Ramon Allones (cigar brand)

Ramón Allones is the name of two premium cigar brands, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and other produced in Honduras for General Cigar.

History

The brand was created by brothers Ramón and Antonio Allones (no relation to the Antonio Allones of El Rey del Mundo fame) in 1845 and is supposedly the first cigar brand to have utilized colorful lithographs for box art, the first brand to utilize bands on cigars, and the first to package cigars in the "8-9-8" style (though there are several rival claimants as to who first made box art and bands).

The brand went through numerous ownership changes before it was finally bought by the Cifuentes family and production was moved to the famous Partagás Factory, where Ramón Allones cigars are still made to this day.

After the Revolution, production continued uninterrupted and Ramón Allones has consistently stayed popular with cigar aficionados through the decades. In the opinions of many, it shares many similarities with its cousin Partagás as far as body, sizes, and packaging. It has always been produced in smaller quantities than Partagás, possibly to ensure higher quality and raised demand for the brand.

Since 2001, when Altadis bought a controlling share of Habanos SA, the Ramón Allones marque has seen the majority of its manufactured sizes discontinued, including the much-beloved Coronas and even the 8-9-8 size it helped pioneer. Of the sizes available now, the Specially Selected, Gigantes, and Small Club Coronas are still incredibly popular among aficionados. The Bit of Havana is still listed as in production by Habanos SA, but few have seen this cigar since 2001.

In 2005, as part of Edición Regional series of new vitolas, Switzerland received a limited release of Ramón Allones Eminencias.

"Vitolas" in the Ramón Allones Line

The following list of "vitolas" (sizes) within the Ramón Allones 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"
* Gigante - 7 5/8" x 49 (194 x 19.45 mm) Prominente, a double corona
* Specially Selected - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
* Small Club Corona - 4 3/8" x 42 (110 x 16.67 mm) Minuto, a tres petit corona
* Belicoso - 5 1/2 x 52 Not a Limited Edition, but available only in the UK market, a Torpedo/Pyramid
* 898 - 43 x 6 3/4"Machine-Made or Hand-Finished Vitolas"
* Bit of Havana - 4 1/8" x 29 (106 x 11.51 mm) Chico, a cigarillo"Edición Regional Releases"
* Eminencia - 5 5/8" x 44 (143 x 17.46 mm) Francisco, a corona extra (Switzerland)
* Estupendo - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm) Julieta 2, a churchill (Asia Pacific)

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/Ramon-Allones.htm Reviews of Ramon Allones Cigars]
* [http://www.cubancigars.net.au Ramon Allones Cuban cigar reviews]