June 12, 2017 Windsor, CT – Experiment Station: There is no question that Foundation Cigar Company is intimately tied to the Connecticut River Valley, but their newest offering has taken this love to the next level. To commemorate and honor the great state of Connecticut and its tobacco tradition Foundation Cigar Company has created for release, a very limited number of Chest Collector “Humidor” Boxes that will be available in stores. “We wanted to honor those predecessors who brought the leaf to the state, worked with different varieties and really put Connecticut on the map with regards to tobacco. We’re talking about hundreds of years of experimentation to arrive at the incredible point where we are today,” said Nick Melillo, President of Foundation Cigar Company.
AJ FernandezAllAVOCaldwellCamachoCarson SerinoClaudio SgroiCornelius & AnthonyCrowned HeadsDavidoffDominican RepublicDon Pepin GarciaDrew EstateDunbarton Tobacco & TrustErik EspinosaFeaturedFred ReweyH. UpmannHector Alfonso Sr.Hendrik KelnerHondurasIPCPRJaime GarciaJon HuberJonathan DrewMy FatherNicaraguaNicholas MelilloNomadPete JohnsonRobert CaldwellRobert HoltRoMa CraftSerinoSkip MartinSouthern DrawSteve SakaTatuajeTop 25Willy Herrera
·Each of our panelists were given 10 votes to towards our top 25. Order mattered on their votes as their #1 vote is worth twice as much as their #10. Our list is made up of cigars that had a wide release this year. The cigars that are eligible do not have to have been reviewed on Blind Man's Puff, but the reviewer must have smoke it at some point to vote for it.
Foundation Cigars is adding a new size to its El Güegüense Corojo and The Wise Man Maduro lines. Macho Raton is a 4 ¾ x 60 perfecto that happens to be the same size as the company's 5th anniversary releases. The name Macho Raton is the nickname for the main character, El Güegüense, in the play of the same name. El Güegüense is a transcendent satirical drama that embodies several facets of the Nicaraguan experience
Foundation Cigars and The Foundation Art team in Nicaragua announced today a new web-based animated series ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Upsetters.’ The series will showcases one of Foundation’s first brands, The Upsetters. Three shorts have been released today, and more will follow monthly.
Southbury, CT – July 8, 2016 - Rick Ardito has officially joined Foundation Cigar Company as Brand Manager, for the highly anticipated July 2016 release of Nick Melillo’s exciting new brand, “The Upsetters.” Ardito brings a wealth of knowledge and valuable experience to the project backed by nearly two decades of industry experience beginning with Drew Estate in 1997, retiring in 2010 as both a Partner and Executive Vice President of Public Relations. Ardito also served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for 7-20-4 Cigar Company from 2012-2015. Prior to the cigar industry Ardito served 8 years as a Cryptologist for the United States Marine Corps. Upon leaving the Corps Ardito began a career in comedy performing mainly from NYC to Miami Florida, residing in both cities during the 1980’s and 1990’s, moving back to his home state of CT in 1995 becoming a successful Restaurateur in New Haven.
Foundation Cigar Company has announced another brand for the upcoming PCA trade show in Las Vegas, METAPA. Inspired by the birth town of Rubén Darío, a legendary Nicaraguan poet, Metapa pays homage to Nicaragua's rich cultural heritage and the artistry behind its world-class cigars.
The first event-only Foundation cigar, Menelik, became a national release earlier this year. Now, to replace that comes The Grasshopper. Like the original Menelik, The Grasshopper comes in packs of 5 cigars. However, the cigars in the pack are different blends, two with a San Andres Mexican wrapper, two with Candela wrapper, and one cigar with a barber pole of San Andres and Candela. The internals of the cigars is all the same using a Corojo binder from Jalapa, Nicaragua fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa Nicaragua. Each cigar measure 5 1/4 x 52.
This year, at the IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas, Nick Melillo will release an extension to his release from last year's The Wise Man Maduro in a lancero format. The cigar scored a 95 in our blind review and earned #1 Cigar of the Year.
“Broadleaf is more than tobacco for me. It is something sacred.”—Nick Melillo July 13, 2016 - Estelí, NICARAGUA – The Tabernacle is Foundation Cigar Company’s newest super premium cigar, boasting a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and some of Nicaragua’s finest fillers. It is a combination of tastes that calls on founder Nicholas Melillo’s roots in the Connecticut River Valley and also his work with the finest artisanal tobacco batches in Nicaragua.
Foundation Cigar Company has announced an extension to their Tabernacle Havana Seed CT 142 line, a Lancero. In keeping with the tradition of releasing a lancero extension to his new lines the following year, Nick Melillo is bringing this lancero to the 2019 IPCPR trade show and convention.