Cuba has a new Montecristo size for the global duty-free market, the Montecristo Fragata. The cigar is a parejo measuring 5 1/2 inches long by 54 ring gauge. If those dimensions sound familiar, it’s because they are shared by the popular Partagás Serie E No. 2, as well as more limited cigars such as the Bolivar Soberano Edición Limitada 2018 and the Punch Duke, a Regional Edition made for Mexico in 2019. The size is a format known as Duke in Cuban cigar factories. The cigar will only be sold via duty-free markets.
Montecristo Fragata made its debut last night in Cannes, France, at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, a major event for the duty-free market. Like so many new Cuban cigars, these will not come cheap. Montecristo Fragata is packaged in a stately travel humidor that holds 20 cigars and has a suggested retail price of $1,280 (or 1,100 euros). Each cigar has a suggested retail price of $64, or 55 euros. Prices may vary somewhat from market to market. The cigars are adorned with the familiar Montecristo cigar band as well as a red and gold footband capped with a fleur-de-lis, the symbol of Montecristo.
Fragata is the Spanish word for frigate, which is a small, speedy type of warship. The name is connected with the famed novel The Count of Monte Cristo, which inspired the cigar brand. The protagonist, Edmond Dantes, has a private yacht said to be faster than a frigate.
Habanos S.A., which runs Cuba’s cigar industry, described the new cigar as a “classic Montecristo blend,” created to be medium to strong in body. Montecristos have been rolled in Cuba since 1935, and it’s one of the country’s most famous cigar brands, arguably second in stature only to Cohiba.
