Habanos presented in Madrid (Spain) the 2025 edition of the “Habanos & Tauromaquia” (Habanos and Bullfighting) series, which they dedicated this year to the now-retired bullfighter Luis Francisco Esplá, who is also a cigar smoker. The cigar chosen for this new edition is Montecristo Edmundo (135 mm x 52), presented in boxes of ten, in the same vein as the six previous editions: black lacquer and featuring a colorful diagram depicting Esplá performing the so-called “suerte de banderillas,” a bullfighting art in which he was a renowned master and innovator.
At the presentation, alongside Juan Girón, communications manager for Tabacalera (official distributor of Habanos in Spain), Esplá presented himself as a complete artist, cultured, a good conversationalist, and a lover of cigars, whose aroma, he said, has always been associated with the world of bullfighting. “My first cigar, a Montecristo No. 4, was given to me by an “apoderado” (bullfighter’s agent), and I immediately understood that smoking a cigar is like emptying yourself, elevating yourself, achieving the extraction of your soul.” Although, he acknowledged, he likes to smoke alone, he prefers to share his cigar with friends, because “for the stories to be truthful, they must be certified with a good cigar.”
Both Girón and Esplá discussed for half an hour the parallels between a bullfight, which is divided into tercios, with cigars, Cuban bullfighting tradition, and the role of tobacco in the ring. Girón stated that in Havana, in the 19th century, there were twenty-one bullrings, which attests to the passion for bullfighting that existed in Cuba at that time.
The fifty or so attendees had the opportunity to try the Montecristo Edmundo cigar, paired with Luis Felipe brandy and a bite of Serrano ham 959, 100% acorn-fed Iberian ham from Jabugo, one of the most prestigious designations of origin for ham in Spain.
Habanos and Tauromaquia, dedicated to the maestro Esplá, is the seventh edition in the series, which is already highly sought after by collectors around the world, following those dedicated to Morante de la Puebla, Joselito, Belmonte, Mazzantini, Pedro Romero, and Manolete.
The box set will go on sale exclusively in Spanish tobacconists starting in early October, and although there’s no official price yet, given the prices for previous series, it’s likely to be around €300 for a box of ten.
