Cuba's greatest hits

Por Larrañaga dates back to 1834, making it one of the oldest Cuban cigar brands, but it's not a name you hear requested much in cigar-smoking circles. That is now changing, with a new edition arriving in time for the festive season

HAVING spent three decades writing about and enjoying the occasional Havana cigar, I really should be beyond being surprised. Cuba is a land of paradox and curiosity: think Alice Through the Looking-Glass, add the Land of Oz and for good measure have it re-written by Kafka. The sheer roulette wheellike sense of chance keeps me interested and on my toes. The last thing that I anticipate from the island paradise of Cuba is consistency: and, therefore, just when I am least expecting it, consistency arrives from Cuba in the seductive shape of the new British regional edition, the Por Larrañaga 47.

I used to be rather dismissive of this brand, for which I now heartily atone, as it would be the height of folly to dismiss this cabinet of 50 cigars, not least because it has arrived, mirabile dictu, in good time for the festive season. The Cuban cigar industry has a commendably relaxed attitude towards such quotidian concerns as delivery dates and deadlines and I seem to remember that the PL47 had been due in the UK during 2021. Call me a cynical old sceptic, but when I learned that the PL47 would be launched a mere two years late on November 1, I was looking forward to its arrival on these shores sometime towards the end of January.