Thomas Pappalardo

2 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Many years ago, a cigar with a thickness of 60 ring gauge would have raised an eyebrow. Now the size is so common that it’s standard in most cigar lines. Honduran cigarmaker C.L.E. Cigar Co. has continued to push the envelope releasing cigars measuring 70, 80, 90 and 100 ring gauge but now has dwarfed them all with its latest release: Asylum 13 Megalophobia.

2 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Cigarmaker A.J. Fernandez has produced many different cigar brands under contract for others but he also has his own portfolio of brands including New World, which turned ten years old last year. To mark the milestone, Fernandez has created a new line called New World Decenio (“decade” in Spanish), which is expected to ship to retailers in mid-May. The reason for the delay was so as not to confuse consumers with the A.J. Fernandez 20th Anniversary release in 2024.

2 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

No matter how far you go, you will eventually find your way back home, even if just for a visit. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo owned and made the La Gloria Cubana brand before striking out to make cigars under his own name in 2009. Now the cigarmaker has returned for a sort of homecoming to collaborate on La Gloria’s newest regular-production line. Called Los Gloriosos (“The Glorious Ones”), it is scheduled to begin shipping to retailers next week, on April 14.

2 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Scandinavian Tobacco Group is expanding its El Rey del Mundo brand with a new line called Appointment, produced in conjunction with the Eiroa family of Honduras. The new cigars will be out soon, and are scheduled to begin shipping to retailers on April 14. El Rey del Mundo Appointment is rolled with a Sumatra-seed wrapper grown by the Eiroas on farms they own in Honduras’ Jamastran Valley. Inside are Ecuadoran and Nicaraguan fillers held together by a Connecticut broadleaf binder.

2 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Crowned Heads is introducing a new line of cigars that’s intended to pay tribute to both its hometown of Nashville and the dark Connecticut broadleaf wrapper adorning the cigars. Called Crowned Heads Broadway, the line will be unveiled at the PCA trade show and is expected to begin shipping to retailers in late May.