To James, David, Gordon, Marvin, et al,

Within the forum several of us are stumped about references to the "nine true robustos" (habanos). What are the ~nine true robustos~ from Cuba? Or, is this something that some wannabe-expert made up to sound intelligent, or perhaps a marketing gizmo?

If any of you could shed some light on this, we'd all appreciate it, I'm sure.

Thanks!

[one week later]

Really? No one? Is this stupid question?

Not a stupid question at all, it's just that the editors have quite a number of responsibilities, such as writing and editing stories, that take precedence over answering reader questions in the forums. I know we'd all like our questions answered immediately, but it can't always happen. We try to answer as much as we can.

I've never heard of anyone refer to the "9 true robustos of Cuba," but here's my suspicion as to its origin. Unlike the non-Cuban cigar world, the Cuban cigar industry is very specific about its sizes. A Cuban robusto is 4 7/8 inches long by 50 ring gauge. In the non-Cuban cigar world, a robusto could be just about any cigar that's considerably thick and around 5 inches in length.

If you look at the sizes in the Habanos line, I only count 7 regular cigars that fit the specific Cuban robusto vitola: Cohiba Robusto, Partagas Serie D No. 4, Bolivar Royal Corona (our cigar of the year last year), Juan Lopez Seleccion No. 2, the Hoyo Epi 2, Ramon Allones Specially Selected and the Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill. Now if you throw in special ones, like the Serie D No. 4 Reserva, or the Montecriso Robusto, or count tubos as separate cigars from the regular line I could see how you would get to nine.

Now if you say what about other Cuban robustos, like the Romeo Exhibicion No. 4, the Vegas Robaina Famosos and the Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme? While we would rate those in our robusto category, and they certainly look like robustos, in a Cuban cigar factory those cigars are technically a Hermoso No. 4, at 5 inches by 48 ring just a tad longer than a robusto and a bit slimmer.

It might depend on when the the "nine true robusto" list was written. There are a few discontinued regular production robustos.
The Dunhill Cabinetta and La Flor De Cano Short Churchills would be two examples.
Then again there was no Romeo Short Churchill when the above expired so that does not explain it either.

David, thank you for answering my question. I wasn't intending to be pushy. (slightly guilty...)

Anyway, that makes great amounts of sense, and seems to hold true. I probably should have thought of that. I was thinking along the lines of "legendary" or "original" robustos. Well, there you go.

AnRyan, yes perhaps the true robusto list changes like David suggested. Or, perhaps "the nine true robustos" are a specific list from a point in time.