested 👍