July 2017
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Drew Estate Booth at IPCPR
Drew Estate Booth at IPCPR. Image credit: The Cigar Authority

As you probably know, the IPCPR trade show for this year just wrapped up, running from Monday, July 10th through Friday, July 14th. So there has been a lot of news over the past week. Let’s catch up on some of the highlights.

New and Upcoming Releases:

  • To kick things off, Drew Estate has announced that Pappy Van Winkle “Tradition” will be released in October at the same time as Old Rip Van Winkle’s annual Bourbon and Rye batch. “Tradition” will include aged Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers in an Indonesian binder and Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper. Sizes will include Coronita, Robusto Grande, Toro, Belicoso Fino and Churchill. Drew Estate also has announced that they will be adding new “mini” cigars measuring 4×32 to quite a few of their existing lines. These small cigars will be great for those who want to enjoy their favorite smokes in a shorter format.
  • As one more quick announcement concerning Drew Estate, the company has announced that shipping will begin for Florida Sun Grown “FSG” Cigars at the end of this month. The FSG cigars will consist of USA and Nicaraguan fillers in a Honduran binder and Mata FIna Brazil wrapper. Sizes will include Robusto, Toro, Belicoso, and Sixty along with a Limited Edition Box Press Toro.
  • This year at IPCPR, Davidoff featured the Winston Churchill Late Hour. What is most noteworthy about these cigars is the Nicaraguan filler, which has been aged for six months in a speyside whiskey barrel. The Winston Churchill Late Hour will be available in Robusto, Toro and Churchill sizes.
  • Great news for Oliva fans—the company is finally releasing a new cigar. You may actually have heard of it under the name of “Facundo,” but the name had to be switched to “Giberto” because it turned out that Facundo was trademarked by Bacardi. There will be two versions of Giberto. One will be the “Reserva,” with a Sumatra wrapper. The other will be the “Reserva Blac,” which instead will have a Connecticut shade-grown wrapper from Ecuador. Five sizes will be available, with the cigars priced between $5.25 and $6.90.
  • No one was expecting any new releases from Illusione, but two new cigars showed up at IPCPR. The first is the Illusione Singularé 2018 Turin, which will be available starting in November. Fewer than 900 boxes will be produced. The cigar will be a Nicaraguan puro. The other is La Grande Classe, which has an Ecuadorian Habno wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder and filler. La Grande Classe is available now.
  • Those who have missed La Flor Dominicana Factory Press cigars will be pleased to hear that Factory Press is returning. The cigar will only be available in one size, a 6 ½ x 58 vitola. It will feature Dominican fillers with an Ecuador Sumatra binder in an Ecuador wrapper.
  • A couple of new cigar accessories have debuted recently as well. From Xikar, we have the Turrim Single Flame lighter, which works like the Turrim double flame, but (as the name indicates) produces a single flame only. This provides for more precision as well as a more compact lighter. Then there is the Quasar desktop cigar cutter from Colibri. This innovative device combines a V-cut blade and an S-cut blade, offering the ultimate in versatility. Shipping on the Colibri Quasar will begin in autumn, while the Turrim Single Flame lighter from Xikar is already available.

Industry News:

  • In industry news, General Cigar has announced the appointment of José de Castro to the position of Vice President of Marketing. With almost two decades of experience, he will be responsible for branding and social media for the cigar giant.

Legal News:

  • You may have been following news on the potential bar and casino smoking ban in Baton Rouge. It looked like the ban was going to pass (the votes seemed to be there) during a recent council meeting, but there are still questions about its enforcement. That means that the council has decided to defer a decision until they get answers to key business questions. So we will have to wait until August 9th to know what will happen.
  • Here is some potential good news on a federal level. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture has just passed a bill which could provide an exemption for premium cigars from FDA regulation. This would apply specifically to “traditional large and premium cigars.” The bill still has a ways to go before becoming law, but this is a tentative first step toward a brighter future for the cigar industry.

Thanks for checking in with us for the latest cigar news updates! Be sure to check back again soon to keep up with all that is going on in the cigar world!

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