Gurkha Cigars is bringing back San Miguel. Just like with the recent re-release of Gurkha’s Castle Hall, the American cigar company is reintroducing brands from the past. Those brands are grandfathered in, which means that they are excluded from the FDA threat that hangs of the cigar industry. Grandfathered tobacco products are regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and do not require premarket authorization to be legally marketed. Any line introduced after February 15, 2007, is not grandfathered. Cigars released from that date until the cut-off date of August 8, 2016, require testing if the pending FDA rules are implemented. No new brands and lines are allowed to be released if that happens. So if you’re an American reader, write your representatives and protest!

Aganorsa

Gurkha is a private label brand. Like many other cigar brands, both large and small, Gurkha doesn’t own the production facilities where Gurkha cigars are made. In the last year, Gurkha released two lines made at a factory they never used before. A well known, renowned factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Tabacos Valle de Jalapa, SA, better known as TABSA. Or maybe even better known as the factory from Aganorsa Leaf. The factory where many Viaje, Warped, Illusione, Casa Fernandez, and other popular, highly rated brands are made. The Gurkha Nicaragua and Gurkha Treinta series received much praise in the media and from cigar enthusiasts all over the world. We rated the Gurkha Treinta 91. Now it’s not sure if that is the reason why Gurkha approached Aganorsa Leaf again, but they did.

The new Gurkha San Miguel is made with tobacco from Aganorsa Leaf. It is an all Nicaraguan puro, heavy on the Corojo variety that Aganorsa is famous for. A shade frown Corojo wrapper is the business card of the Gurkha San Miguel. The cigar has a double binder and comes in three different vitolas. Those are a 4 ¼ x42 Petite Corona, a 5×52 Robusto, and a 6×54 Toro. The cigars are packed in boxes of twenty cigars. American retailers can expect the cigars on the shelves in a few weeks. International accounts have to wait a little longer. An international release date has not been revealed yet.

The old discontinued San Miguel was made at an undisclosed factory on the Dominican Republic with a completely different blend.