Welcome to October! Last week was full of chaos and celebration, of tragedy and of triumph. With the new month comes new opportunities to make the most out of every day you’re fortunate enough to have. Beyond just the sight and smell of Pumpkin Spice at every turn, this time of year usually also means the beginning of a big wave of activity in the cigar world. Here’s everything else you may have missed in your feeds, get caught up and stay tuned…from now until at least the end of the year it’s only going to get more fun and more exciting to be a cigar lover!
Claudio Sgroi is getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason! It hasn’t even been two full months since the Smoke Signals documentary series debuted and the first episode already has almost 40,000 views and a few hundred comments. Already in pre-production for Episode 2, this week Claudio also gets to celebrate the final results of the vote conducted by German Engineered Cigars. As part of their “AUTONOM” experimental projects division, GEC and Claudio collaborated on a new blend and let the public determine the second of two formats that will be available at launch.
In addition to a 5“ x 50 Robusto selected by the maker, cigar lovers from all over the world were able to select their preference from three available options – 7“ x 47 Churchill, 6“ x 42 Corona Grande, and 5.5“ x 54 Perfecto. The Perfecto got 52.9% of the vote, and the project has been given an official name – Weltschmerz – to replace the “Lineup” codename given to the 1500 sample packs that were also made available for enthusiasts to experience for themselves. Production will begin on the Perfecto immediately, and the Robusto format should be available in the US as early as next month. Even though the voting is over, you still be able to get each of the Lineup formats as 10 count bundles for a very short time until they run out. This was a very cool way for a brand to interact with the community and encourage conversation, congratulations to German Engineered Cigars and Claudio Sgroi on their second blend together!
Team Z has been introduced as the next installment in the ten-part “W.A.” series that takes inspiration from Wes Anderson’s iconic filmography. The fourth cigar in the cinematic collection conceived and produced by Privada Cigar Club and AJ Fernandez honors Anderson’s fourth feature-length film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The Life Aquatic is an all-time favorite of film fans all over the globe and is a door through which many discover the wider world of Wes Anderson. This 6×54 blend showcases a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler and has been released through the Limited Cigar Association network of shops. The LCA locator will tell you where the nearest one is.
After 5 years of post-roll aging, the Alfonso Añejos line is on its way to retailers. This special blend features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper and binder, and Nicaraguan Ligero, and Peruvian fillers. Heavily influenced by the processes and materials used to age wine, the Alfonso Añejos were aged in a room lined with cedar and the same french oak traditionally used to make the barrels that smooth out a wine’s bitterness and acidity. There are six formats ranging from about $30-$50 per cigar and 2022’s production run consists of 200 boxes of each size.
EP Carillo is hosting a Social Media Giveaway Challenge to spread the word about their INCH Nicaragua. The Grand Prize is an all expenses paid trip to Miami to spend the day with Ernesto and Lissette Carillo trying special blends that have never been released, from Ernesto’s personal collection! There will be two regular prize winners each week – one consumer and one retailer. The consumer will win an INCH Nicaragua merch kit and the retailer will win an INCH Merch kit for their whole team! Find out everything you need to know over at carillocigars.com/challenge. Entries are being accepted through Friday, October 28th – good luck!
J.C. Newman is also running a social media contest this month to celebrate Bricktoberfest 2022. The Grand Prize package has a retail value of $340 and includes 2 Bricktoberfest 2022 Das Boots, a Brick House button-up shirt, a J.C. Newman Xikar Cutter, a Brick House Brand Plaque, a white Brick House Ashtray, and a Brick House Bottle Rocket Lighter! For the past five years, J.C. Newman has launched a new Brick House branded beer stein. This year, the stein is a 1 liter “Das Boot” and is decorated with the Brick House vista and dated.
To make things even more special in celebration of five years of Bricktoberfest, a limited edition Brick House toro pigtail has been created. Fans of Brick House will notice this is a different blend than a traditional Brick House Classic, but will recognize the same flavorful and smooth tobacco with just a hint of spiciness that Nicaraguan cigars are known for. This cigar was blended to pair perfectly with a bold Oktoberfest style lager. These limited edition Bricktoberfest pigtails and beer steins are only available at select retail locations which can be found, along with the contest directions and rules, on the Bricktoberfest 2022 landing page.
Southern Draw has been making so many announcements lately that you may have missed some of them – that’s a pretty neat issue for any cigar maker to come up against! Let’s get into it…three lineups are getting additional vitolas, the newest IGNITE charitable releases have been revealed, and a new regular production line – Morning Glory – is being launched next year. All of Southern Draw’s cigars are made at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez, so we can all have confidence that they’ll be more than capable of handling the increase in demand while maintaining the quality.
The new Rose of Sharon Desert Rose formats are a 5 x 58 Perfecto and a 9 x 48 Gran Corona. Jacob’s Ladder Brimstone is getting nationwide releases of a Perfecto and a 6 x 44 Lonsdale. The Manzanita line gains a 7.5 x 40 Lancero.
Launched in 2018, the IGNITE project is a big way that Southern Draw gives back. This week, three new offerings will be made available. Hyacinth is 6.5x 46 Lonsdale Connecticut. Pennyroyal is a 6 1/8 x 52 Piramides wrapped in San Andress. Crocus, a 7 x 50 Churchill, is a variant of the blend created for their Limited Cigar Association “Ladykiller” collaboration. You can find out more about the program – that raises nearly $40,000 for charities every year – here.
The Morning Glory, scheduled for 2023, will feature a wrapper of Connecticut-grown Claro. A Habano hybrid grown in Nicaragua has been selected for the binder, and the filler is composed of Nicaraguan Corojo 99 and Criollo 98.
Oscar Valladares is celebrating 10 years of dedication and passion with the Oscar Valladares 10th Anniversary – and now you can too! The OV10 utilizes a Mexico San Andres wrapper with a Honduran Candela foot, Honduran binder, and Nicaraguan/Honduran filler. They don’t say which, but some of the Honduran tobacco used in the blend was aged as long as 5 years before being rolled. The OV10 has launched in Toro, Sixty, and Salomon formats ranging from about $18 – $23. Now available for purchase, you can expect to see this cigar being released every year on a limited basis so long as the materials exist and have been aged for the requisite durations.
Don’t sleep on the Cavalier Genève Founders Ring Giveaway, this is the last week to enter! You can win this solid gold, handmade Cavalier Genève Cigars Founders Ring, the first luxury fine jewelry ring that is a functional cigar punch in the world, in the winner’s custom size and engraved with their initials. The ring has a retail value of $3500.⠀
These rings will never be for sale, they can only be won in Cavalier’s seasonal giveaways. This is your chance to be one of the exclusive group of Cavalier Founders Ring holders. Each ring is numbered: Ring #1 is held by founder @sebastienatcavalier, Ring #2 is held by Brian of @privadacigarclub, RIng #3 is held by the very first giveaway winner (and Cigar Public reader) @mberan, and this giveaway is for Ring #4 – custom made for the winner!⠀
Wishing you another great weekend full of your favorite cigars and your favorite people. Keep on sending in your favorite cigar related news stories, posts and videos!