On Saturday, July 4, Diadema S.p.A. held a launch party in Matelica for one of the most anticipated new Cuban cigars of 2026. This week, that cigar is set to arrive at stores in Italy.
The cigar is the La Escepción Selectos Reales, a new Edición Regional release for Italy. It’s a 5 1/2 (140mm) x 52 belicoso, a common vitola known as campanas within the Cuban vitola naming system.
Pricing has not yet been confirmed but production is limited to 4,000 numbered boxes of 50 cigars.
The Selectos Reales is described as the third release in a trilogy for the La Escepción brand. Unlike just about every other Edición Regional cigar, La Escepción is not an active Cuban cigar brand that Habanos S.A. regularly sells.
It was created by José Gener Batet, a Spaniard who immigrated to Cuba and is best remembered for founding the Hoyo de Monterrey brand. La Escepción was discontinued in the late 1980s but was revived in 2011 as an Edición Regional cigar for Italy. A subsequent Italian Edición Regional cigar was introduced in 2015, making the Selectos Reales the third release.
- La Escepción Selectos Finos Edición Regional Italia 2011 (6 1/2 x 38) — 2012 — 2,000 Boxes of 25 (50,000 Total Cigars)
- La Escepción Don José Edición Regional Italia 2015 (5 x 48) — 2015 — 4,000 Boxes of 25 Cigars (100,000 Total Cigars)
- La Escepción Selectos Reales Edición Regional Italia (5 1/2 x 50) — 2026 — 4,000 Boxes of 50 Cigars (200,000 Total Cigars)*
*Not pictured
The Edición Regional program is offered by Habanos S.A. to its various distributors around the world. Each year, distributors can select one cigar to be commissioned for their region, though there have been exceptions when some distributors have been able to select more than one. Normally, those cigars must come from a brand that was not part of the company’s former “Global Brands” and must be a size that is currently not offered in that specific brand.
Edición Regional cigars are signified by a secondary red and silver band that traditionally used the words “Edición Regional”, followed typically by the name of the region represented by that specific distributor. Often, the cigars do not arrive at stores during the year they are selected for, sometimes multiple years later. In this case, the secondary band says “Exclusivo Italia”, which is becoming more common in modern times, and the cigar was officially part of the 2025 program.
Overall Score
Diadema S.p.A.
Edición Regional
Habanos S.A.
Italy
La Escepción
La Escepción Selectos Reales Edición Regional Italia (2025)
