Foundation Cigar Company’s has announced two new sizes in the Tabernacle line: David and Goliath. Tabernacle was Nick Melillio's second traditional premium cigar line, coming the year after El Güegüense. Tabernacle was his first Foundation cigar to use Connecticut broadleaf and out of reverence for the tobacco leaf, and tobacco tradition came the name, from Hebrew scripture: The Tabernacle - which housed the Ark of the Covenant before the building of the Temple of Solomon.
July 18, 2016 – Southbury, CT – Foundation Cigar President Nick Melillo announces the completion of his newest brand, Charter Oak, set for release at the 2016 IPCPR Show in Las Vegas.
“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.
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.
Foundation Cigars has announced that ATOL will become Foundation's new creative team and will debut their work at their year's IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas 2018.
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.
Foundation Cigar Company has announced its second line known as “The Upsetters”, a blend of Jamaican and Nicaraguan fillers which is a travel story itself, documenting Melillo’s endless trips to tobacco fields and curing barns. While Foundation’s first brand, El Güegüense was a Nicaraguan puro that paid homage to the culture of Nicaragua
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.
Foundation Cigar has partnered with The Owl Shop in New Haven, Connecticut to create a special cigar to celebrate their 85th anniversary. The Owl Shop opened in 1934 and offers cigars, coffee, cocktails, food, and even live blues and jazz. The cigar shop is located next to Yale University. The special cigar will be released at an event at the cigar shop September 19th from 7-9pm.
This year, Foundation Cigars showed off three new products at IPCPR, all extensions of existing products. These included the Menelink, a previously event-only cigar, Tabernacle Havana Seed #142 lancero, a new size in the line, and the Highclere Victorian, a maduro followup to the previously Connecticut-shade wrapped Highclere Castle. All three of these products are now shipping to retailers.