The verdict The Behike 56 remains the benchmark Cuban cigar. The 2024 La Casa de Habano release box (£1,950) shows superior construction and complexity to the recent 2025 box; both significantly outperform 2023-vintage boxes still in circulation.
The Cohiba Behike line has been the subject of more speculation, counterfeiting, and aspirational acquisition than any single cigar release in the modern era. The Behike 56 — the largest of the three Behike vitolas, at 56 ring gauge and 166mm length — is the most consequential of the three, and it is the cigar against which serious Cuban smokers continue to benchmark the category.
For this review, we acquired three boxes of Behike 56 from authorized La Casa de Habano retailers in Hong Kong, London, and Singapore: a January 2024 box, a September 2025 box, and a February 2026 box. All three were rested for at least eight weeks at 65% relative humidity in our reference cabinet before tasting. Five cigars from each box were smoked in controlled conditions across three sessions per box.
Construction
Construction quality has been the most-discussed aspect of recent Behike production, and the discussion has been broadly justified. The 2024 box (purchased at £1,950 per box of ten) showed exemplary construction across all five samples: a clean draw on every cigar, even burn lines, no significant tunneling on any sample, ash holding to approximately 25mm before falling.
The September 2025 box (purchased at £2,200) showed slightly less consistent construction. Two of the five samples showed minor draw issues that resolved with a perfect-draw tool; one sample required relighting at the halfway point due to an uneven burn. The remaining two were exemplary.
The February 2026 box (purchased at £2,400) was the most consistent of the three boxes; all five samples drew cleanly and burned evenly without intervention.
Flavor profile
Across all three boxes, the Behike 56 presented the characteristic profile that has defined the line since its introduction: cocoa, leather, gentle spice, the medicinal earthiness of aged Cuban tobacco, with the Medio Tiempo leaf in the filler producing the characteristic strength build through the second third.
The most striking difference across vintages was complexity. The 2024 box showed the greatest aromatic development, with a clear citrus-peel note appearing in the second third that we did not detect in either the 2025 or 2026 boxes. The 2026 box, while younger and less developed, showed the cleanest construction and the most disciplined burn — characteristics that we expect will resolve into greater complexity with two to three additional years of aging.
We do not, in our experience, recommend smoking the 2026 box for at least eighteen additional months. The cigar is currently very good but will be significantly better after a controlled rest.
Comparison to recent releases
The Behike 56 remains, in our view, ahead of the recent Cohiba 1966 and the 2024 Edicion Limitada releases on complexity and construction. The Behike 54 — the smaller vitola — is, paradoxically, slightly less consistent in our recent experience than the 56; the larger ring gauge appears to permit greater tolerance for filler variation.
Within the broader Cuban category, the recent Punch 185 Aniversario double corona is the only cigar of the past two years that has, in blind comparison, scored within five points of the Behike 56 on our panel.
Verdict
The Behike 56 remains the benchmark Cuban cigar, and recent boxes — particularly from La Casa de Habano allocations — continue to justify the line’s reputation. At £1,950 to £2,400 per box of ten, depending on release, the cigar is genuinely expensive but represents a defensible value relative to the secondary market for older Behike boxes (which have reached £4,500 for unopened 2018 boxes at recent auction).
The Premium Standard: 19.0 / 20
Verification
Every factual claim in this review was checked against external sources before publication, on 2026-03-30. Where a figure could not be independently confirmed, it is described in approximate terms in the text. To challenge a fact, write to corrections@premiumtravelreview.com.
