Apostate Cigars Ships Death Mask, Its First Release from Fábrica Oveja Negra

Retailers are now receiving the first Apostate Cigars product rolled at Fábrica Oveja Negra. Brandon Oveson, co founder of Apostate Cigars, told halfwheel that boxes of Death Mask started moving to shops on October 1.

The shipment comes after a distribution deal with Oveja Negra brands that Apostate announced last year. The cigars are made in Estelí, Nicaragua, at Fábrica Oveja Negra, the same factory known for Black Label Trading Co.

Death Mask is a robusto measuring 5 1/2 by 48. Its blend pairs a Mexican San Andrés wrapper with an Ecuadorian binder and Nicaraguan fillers.

Pricing and availability:

• Suggested retail price is 20 dollars per cigar

• Each box contains 20 cigars and lists at 400 dollars

• The run is 250 boxes, or 5,000 cigars in total (their first limited edition)

Oveson and Kendrick Woolstenhulme started Apostate Cigars in 2020. The name points to a break with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Both men were raised in Utah inside that church, which bars tobacco, and the brand treats cigar smoking as a deliberate rejection of that rule. Other Apostate names also come from church history. This one points to the plaster face casts made of founder Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum after they were killed in 1844.