Cuba’s Newest: The Cohiba Behike BHK 58
As cigars seem to grow ever fatter, Cuba’s cigar industry has followed the trend, adding a massive new size to its most luxurious cigar brand. In February, Cuba debuted the Cohiba Behike BHK 58, a pigtailed smoke measuring 7 inches long by 58 ring gauge. The new cigar is expected to sell for hundreds of dollars apiece once it formally hits the market. A humidor dedicated to the brand and stuffed with 400 Behikes sold for 4.6 million euros (about $4.8 million) on March 1, a record price.
News of the new Behike broke on day one—Monday, February 24—of the Habanos Festival. The weeklong celebration of cigars is thrown by Habanos S.A., the Havana-based company that controls Cuba’s cigar industry. At a press conference attended by scores of journalists from around the world, Habanos announced nearly three dozen additions to its product lineup and claimed a double-digit sales gain, to $827 million, with no comment on production figures. But no news could compare to that of the new Behike, the first addition to the line in 15 years.
In 2010, Habanos unveiled the Cohiba Behike BHK trio, pigtailed cigars named for their ring gauges: 52, 54 and 56. Each was said to be made with a bit of medio tiempo tobacco, a type of strong filler leaf that grows atop some tobacco plants, tobacco that had fallen out of favor in Cuba before being revived for the Behike project. The 52 went on to become Cigar of the Year for 2010. (Cuba released a Behike in 2006, but the cigar was so limited that few have ever smoked one. Only 4,000 were made. Today, those cigars sell for thousands of dollars apiece.) The new 58 was created for the 15th anniversary of the release of the BHK line.
It’s hard to overestimate the appeal of a Behike. “It’s the cigar that everybody wants to try once—it’s the Holy Grail,” says José Miguel Salvador, owner of La Casa del Habano in Santiago, Chile.
“Behike is the crème de la crème of cigars, only for special occasions,” says Rekha Patel of No. 6 Cavendish in London and the Casa del Habano in Teddington, United Kingdom.
To describe Behikes as rare is a considerable understatement. On each visit to the island, Cigar Aficionado scours Cuba’s many cigar stores—we haven’t seen a single Behike on the shelves there in years. Our most recent visit in February was no exception. The appeal of such an elusive cigar is only compounded by its traditionally high ratings. It’s a cigar that not only has buzz, but the quality to back up the hype.
All Cohibas are the target of counterfeiters, and Behikes are of particular interest given their rarity and premium price. However, certain packaging details can help foil fakes. New Behikes will now have snazzy footbands, complete with the vitola name. Not only do the main bands have holograms that are difficult to reproduce, embedded within are NFC devices that are able to send wireless signals to help identify genuine cigars from fakes. The cigars will still only come in boxes of 10.
Behikes of various sizes were given out at tasting seminars during the week of the Festival, but nearly everyone had to wait until Friday night, the final day of the event, to get the 58.
The Habanos Festival traditionally ends with a gala dinner, including impressive entertainment and a charity auction at which some lots sell for millions of dollars apiece. With 1,400 people in attendance in a convention center without a kitchen, no one comes for the food. The extraordinary cigars passed out at this dinner were the main event. Upon arriving, the guests were each given a gift box containing all four sizes of the Behike BHK line, including the new 58. (New to the Festival is the option to buy the sampler packs handed out as a part of each of the many events without going to the actual event. In the past, the only way to get the handout from a particular event was to be there in person. Now, Cuba also sells these to those who attend the Festival in general. The four-pack of Behikes was being sold for $2,400, which translates to $600 per cigar. We saw packs from earlier events for sale in some cigar shops in Havana during the 2025 Festival; it’s unclear whether these packs will make their way to cigar shops here in the future.)
You’re not expected to tuck into your sample pack, as cigars are passed out throughout the evening. This night there were five. The first was a Cohiba Medio Siglo, the only non-Behike passed out all evening. The whole Behike line was given out, each cigar adorned with special 15th anniversary bands, instead of the normal Behike bands. The Cohiba BHK 52 was followed by the 54, then the 56 and finally that new 58, which arrived around midnight.
Smoke filled the air with the arrival on the auction block of the final lot—a large, majestic Cohiba Behike humidor filled with 400 Behike cigars, 100 of each size. It sold for a record 4.6 million euros ($4.8 million), part of a total 16.4 million euros ($17 million) raised that night. Habanos says the proceeds are donated to
Cuba’s healthcare system.
It’s uncertain when the new cigar will make its way to the world market, with official prices yet to be revealed. What is certain is that they will be extremely high. “The demand is there,” says Ajay Patel, one of the U.K.’s savviest cigar retailers. “The guys who have smoked a Behike will definitely want to try the 58—and will pay for it.”
Behikes were hot before this launch. Now, they are even hotter.
