Havana factories vs. satellite factories

[Rocco]

just wondering,
has anyone noticed any quality or taste discrepency between cigars rolled in Havana factories versus satellite factories outside of Havana. My experience with cigars from Havana factories(when we knew the factory code)has always been good. But I have been a little less lucky with boxes originating from the Santa Clara and Villa Clara factories.
Has anyone here experienced the same problems or has this problem been resolved?

[kingcohiba]

do you mean factories outside of cuba? i read the other day that some cuban cigars are rolled in places such as germany. is there any truth to that?

[trevor2118]

do you mean factories outside of cuba? i read the other day that some cuban cigars are rolled in places such as germany. is there any truth to that?

No. A Habanos Cuban cigar must the rolled in Cuba using only Cuban tobacco.

This storey probably arose from the San Luis Rey brand. It was a post-revolution brand established late 1980's, and was mainly exported to Germany, and was discontinued in 2000.

From 2000 until circa 2002 a Long Panetela was made in the ECU (probably Germany) under the authority of Habanos SA, using 100% Cuban tobacco. Is was sold under the same brand name but with a slightly different band. It is not officially Cuban.

There is also a non-Cuban brand with the same name.

Band image of this cigar shown here:

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=San_Luis_Rey

[Rocco]

no, not outside of Cuba, but outside of Havana, in Cuba's other provinces.

[hilsand]

Yeah! You are right. You will find many websites who sells normal cigar with the brand name of Cuban cigars.

[whisky77]

A little bit?

I`m confused on this thread.

[Rocco]

I hope I can clear this up. Havana's 4 factories, H.Upmann, El Laguito, Partagas and La Corona only produce about 20 million cigars a year. Cuba produces 120-140 million cigars a year, the balance of these cigars are produces in factories outside of Havana but still in Cuba, where the quality control can be an issue. What I am asking is when we were able to recognize the factory codes, did you notice any difference in quality from cigars rolled in Havana factories or their satellite factories outside of Havana.