H. Upmann Havoc cigars are a newer offering from an ancient brand. This cigar maker originally was based in Cuba, and today has split into two companies – one still in Cuba, one made in the Dominican Republic by Altadis at Tabacalera de Garcia. But the company history is one you’ll still see represented on the box art.
In the 1800s, Herman Dietrich Upmann was in Cuban working as a banker. But he also purchased a cigar factory and began producing smokes under his own mark. Long before the age of the Internet, you couldn’t simply look up a brand and see how many “stars” it had in its rating. But a brand could attend international competitions and submit its product to the judges there to see how it stacked up against what others were making.
There were competitions for many different kinds of products, including luxury vices like premium whiskey and wine. If you won a competition like this, you’d slap a golden medallion on your packaging so everyone knew that your stuff was decent. H. Upmann brought his cigars around the world and actually stacked up a nice pile of gold medal wins. Today, you can still see these medals from the 1800s represented on boxes like the one that contains your H. Upmann Havoc cigars. When you get named the official cigar provider of "His Majesty Don Alfonso XII, King of Spain," you tend to brag about it.
And you thought Cowboys fans were living in the past!
The blend here is a bit different than the rest of the H. Upmann portfolio. This is a refined and subtle smoke, not meant to be overpowering or to have huge flavor notes. It’s a cigar for relaxing without being blown out of your seat. The long-filler blend is Nicaraguan tobacco, with a Dominican binder – a nice rich combo that we see plenty of.
The wrapper on the H. Upmann Havoc cigar is one that might surprise you, though: Mexican San Andrés Criollo ’98. We’re so used to seeing that type of leaf extensively fermented into a dark and earthy Maduro, but here it’s treated as a traditional wrapper leaf and only lightly fermented. This takes the greenness out of it and gets it ready for smoking.
What you get as a result of H. Upmann Havoc cigars is a flavor profile that’s classic and nicely balanced. The taste of cedar dominates, followed by spices like cinnamon and clove, along with a peanut note that really warms things up. It’s the type of understated smoke that really can be enjoyable and deserves a place in pretty much any humidor. We wonder why they called such a gentlemanly blend “Havoc?”
Please browse our selection of H. Upmann Havoc cigars at your leisure.
This puts us in the mood for an old-timey cocktail. When was the last time you had a sidecar? Cognac, orange liqueur, and fresh lemon juice go down pretty easy, and people have been drinking them forever.