52-SelBudCu2 R195.00

As the Americans used to say – “what the country needs is a good 10c cigar”.
Maybe what you need for a casual smoke is a good “Budget” cigar.

One of the most effective ways of making a budget Cuban cigar is by using shorter filler leaf – much less expensive than the full leaf and with less wastage.
We’ve put together an interesting “Budget Selection” for you, highlighting cigars from two different areas of Cuba made in this way. These cigars are big enough to be complex in flavour - giving a satisfying, balanced smoke - yet not taking more than 45 minutes from start to finish.

Many “Budget” cigars from Cuba are slender – not panatelas, just a slightly smaller ring gauge than usual. The trick is to open up as much of the head as possible to ease the draw –  but don’t cut beyond the cap.
Then smoke them slowly – you’ll get the most flavour that way, and enjoy a cool smoke.

Colin Wesley

Quintero Londres Extra – (Slim Petit Corona 123mm x Ring 40)
Quintero is one of the few Habanos brands not born in Cuba’s capital city, Havana. Instead its founder Agustin Quintero with his four brothers set up shop in the south coast city of Cienfuegos, known as the “Pearl of the South”. Then as now, all the tobaccos selected for Quintero came from the Vuelta Abajo region, home of the finest tobaccos in the world. The cigar is "totalmente a mano, tripa corta" - totally hand made, short filler. Quintero’s smooth, medium bodied taste makes it ideal for those seeking to experience the taste of Habanos at an affordable price.

Guantanamera Decimos (Slim Corona, 134mm x Ring38)
Launched in Europe at the end of 2002, Guantanamera is the newest of the more affordable Cuban cigars. The cigars are made with tobacco from Vuelta Arriba, the second most important tobacco-growing region in Cuba, better known for supplying tobacco for European cigars. All sizes are "mecanizado" – totally machine made with short filler at a modern factory recently created in Havana. The wrapper is in general finer than that on some of the older machine-made cigars - no lumps and bruises or thick veins. The Decimos is a slender cigar, but the short filler is ideal giving an easy, mostly consistent draw. It’s a comfortable smoke – very mild and light bodied, yet the taste is deliciously, spicy Cuban.

Jose L. Piedra Petit Cetros (Slim Petit Corona 127mm x Ring 38)
This is a slightly unusual range of cigars, because the leaf is grown exclusively, not in the Vuelta Abajo region, but in the Vuelta Arriba region of Cuba where cigar leaf has been grown since the 16th century. The cigars are in cardboard packs of 5 or 25. The Habanos website tells us that these are made by hand, but from shorter filler leaf – easier to blend and to handle.