Robert

Weller by Cohiba: a review by Halfwheel

Given our recent Buffalo Trace tasting, which included the prestigious Weller 12, I thought a few of you may enjoy picking up a few of these Weller by Cohiba cigars. I purchased mine at Cigora.

Full review: https://halfwheel.com/weller-by-cohiba-2022/418719/

Overall score: 88

During the summer of 2021, General Cigar Co. released a Weller-bourbon branded cigar that was sold under the Cohiba label. Appropriately named Weller by Cohiba, the cigar was a 5 1/2 x 50 robusto extra made up of a Honduran ligero wrapper from San Agustín, a habano medio tiempo binder from Connecticut and filler tobaccos grown in the Estelí and Ometepe regions of Nicaragua.

Despite its name, the tobaccos used in the original Weller by Cohiba were not aged in barrels that previously held Weller bourbon. None of the tobaccos were aged in barrels, nor were the cigars infused with any bourbon-like flavors. Having said that, Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s (STG)—the owner of General Cigar Co.—said at the time that the blenders drank the various whiskeys while blending the cigar.

In September 2022, General Cigar announced a follow-up named Weller by Cohiba 2022, a 6 x 50 toro that incorporates an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper covering a Connecticut broadleaf binder as well as a multitude of filler tobaccos sourced from three different countries: the Dominican Republic, Estelí, Nicaragua and three regions in Honduras: Jamastran, La Entrada and Olancho San Agustin. However, unlike the original incarnation, the newest version includes tobacco that is aged in barrels; specifically, the Connecticut broadleaf binder is aged in spent bourbon barrels from the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky. that were transported to the General Cigar Dominicana factory in the Dominican Republic.