Tim Ozgener is returning to the cigar industry. He spent 16 years with CAO International, serving as President from 2006-2010, and was instrumental in taking the company from a start-up to a global brand. This is also the place where Crowned Heads founder Jon Huber got his start. For the past 12 years, Tim has served as Co-Founder and President/CEO of OZ Arts Nashville, a contemporary arts center in Nashville.
Gran Habano is releasing a cigar at PCA next week to celebrate their 20th annivsary. The Gran Habano 20th Aniversario comes in three vitolas that embody the Gran Habano story: El Sueño (the dream) 5 x 52 (MSRP $14), El Desafío (the struggle) 6 x 54 (MSRP $15), and El Triunfo (the success) 6 x 60 (MSRP $16.00).
HVC Cigars has announced a new size in their 500th Anniversary line, a Salomon exclusive to attendees of the PCA trade show 2022. The company released the 500th anniversary in 2019 as a celebration of the city of Havana's 500th anniversary which was founded by the Spanish on November 16th, 1519.
Lampert Cigars will be showing off its latest line later this week at PCA 2022. The Lampert Family Reserve 2021 is a limited release blended by Hendrik Kelner Jr. and rolled at the Kelner Boutique Factory (KBF).
Crowned Heads has announced be showing off a regular production Le Pâtissier at the 2022 PCA Convention and Trade show in Las Vegas, July 9-12. Crowned Heads Le Pâtissier came out last year as a PCA exclusive measuring 6 1/2 x 44 and was a limited production. Now one year later, the cigar will be available to all in 4 new vitolas. The blend for Le Pâtissier is an offshoot of the Le Careme, but is quite different in flavor profile.
Foundation Cigars has announced a brand new core line to be shown off at the PCA 2022 trade show next week. The new line is called "Olmec" and is expected to ship late summer/early fall. Foundation Olmec comes in boxes of 12 and in two wrapper choices: San Andrés Maduro and Claro.
Omar de Frias, owner at Fratello Cigars, has announced a new cigar to exclusive to PCA attendees. VICEVERSA is a celebration of the company's 9th-anniversary blend and will be shown off at the PCA trade show during the second week of July.
2022 will make the second year in a row that crowned heads will release a cigar exclusive to PCA Trade Show attendees. This years release is the Crowned Heads Sfumato in C Major. The inspiration behind it comes from a Renaissance art technique made popular by Leonardo da Vinci. Sfumato is a pictorial technique for softening the transition between colors, creating an image that has no lines or edges, producing a soft hazy effect. The word sfumato comes from the Italian language and is derived from fumo ("smoke").
CAO (General Cigar) has announced a new cigar line CAO BX3. This follows in the footsteps of cigars like MX2, CX2, and LX2 with the letters representing the type of tobacco used in the blend and the number representing the number of leaves used. In this case, BX3 refers to Brazilian tobacco times three.