H. Upmann

H. Upmann is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in La Romana, Dominican Republic for the Franco-Spanish tobacco monopoly Altadis SA.

History

This marque traces its history back to 1844 and several rival versions of the story of its origin exist. It is known for sure that two brothers, August and Hermann Upmann founded the brand in that year. An alternate claim is that their surname was, in fact, Hupmann, but the "H" was dropped from the name of the brand because "H. Upmann" was more aesthetically appealing than "H. Hupmann". Both claims are likely because both Hupmann and Upmann are German surnames. Alternately, there is a claim that the "H" in H. Upmann stands for either "Hermann" or the Spanish word "Hermanos", meaning "brothers," since it was Hermann and August who founded the brand.

In one version of the story they were German textile manufacturers who moved their family-owned operation to Havana, Cuba. Supposedly, they were avid cigar smokers and used cigars as a promotion tool for their customers. They are sometimes even credited with the invention of packaging cigars in cedar boxes to give to their customers. These original box were labelled with the H. Upmann name and contained other manufacturers' cigars, most likely as an advertisement for the operation, until the Upmanns bought their own cigar factory in 1844: the famous H. Upmann Factory, now known as the José Martí Factory, in Havana. In another version of the story, it was the Upmann brothers' nephews, German and Alberto, who founded the fabric and the cigars simply became associated with it.

Through the late 1800s, the H. Upmann brand gained international recognition at various exhibitions and won seven gold medals which still adorn the lithographed art on today's H. Upmann boxes, along with Hermann Upmann's original signature.

In 1922 (some claim 1932), both the bank and the cigar business went bankrupt. A British firm, J. Frankau & Co. bought the brand and continued production until 1935, when the brand was sold to Menéndez, García, y Cía, who continued production until the nationalization of the tobacco industry after the revolution. During this time period, Menéndez and García created their own special cigars within the marque, known as the H. Upmann Montecristo Selection, which would become the famous Montecristo brand.

A popular legend holds that the favorite cigar of US President John F. Kennedy was the H. Upmann Petit Upmann, and that the night before the embargo was signed, he had aide Pierre Salinger procure every box he could gather from Washington, DC tobacconists, for a total of 1,200 of his favorite cigars. Others have claimed this folk tale is untrue and that Kennedy's favorite cigars were actually those made in the Philippines. However Pierre Salinger himself has recounted that night and confirmed it was 1,200 cigars and that he recalls the Presidents favorite was the H. Upmann Petit.

After the revolution, Menéndez and García moved the brand first to the Canary Islands, then the Dominican Republic, where production of this brand still continues for the American market under the ownership of Altadis SA.

, numerous changes were made to brand lineups. The overall scope of the reforms was stated as to eventually make all the lines either totally handmade or totally machine-made, cut out redundancies (many Cuban brands have multiple cigars of the exact same size packaged with different tobacco blends and names), and eliminate low-selling cigar sizes. As of 2006, according to [http://www.habanos.com Habanos SA's website] , H. Upmann has been whittled down to only seven handmade sizes and five machine-made sizes. Misinformation abounds when it comes to cigar production, and Habanos has been known to regularly make exceptions for various importers and tobacconists, so this might not be completely true.

Popular among cigar aficionados are the No. 2, the Magnum 46, and the churchill-sized Sir Winston (named in honor of Winston Churchill).

In 2005, Habanos SA made an uncharacteristic move by releasing a new H. Upmann size as part of their annual "Edición Limitada" release. This is odd because the rule of the past has been that only the five globally-distributed marques (Cohíba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás, and Hoyo de Monterrey) have been used for "Edición Limitada" releases, whereas H. Upmann is a multi-locally distributed brand. This limited edition size was the large Magnum 50, thought to be an enticement to smokers with whom the Magnum 46 is very popular.

H. Upmann also produces two machine-made cigarillos (the Mini and the Purito) and a brand of cigarettes.

"Vitolas" in the Cuban H. Upmann Line

The following list of "vitolas" (sizes) within the H. Upmann line lists their measurements in English and metric, their "vitolas de galera" (factory name), and their conventional name in American cigar slang.

"Hand-Made Vitolas"
* Sir Winston - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm) Julieta, a churchill
* Monarca - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm) Julieta, a churchill
* No. 2 - 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo
* Magnum 46 - 5 5/8" x 46 (143 x 18.26 mm) Corona Gorda, a toro
* Connossieur No. 1 - 5" x 48 (127 x 19.05 mm) Hermoso No. 4, a robusto or rothschild
* Petit Corona - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
* Corona Junior - 4 1/2" x 36 (115 x 14.29 mm) Cadete, a tres petit corona"Machine-Made and Hand-Finished Vitolas"
* Majestic - 5 1/2" x 40 (140 x 15.87 mm) Crema, a corona
* Regalia - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Petit Corona, a petit corona
* Corona Major - 5 1/4" x 44 (132 x 17.46 mm) Eminente, a petit corona
* Corona Minor - 4 5/8" x 40 (117 x 15.87 mm) Coronita, a tres petit corona
* Epicure - 4 3/8" x 35 (110 x 13.89 mm) Epicure, a tres petit corona"Edición Limitada Release"
* Magnum 50 (2005) - 6 3/8" x 50 (160 x 20 mm) Double Robusto, a large toro

Trivia

* In his book "Mr. Jones' Rules" the editor of the British "GQ" claims that H. Upmanns were a favorite of JFK.
* According to Pierre Salinger, he was ordered to deliver President Kennedy a thousand H. Upmann brand petit corona Cuban cigarson on February 6. Upon their arrival on February 7 Kennedy signed the order putting the embargo on Cuba into effect. [ [http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,862,00.html Cigar Aficionado: "Kennedy, Cuba and Cigars"] ]

References

* Nee, Min Ron - "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars" (2003, Reprinted: 2005), ISBN 3-9809308-2-3

See also

* Cigar brands

External links

* [http://www.habanos.com Official website of Habanos S.A.]
* [http://www.cigars-review.org/cigars/H-Upmann.htm Reviews of H. Upmann Cigars]
* [http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=7042778522898603904 Video of Pierre Salinger on JFK's cigars]