The grand final of the 2025 Boisdale Cuban Robusto Championship took place on 29th October at Boisdale Canary Wharf.
The competition began in April with a series of blind tasting heats, each pitting two Habanos against each other from the popular Robusto size category. This included not only the traditional Cuban Robusto format (4 7/8” x 50 ring gauge) but also other sizes commonly recognised by Habanos enthusiasts as “Robusto” (48 to 50 ring gauge and 4 7/8” to 5 1/8” in length). During each tasting, participants completed a scoring form inspired by the expert tasters in the cigar factories of Cuba known as Catadores.
Every factory in Cuba has its own team of Catadores (Spanish for “tasters”). They meet daily, typically in the morning when their palates are fresh, to conduct quality control tests on different cigars. Their evaluation process scores each cigar across six key criteria: draw, burn, aroma, flavour, strength, and overall quality. If any deviation from the established profile of a specific brand or size is detected, the Catadores recommend adjustments to the blend to maintain consistency and excellence.
Judged by over 40 budding Catadores under the watchful eye of H&F, the panel of UK cigar lovers blind tasted the two finalist and unbeknown to them at the time, crowned the Vegueros Centrofino (5 1/8”x 50 ring gauge) as their 2025 Cuban Robusto of the year seeing off along the way such Habanos classics as the Partagas Serie D No.4, Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill, Hoyo Epicure No.2 and in the final, Bolivar Royal Corona.
Vegueros translates into English as ‘Farmers’ and the cigars in the brand have happily maintained their rustic edge and blend. The names of each new vitola have also taken inspiration from the Cuban farmers’ vocabulary including Centrofino which refers to one of the layers of leaves on shade and sun grown tobacco plants.
Vegueros is a medium to full flavoured Havana cigar brand, and all its cigars are rolled at the “Francisco Donatien” factory, in the centre of Pinar del Rio city. All sizes of Vegueros are ‘tripa larga, totalmente a mano,’ – long filler, totally by hand, and made using tobacco from Vuelta Abajo, Cuba.
