Theme Week 24 = La Gloria Cubana
For more than 15 years, I have maintained a stash of La Gloria Cubana Serie R cigars. I remember the very first time I smoked one. I was amazed by its delightfully robust flavor while simultaneously enjoying the smoothness of its draw and its cool smoke. Ever since then, my humidor has never been without a number of these truly excellent cigars.

In the photo, two of the Serie R are 15 years old (as are the entire undisturbed box of Serie R which I intend to enjoy in about ten years after those become 25 years old), and those predate the manufacturer's decision a number of years ago to add a gold band to the foot of the Serie R.

History
The La Gloria Cubana brand was created in 1885 by the Sociedad Cabañas y Castro, then bought twenty years later in 1905 by José F. Rocha, who manufactured the brand from his factory at 364 Miguel Street in Havana. After Rocha died in 1954, the Cifuentes family bought both La Gloria Cubana and Bolivar from Rocha's former company. Production was moved to the Partagás Factory. Of course, as thoroughly noted in 'theme' week 21, the brand and factory were seized and stolen by the new Castro regime's communist government.

They stopped production of La Gloria Cubana for several years, until around 1965 when the stolen brand was apparently resurrected at the old stolen Partagás Factory.

The real brand was defunct for decades until Perez-Carrillo resurrected it outside of the communist regime, however the original company was forever lost when the communists stole everything in 1959, since only the Partagás company was reestablished in 1978.

In 1992, the magazine, Cigar Aficionado, first went into circulation. In the fall issue of that year a 90-point rating for the La Gloria Cubana Wavell brought national attention to the brand and created a demand for La Gloria that Perez-Carrillo would have never thought possible. Perez-Carillo soon after further expanded the La Gloria Cubana Serie R with 20 percent more ligero in the blend.

Then Serie R came out with a 58 and 60 ring gauge, to the delight of the cigar-smoking public, and this release is most likely what signaled the fat ring gauge trend we see today. Read all about this at = https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/an-earnest-50-years