FROM THE EL LAGUITO FACTORY

When El Laguito opened it was staffed only by women. Now I don't know if this was at the request of the women Torcedores who had gotten tired of Latin machismo or if they were exiled there by the same machismo but the result is the best cigar factory in Cuba (hence in the world). I was lucky that my friend had a lot of relatives there and I was always able to get many different styles of their products. In other words; the whole Cohiba Line as well as Trinidad's.  
  Cohiba's all seem to share the same blend. The Esplendido, for example, tastes roughly the same as the Siglo III's. I've also smoked many El Laguito No. 1's and Robusto's and find that the size controls the way the smoke is delivered but the blend remains, basically, the same. 
The only one of El Laguito's products that tasted different, to me at least, was the Trinidad. It was much the same but milder and more subtle. If I could have controlled myself (which I never can) and aged them a bit I have no doubt that a great deal more subtlety would have appeared. The Trinidad's also came in a box of 21, instead of the usual box of 25. I got these the year they went on the open market (before that they were only given out as State gifts by Fidel Castro himself). 
  If you go to the upper right hand corner of one of my Cuban cigar band pictures  (see Po' Boys Cigar Blog) you'll see a band of gold with black printing that says Trinidad. This is the original label. The later labels have a triple "T" logo (as seen below).

  Of them all I will have to say that the Esplendido was my favorite but only because it was the biggest (to me, bigger is always better). 
  The Esplendido is a Churchill (julieta 2) 47x7.0 The Laguito No.1 is a Lancero (gran panetela) 38x7.9/16, The Robusto  is a 50x4.7/8 and the Trinidad was a long, thin panetela whose dimensions I no longer know but as I remember them they were as long as the No. 1 but a bit thinner (maybe a 36 ring gage).