HVC Pan Caliente 10th Anniversary: Shipping to stores

HVC is shipping its Pan Caliente tenth anniversary limited edition to stores beginning today (8/13). The official name on the band and box is Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026. This cigar marks ten full years since the first Pan Caliente reached the market and it stands as the first release from the company to use any tobacco grown in Peru.

The original Pan Caliente released in 2016. It was a five by fifty robusto with a distinctive 109 style cap and it quickly became one of the early calling cards for HVC. The name comes from the Spanish expression for hot cakes. That early limited release later inspired the regular production Hot Cake line that still sits in the HVC portfolio today. A decade later the company chose to honor the anniversary with a completely new blend rather than a simple reissue of the original recipe.

This anniversary version comes in a single size. It measures six and seven eighths inches by a fifty four ring gauge and HVC refers to the vitola as Gloriosos. The wrapper is an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 leaf. Underneath sits a Nicaraguan binder. The filler combines leaf from Nicaragua with Peruvian tobacco called pelo de oro. That Peruvian component is the new change. Pelo de oro translates roughly as golden hair. It is known for its distinctive color and for being difficult to cultivate. The variety was once banned in Cuba because of its tendency to attract mold yet it continues to be grown in limited amounts in places such as Peru. HVC has never put Peruvian leaf into any of its cigars until now.

All of the production took place at Fábrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. the company’s own factory in Estelí Nicaragua. Only five hundred boxes were made. Each box holds twenty five cigars for a total of twelve thousand five hundred sticks. The suggested retail price is twelve dollars and forty cents for a single cigar or three hundred ten dollars for a full box.

In a statement released when the project was first announced HVC said that ten years of Pan Caliente is not just a milestone. It is proof of a community that believes in what the company does. The statement went on to call this anniversary cigar their most ambitious creation yet and noted that the Peruvian tobacco opens a new world of flavor.

The cigars were first shown to the trade earlier in the year and were expected to reach retailers during the summer. That timeline has now been met. Boxes begin leaving the warehouse on Thursday and should start appearing on shop shelves shortly afterward. Because the total production is so small anyone interested in trying the first HVC cigar with Peruvian tobacco will want to move quickly once the shipment arrives.