On Tuesday, June 16, two new cigars from the partnership between Espinosa Premium Cigars and Guy Fieri, the celebrity chef, began shipping to stores.
The Knuckle Sandwich Avant-Garde is a new cigar that the brand hopes will be approachable for a wider consumer base, presumably milder than many of the existing Knuckle Sandwich releases. Avant-Garde is debuting in a 6 x 54 toro extra vitola that uses an Ecuadorian habano oscuro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers.
Each cigar has an MSRP of $18 and it comes in boxes of 10 cigars.
The other cigar is the 2026 edition of Chef Special. The Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2026 is a box-pressed 6 x 54 toro that uses a Mexican claro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers.
Chef Special 2026 has an MSRP of $16 and is limited to 4,000 boxes of 10 cigars, though the company has said it might produce more depending on demand.
This is the fifth release for Chef Special.
Note: The following shows the various Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special vitolas. Some of these cigars may have been released after this post was originally published. The list was last updated on June 19, 2026.
- Knuckle Sandwich Chef’s Special (6 1/2 x 52) — August 2022 — 2,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (25,000 Total Cigars)
- Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2023 (6 1/2 x 52) — July 2023 — 1,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (15,000 Total Cigars)
- Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2024 (6 x 54) — June 2024 — 2,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (20,000 Total Cigars)
- Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2025 (6 x 55) — June 2025 — 2,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (20,000 Total Cigars)
- Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2026 (6 x 54) — June 2026 — 4,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (40,000 Total Cigars)*
*Not pictured
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“Man, I’ve been lucky to be part of a lot of things in my career, but to have a brand like Knuckle Sandwich come out swinging and keep growing like this, that’s something special,” said Fieri in a press release when the cigars were announced in April. “These new releases, they’ve got personality, they’ve got punch, and they don’t try to be something they’re not. That’s what I love. It’s real, it’s bold, and it’s built for people who actually enjoy the ride, not just talk about it.”
Both cigars are made at AJ Fernandez’s San Lotano Factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua. Espinosa Premium Cigars distributes and sells the Knuckle Sandwich lines.
Patrick Lagreid contributed to this story.
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Knuckle Sandwich Avant-Garde
Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special
Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2026
Knuckle Sandwich Cigars
San Lotano Factory
