Backstory: Diplomáticos was launched in 1966 as the first all-new Cuban brand created for commercial sale after the Revolution. It was conceived as a value-priced sibling to Montecristo, sharing a similar blend profile but offered at a slightly milder character with a lighter shade wrapper. The brand was originally aimed at the French market, where Montecristo had become priced out for many smokers.

Backstory: The line follows the Montecristo template with five numbered vitolas (No. 1 through No. 5). Two larger sizes — No. 6 and No. 7, mirroring the Montecristo Especial and Especial No. 2 — were briefly introduced in 1976 but discontinued in the mid-1980s.

Release: A core, regular-production cigar that has been in continuous catalog distribution since the brand's debut. The No. 2 is the Pirámides vitola of the brand.

Tobacco: Tripa larga totalmente a mano — long-filler, fully hand-rolled. All leaf is sourced from the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río, Cuba's most prized tobacco-growing area.

Color: A beautifully oily, toothy wrapper described as Colorado Maduro to mocha brown, with prominent veins and tight, nearly invisible seams. Construction is consistently rustic-looking yet visually striking.

Fun Fact: All Diplomáticos cigars are rolled at the José Martí factory (formerly H. Upmann) in Havana. The brand sits in a select handful of Cuban marcas that have remained continuously produced since the 1960s without major reformulation.