Bricktoberfest Returns: J.C. Newman's 2026 Churchill Brings Back a Fan Favorite

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. has brought back Bricktoberfest for another season, shipping this year's release to retailers across the United States and Germany. The promotion celebrates the simple pleasure of good cigars, good beer, and good company, and draws directly from the origins of the Brick House brand.

This year's Bricktoberfest Churchill measures seven and three quarter inches by forty eight ring gauge and is finished with a pigtail cap. The cigar is rolled at the J.C. Newman PENSA factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. It uses an Ecuadorian Havana Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The blend was created as a companion for a bold, malty Oktoberfest style lager. (Note: I could not confirm a "medium in strength" characterization for this specific blend in current reporting; retailer flavor notes mention malty sweetness, roasted nuts, apricot jam, earth, and black pepper, without assigning a strength rating, so I'd hold that detail loosely unless you have a source for it.)

Boxes contain ten cigars and carry a suggested retail price of twelve dollars and fifty cents per cigar, or one hundred twenty five dollars per box. That's actually a fifty cent per cigar increase over last year, when the same Churchill sold for twelve dollars per cigar and one hundred twenty dollars per box. Customers who purchase qualifying Brick House cigars from participating retailers, including Bricktoberfest, receive an exclusive hand painted beer stein featuring Brick House and Bricktoberfest imagery while supplies last.

The Brick House name honors company founder J.C. Newman, who was born in the only brick house in a small village in Austria Hungary. His family lived on the second floor while the first floor operated as the local tavern and general store. Relatives gathered in that original brick house more than one hundred fifty years ago to enjoy beer and cigars. Bricktoberfest revives that tradition each autumn, timed to coincide with the German Oktoberfest season.

One piece of context worth adding: this year's release is notably a repeat rather than a refresh. According to Drew Newman, an owner of the company, J.C. Newman has historically changed the Bricktoberfest vitola and/or blend nearly every year. The 7¾ x 48 Churchill introduced in 2025 was received so well that the company brought it back unchanged for a second consecutive year, making 2026 a "sophomore release" rather than an all new edition.

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. was founded in 1895 by Julius Caesar Newman, a Hungarian immigrant who started the business in Cleveland, Ohio, before relocating to Tampa's Ybor City in 1954. It is widely recognized, including by its own marketing, as America's oldest family owned premium cigar maker, now in its fourth generation of Newman family ownership. The company's historic Tampa headquarters, a 114 year old cigar factory known as El Reloj, remains open for tours. Beyond Brick House, the company produces Diamond Crown, Quorum, and Perla del Mar, and it also serves as the worldwide distributor for Arturo Fuente cigars outside Western Europe. The 2026 Bricktoberfest release keeps the same popular Churchill size and blend that appeared the previous year, after strong demand from smokers.