Reviews

Gellis Family Cigars, the boutique brand from Warped founder Kyle Gellis, has launched the Heritage No. 50 as the first release in its new Heritage Series. The 5 x 50 robusto features a Mexican San Andrés Maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos and is produced in limited batches at NACSA in Estelí.

The Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu is a limited TAA exclusive from the Espinosa and Guy Fieri partnership, offered in a single 6 x 54 box pressed Toro size with production capped at 1,250 boxes.

Avowed Cigar Co. is a boutique brand from Orange, California. It makes its cigars at Kelner Cigars in the Dominican Republic, where Klaas Kelner does the blending. Its first two core lines were The Vow, a statement of commitment, and New Dawn, a look toward the future. Hallowed Hands is the third, released in February 2026 to mark the company’s first anniversary.

West Tampa Red, the third regular-production line, was announced in early 2023 and began shipping in May 2023. It uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper with a Nicaraguan Condega binder and fillers from Condega and Estelí, produced at Garmendia Cigars Co. in Estelí, Nicaragua.

El Septimo released the Culinary Art Collection at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association Trade Show. The Japan Nigori is the Japanese-inspired entry in the line, made at the brand’s factory in Costa Rica and built around the idea of pairing with nigori sake.

AJ Fernandez, the Estelí-based Nicaraguan maker known for a wide range of regular-production lines and factory collaborations, introduced Last Call as the first release in his Portfolio Series. The blend began as a private smoke that Fernandez shared with guests at his Casa Blanca estate during the final quarter of NFL games, functioning as the evening’s last cigar.

El Mago Cigars, founded by Nicholas Fusco in 2022, released the Alakazam Short Robusto as a limited edition compact format. The 3½ by 50 Nicaraguan puro uses a Habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is handmade at MGE Cigars Factory in Estelí.

Room101’s Johnny Tobacconaut is a space-themed cigar with a mascot to match and a few lives behind it. Room101 launched it at the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show in New Orleans as a Nicaraguan puro out of Honduras. When Room101 and Davidoff parted ways, the line went on hiatus. It resurfaced as a limited Luxury Cigar Club exclusive called Chapter 1, with a new Ecuadorian Connecticut and Nicaraguan blend in a 6 x 56 figurado.

Illusione is a cigar brand founded by Dion Giolito. The MKULTRA began in 2006 as a production run that came out stronger than intended and was sold through retailer NHC Cigars. In 2011 the blend returned as the ~ULTRA~ MKULTRA, a full production line in four sizes with an all-Nicaraguan blend and a corojo wrapper.

Timeless Prestige is the original Timeless line, first released in 2012 and later renamed along the way before settling on its current name. It’s made at the Quesada factory in the Dominican Republic. The blend combines six tobaccos from three countries: a Honduran wrapper, a Dominican binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers.

From Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, the boutique maker founded by Steve Saka under the “puros sin compromiso” ethos, comes the Polpetta (Italian for “meatball”). This handmade puro elevates the sandwich style cigar using carefully sorted chaveta cuts from the brand’s top Broadleaf ligas: Mi Querida (including Triqui Traca and Black), Umbagog, and Red Meat Lovers. These are paired with two long leaf tripas, a San Andrés Negro binder, and outside cuts of Broadleaf capa.

Yellow Cake was introduced in 2014 as an event-only release. The original was a small corona made with leftover tobaccos from other Caldwell lines, including a Dominican Corojo wrapper used on Long Live the King and fillers from Eastern Standard and The King Is Dead. Production took place at Tabacalera William Ventura in the Dominican Republic, and the cigars were packaged in simple paper bundles for events.

Aganorsa has long been behind some of the most sought-after cigars in the industry, and its Aganorsa Leaf line puts the company’s own name on the band. In 2022, the brand rebranded its core lines, formerly the Casa Fernandez range, as the La Validación Series, with a fresh look and uniform sizes across the blends. The name refers to the quality control process each cigar goes through before release, with “validación” being Spanish for validation.

The Gladius is the foundation of the Tradecraft Cigars core line, and the brand says it embodies everything they love and look for in a blend. Made by Wiber Ventura at Tabacalera William Ventura, the cigar “boasts perfect construction in all its vitolas,” according to Tradecraft. The name nods to the Roman Empire and the short sword carried by its legionaries into battle.

RoMa Craft Tobac builds its reputation on small batch production and bold blending from its Nica Sueño factory in Estelí. The CroMagnon line stands as one of the brand’s earliest and most recognized series, drawing its name from prehistoric themes and delivering full bodied profiles that have defined the company since its early days.

DROP Cigar Club is the boutique cigar shop and club founded by Kyle Gellis of Warped Cigars, where small-batch and limited releases are the main event. “The Mascot” is named after the cigar-smoking ghost that serves as DROP’s mascot and shows up on their stickers and merch. It’s meant to be approachable and easy on the wallet, and it’s a natural first pick for anyone new to the brand.

El Septimo released the Culinary Art Collection at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association Trade Show in Las Vegas. Shipping began during the show. The line is made at the company’s factory in Costa Rica and is built around pairing cigars with wine regions in France, Italy, Japan, and Spain.

Wildfire Cigar Co. is the brand Jeremy McDonald launched in 2021. Wanderer is a regular production line he showed at the 2023 Total Product Expo and shipped that March, alongside the limited Intro.

Tatuaje is Pete Johnson’s brand, with its cigars rolled at My Father in Estelí. The Monster Series, launched in 2008, is one of its limited Halloween lines: each release is named and packaged after a film monster, and each carries its own blend.

Espinosa Crema is the milder side of Espinosa Premium Cigars, the company Erik Espinosa built after his years with the 601 brand. The line came out in 2016 as Espinosa’s first Connecticut-wrapped cigar, made at La Zona in Estelí, Nicaragua.

My Father Blue is the García family’s first cigar made in Honduras. My Father Cigars, the house built by José “Pepín” García and long associated with its Estelí factory and the Miami shop where the family started, opened a new operation around Finca La Opulencia, its farm in Honduras’s Talanga region, and a factory in El Paraíso. Blue is the first blend to come out of that project.

OZ Family Cigars is Tim Ozgener's return to the industry after the family sold CAO. Karatoba, released in 2025, is the brand's fourth regular-production line and its first made at Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. (NACSA). The name joins kara, Turkish for dark, with Lake Toba, the volcanic lake in Sumatra.

Perdomo Legacy Father & Son, released in 2026, extends that line as the company’s first limited production offering and a direct collaboration between father and son. The Shade Grown is the blend Nick Perdomo Jr. created himself, using that hybrid leaf for both wrapper and binder, with filler from Condega, Estelí, and Jalapa drawn from rare 2011 to 2016 lots. It is offered in one size, a box pressed 6 x 48/60/52 Gran Figurado.

Amar, released in 2026 as a regular-production line, is a Nicaraguan puro with a Habano wrapper, rolled at the San Lotano factory in Ocotal.

Brick House is a J.C. Newman Cigar Company brand named after the ancestral Hungarian home of company founder Julius Caeser Newman.

Mr. Almond is Tin #2, following the Oyama Omen. It is a 5 x 50 box pressed robusto with a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper, U.S. Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan fillers, packed five to a tin. It began shipping to select retailers this year, with five more tins planned.

Gellis Family Cigars is the line Kyle Gellis built under his family name, run alongside Warped and distributed by the same house. Essentials is the new core release from that project: a 4½ x 32 petit corona meant as a daily, pocket-sized smoke.

Rocky Patel’s Disciple arrived at the 2021 PCA Trade Show and began shipping that September. Made at Tabacalera Villa Cuba in Estelí, it uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler and was introduced as a darker, fuller sibling to the Sixty line released the same year.

Warped Cigars, the boutique house led by Kyle Gellis, introduced Isla del Cocodrilo at the 2024 PCA Convention. The line takes its name from Cuba’s long-standing nickname; “island of the crocodile”, a nod to the island’s distinctive shape.