Kafie 1901 is releasing a Culebra. Culebra is Spanish for snake. It is a unique vitola. Three thin cigars are braided together to create a special vitola. In the case of Kafie 1901, the three cigars all measure 6×38. That’s slightly longer and thinner than the most famous Culebra on the market. That is the Partagas Culebra. This La Casa del Habano exclusive Habanos cigar measures 5¾x39.

The idea and the blend

Dr. Gaby Kafie founded his Tabacalera to preserve the Honduran tobacco culture. His love for tradition now leads him to create the Kafie 1901 Culebra. It will be a regular yet limited production. The cigars are made with a Nicaraguan Habano Maduro wrapper. The binder comes from Jamastran, Honduras. The filler is from Jamastran as well, combined with tobacco from Jalapa, Nicaragua. 

Each Culebra is packed in a coffin made out of Spanish cedar with a sliding lid. The Culebra vitola shows off the skills of the cigar rollers. When the cigars are still damp, they are twisted together to create a unique shape. This calendar year, 1000 Kafie 1901 culebras will make it to the market. The production numbers for the years to come have not been determined yet.

Culebra history

The exact origin of the Culebra is unknown. There are many stories about the origin but the most accepted one is that the Culebra originated in Cuba. According to urban legends, torcedores are allowed to bring home three cigars per day. To prevent theft, factory owners created the Culebra. Every factory worker could bring home a Culebra a day. But there are flaws in this story. It would be easy for factory workers to turn regular production cigars into Culebras. Plus, making a Culebra takes extra time. The extra time that factory owners would rather use to produce more cigars for sale.

The other most shared story is that the Culebra originated in The Philippines in the mid-19th century. By weaving thinner cigars together, they mature quicker. Which seems like a much more reliable story in our book. Yet, it creates a shape that isn’t popular with cigar enthusiasts. It only works for thin cigars, and it takes extra time to produce them. The idea never caught on, only as a novelty.

Other Culebras

Many companies create limited edition Culebras as a novelty. Either to celebrate the release of a new line, such as the Oliva series V, or the Cain Daytona. Tatuaje created a Culebra as a tribute to Ernest Hemingway with the Old Man and the C. Gran Habano, La Flor Dominicana and Davidoff created Culebras with three different blends weaved together. And for the Orchant Seleccion by Alec Bradley, a shorter, thicker cigar is used. Kafie 1901 isn’t making the Kafie 1901 Culebra as a novelty or limited edition run. It’s a regular production to show off the skills of the people working for Tabacalera Kafie. And we can’t wait to try them.