Earlier this year, CLE Cigar Co. announced a new line under its Asylum 13 brand named Arabian Nights that was inspired by “One Thousand and One Nights”, a collection of Middle Eastern folk stories that were first published in the 18th century. Christian Eiroa, co-founder of the Asylum brand, said that he used the stories to guide both the blend and packaging for the new release. In April, CLE showed
For the first cigar in Scrim by HutcH’s newest collection, owner Rick Hutchings drew on his passion for vintage rock album art. Specifically, the symbols and interior art from Led Zeppelin’s 1971 album, “IV.” The handles are made out of buffalo horn, with the artwork added via reverse scrimshaw. As with Scrim by HutcH’s other cutters, the body is a XIKAR Xi3, which features 440C stainless steel blades with a
This past spring, at the 2026 PCA Convention & Trade Show, Scandinavian Tobacco Group introduced a pair of new lines to one of its most ubiquitous brands: Macanudo. Half of the pair is the Macanudo Ecuadorian Shade, which uses an Ecuadorian shade wrapper that the company says delivers a smoother, more refined experience. The other new release is the Macanudo Sumatra, which is wrapped in an Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed leaf, which
Kristoff Cigars has announced that it will once again have an exclusive cigar made just for members of the Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA). The Kristoff TAA 2026 Exclusive is a 6 x 52 toro that uses a Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper, a Dominican binder, and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The company calls it a medium-plus bodied cigar, “with decadent notes of dry cocoa, five spice, light
Germany, one of the most important cigar markets in the world, could very quickly lose that status under a new tax proposal. The German government is working through a new tax structure for tobacco products. While it was initially believed to be a moderate increase, the Bundesverband der Zigarrenindustrie (BdZ)—the German cigar manufacturers’ association—is now warning of a 14-fold increase to the current ad valorem tax. Currently, there are three
Following the United Kingdom’s passage of a generational tobacco ban, a law that bans anyone born after 2008 from ever legally purchasing tobacco products, proposals have popped up in other countries. Ireland appears to be the latest one. Mark Wall, an Irish TD, asked if the Irish Ministry of Health was looking at a proposal. In response, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, TD, who is the Irish Minister of Health, replied: Tobacco
Since the cigar boom of the 1990s, there’s no brand that has been managed quite like OpusX. I’d be hard-pressed to believe that there’s a single cigar company—including Habanos S.A.—that wouldn’t like to have its own OpusX. It’s a brand that has an incredible backstory. The short of it is that in the early 1990s, the owner of Boutique 22, a shop in Paris, was visiting the Fuente operation in
Casa Carrillo has released the Perez-Carrillo Encore Noir II as an exclusive to international markets, but one retailer in the U.S. will be getting a portion of the release for a launch event later this month. The Perez-Carrillo Encore Noir II is an all-Nicaraguan blend that comes in a Celestial No. 2 size, a 6 1/8 x 50 toro vitola. It’s a blend that’s notably different from the original Encore
Earlier this month, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) began shipping a new vitola for its Bolivar Cofradia line. The Bolivar Cofradia 770s are a pair of 7 x 70, offered in both the Bolivar Cofradia and Bolivar Cofradia Oscuro blends. The Bolivar Cofradia, pictured on top, uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed wrapper over a Connecticut-seed binder and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua. The Oscuro uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper with an Ecuadorian
Next month, Fratello is releasing a new limited cigar, but you will have to go to Switzerland to get it. Cowbell is a 5 x 50 robusto with a pigtail, made with an Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed wrapper covering a Cameroon binder and filler tobaccos grown in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The new cigars are being sold exclusively at Swiss retailers, and they are made at the La Aurora Cigar Factory