League Of Fat Bastards: A Cigar Line With Men’s Mental Health In Mind
Who hasn’t kicked back with friends, drinks and a smoke while having one of those late-night conversations that go into the early hours of the morning? In honor of social cigar moments such as those, a company called League of Fat Bastards has created a line of cigars called Serie L which has the unique mission of pledging forty percent of all sales profits to organizations focused on men’s mental health.
Founded by Adam Levine (not the front man of Maroon 5), he told Cigar Aficionado that, while humorous, the name is more than what it seems: the “League” is about forming a community or tribe with cigar smokers. Fat refers to the idiom “chewing the fat” or conversing. “We believe men need to find a new way to ‘chew the fat,’ and feel that a quality cigar combined with real-world, in-person events allows us to help break down the barriers to open communication for men,” Levine says. The term “bastards” is used more as a synonym for “dude.”
The company’s first release is called League of Fat Bastards Serie L. It’s made in Nicaragua at the Joya de Nicaragua factory and comes in three sizes: Robusto, measuring 5 inches by 50 ring gauge; Toro, at 6 by 54; and Churchill, 7 by 50. Suggested retail prices range between $15.25 to $15.75 each.
Beneath the Ecuador Habano wrapper, the cigars are all-Nicaraguan with a Jalapa binder and fillers from Jalapa and Estelí. According to the company, the cigars are medium in body.
The cigar blend was a collaboration between Levin and Juan Martínez of Joya de Nicaragua and was created entirely through virtual Zoom meetings during the pandemic. Levine, who lived in Australia at the time, and Martínez would test samples thousands of miles apart and “chewed the fat” remotely.
Levine began enjoying cigars in the mid-1990s when he and his wife moved to London for a few years. At the time, he was living a short distance from JJ Fox, a famous London cigar shop. “I opened up the doors, walked in there . . . and sort of fell in love with it.”
Serie L had its launch party at the W South Beach Hotel in Miami, Florida, on February 17. Levine told Cigar Aficionado that further lines, Serie O, Serie F and Serie B (spelling out an abbreviation of League of Fat Bastards) are also in the works.
“I’ve found something that’s helped me,” Levine says. “I love cigars and cigars is an industry that is full of passionate individuals, you have that great camaraderie but they need some education, they need some experience to be able to open up and start these deeper conversations . . . So, I said, let’s create a cigar brand that’s focused on raising awareness around men’s mental health, around the stigma around mental health and fostering that community and camaraderie to start conversations around mental health.”
League of Fat Bastards Serie L will be appearing at this year’s PCA trade show taking place this month in Las Vegas.
Levine’s philosophy is simple: “If we can help just one mate get through the shit he’s got to get through by just selling one cigar, I’m done.”
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