Weekly news week 13 2020. The week started with an article with suggestions on what cigar manufacturers can do to prevent cover-19 outbreaks at factories. And what they could do to help employees still earn an income during a lock-down. And Episode 9 of Soil to Soul was published on our front page.

Reviews and more

We also reviewed the Hiram & Solomon Fellow Craft and the La Gloria Cubana Paraiso Caribe, a regional edition from Habanos. Nicaraguan cigar manufacturers took steps in the prevention of covid-19 outbreaks. Events are being canceled over the coronavirus as well

Online seminars and a covid-19 release

But it is not just bad news. The coronavirus forced cigar manufacturers and retailers to be inventive. The German retailer Zigarrenwelt is known to host seminars regularly. With Germany under lock-down, that’s impossible. They decided to host online seminars. Buy a ticket, get cigars shipped to your door and enter the seminar. Fuente and Meerapfel are hosting a zoom chat as well, yesterday with newly appointed Jose Blanco as The Professor. Royal Agio decided to make the biggest Balmoral Anejo XO available in The Netherlands. The 6×60 Gordo was an event only cigar. But now that people have to work from home, a lot of cigar smokers have more time to enjoy a good cigar. So making the Gordo available as a regular production made sense. Seven factories in Nicaragua suspend production due to the pandemic.

New releases

DAV Cigars launched a limited edition lancero box, with 10 lanceros. For this, they picked 2 of their most popular lines and turned them into lanceros. Each box contains 5 cigars of each blend. Villiger introduces Los Amigos in Germany. This is a one size line, a Churchill, packed in a tube. It is a budget-friendly cigar which will only be introduced in Germany for now. Crowned Heads decided to release a blend they made a decade ago with Ernesto Perez Carrillo. It was one of the test blends for their inaugural Four Kicks line. El Coyote, a Dominican made cigar, will be introduced in The Netherlands. And a new, Mexican made, shortfiller will be released in the Benelux. The Lagarto Real is made by Current for the distributor Gajane Benelux.