Ashton Distributors Inc. and the Garcia family have launched a more intense version of their award-winning La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor brand called La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Reserva.

“Picture a stronger, richer, even more complex and refined version of Mi Amor,” said Ashton vice president Sathya Levin. La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Reserva has the same wrapper component as the traditional Mi Amor, a Cuban-seed leaf grown in Mexico, but the wrapper on the new cigar is from a higher position on the plant, and is darker in color.

The filler and binder are all Nicaraguan, but the components have been tweaked from the original. “It’s a different blend,” said Levin.

Aroma de Cuba Reserva will be available in four sizes, each of them parejos with a slight box press: Beso, 5 5/8 inches long by 48 ring; Maximo, 5 1/2 by 54; Divino, 6 1/4 by 52, and Romantico, 6 7/8 by 50.

Prices for this new line are higher than for the original Mi Amor, which sells for $6.75 to $8 per cigar. The least expensive Reserva will have a suggested retail price of $8.50, and the most expensive will retail for $9.95.

The brand was on display at last weekend’s International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers trade show in Orlando, and should begin shipping in September. While not a limited-production brand, Levin plans to make fewer Reservas to start, then ramp up production later.

The La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Belicoso, which scored 95 points, classic on our 100-point-scale, is the No. 2 cigar of the year from Cigar Aficionado magazine.

This story first appeared in Cigar Insider.