Byron: Three Centuries, Costa Rica and Years of Ageing

Byron is the second brand from Selected Tobacco, the company Nelson Alfonso Egüed built around one idea: that a cigar should be sold when it is ready rather than when it is rolled. Byron's filler is aged four years before rolling, and the finished cigars are aged a further five. Some releases go much further than that. Our Byron collection carries the Poemas, Venecianos, Mesolongis and Londinenses vitolas plus the 175 Tribute Set.

This profile covers the three Siglo series, the ageing regime, the vitolas, and the vintage numbering that makes Byron unusual.

The three Siglo series

Byron organises itself by century. Siglo is Spanish for century, and the three series are Serie Siglo XIX, Serie Siglo XX and Serie Siglo XXI, honouring the three centuries in which the Byron name has operated.

The series is not a strength ladder. It is closer to a set of chapters, with different vitolas, wrappers and ageing under each. The 19th Century line holds Poemas and Petit Poemas. The 20th Century line holds Habaneros, Londinenses, Venecianos and Mesolongis. The 21st Century line holds Elegantes and Distinguidos.

Four Byrons, including the Tribute Set

Petit Poemas is the way in. Venecianos and Mesolongis are the large 20th Century formats. The 175 Tribute Set is the four cigar presentation.

Four years, then five more

Byron's filler is aged four years, and the finished cigars are aged five. Across the Selected Tobacco portfolio the post roll ageing runs from two to five years depending on the line, and some Byron releases go far beyond that. The Londinenses, a 5.5 by 54 under a dark Ecuadorian wrapper, was rolled in 2010 and released after ten years of post roll ageing, in one hundred numbered jars of twenty five.

All of it is made at Tabacos de Costa Rica, the same factory as Atabey and Alfonso. In the United States, Selected Tobacco is distributed by United Cigars.

The vitolas

Note that Selected Tobacco publishes blends only partially, and never in full. Where a component is not disclosed, we say so rather than filling the gap. Peruvian filler is the unusual component here and worth knowing about: it is naturally sweet with a distinctive spice, and it appears in very few blends outside this company's portfolio.

The two aged releases

Both are the reason to look at this brand rather than another at the price.

Vintage numbering and the jars

Byron is one of very few brands that designates releases by the vintage year the tobacco was rolled. The aged trio released across 2020 and 2021 was designated 2015 and 2016 with four to five years of post roll ageing, limited to 200 boxes of 25, individually numbered. The 2017 humidor releases were capped at 200 humidors per vitola per year.

If you collect, that numbering is the point. If you simply want a good cigar, it is a promise that the cigar in your hand has already had the time that most cigars need you to give them in your own humidor.

What we notice first-hand

Byron is the least known brand in our luxury range, and the reason is entirely commercial rather than qualitative. Selected Tobacco does not run social channels for it, does not advertise, and lets United Cigars carry it into the market quietly. That means the price reflects the cigar rather than the marketing behind it, which at this level is rare.

The Petit Poemas at 4 by 50 is the piece of advice we would actually give. It is the least expensive way into a house whose entire proposition is ageing, and the short format concentrates rather than dilutes it. A 4 inch cigar that has been resting for nine years tastes like something that took nine years.

A note on availability. These are small numbered runs, and when a vitola sells through it is usually gone rather than restocked. If a specific Byron matters to you, call rather than wait.

Byron at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all Byron

The bottom line

Start with the Petit Poemas. Move to Venecianos or Mesolongis when you want the large 20th Century formats, and treat Londinenses and the Epique Poemas as collector pieces. If you like what Byron does, its sibling Atabey takes the same idea further, and Alfonso takes it in a third direction.

Keep exploring