Cigar Aficionado

There’s a special Montecristo cigar launching this summer called Montecristo Cincuenta, and it celebrates the 50th anniversary of Tabacalera de Garcia, Altadis U.S.A.’s cigar factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic. It’s a massive cigar factory, one of the world’s biggest, and home to such major Dominican brands as Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, and H. Upmann.

The anniversary smoke is slated to launch at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers trade show in June. It was previewed earlier this month at the Tobacconists’ Association of America conference in the Dominican Republic.

Rolled with an Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper, a Dominican binder leaf and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, Montecristo Cincuenta will come in two eye-catching formats. The first version, a 6 inch by 50 ring gauge Toro, ships in a sleek, piano finish 10-count humidor box. Only 8,000 boxes will be released.

The second version is a 6 inch by 52 ring gauge box-pressed figurado called Box Press No. 2. The cigar will only be available in a custom 100-count humidor made by Elie Bleu, the French manufacturer of luxury humidors and high-end lifestyle accessories.

According to Rafael Nodal, head of product capability at Tabacalera USA (the parent company of Altadis), only 75 Elie Bleu humidors will be released. They won’t be cheap—each Montecristo Cincuenta Elie Bleu humidor will have a suggested retail price of $10,000 for the humidor and 100 cigars inside. The price per individual cigar has not yet been announced for either the Cincuenta Toro or Box Press No 2.

“The MSRPs will be announced along with the release at the IPCPR,” Nodal told Cigar Aficionado.

Montecristo Cincuenta is rolled at Tabacalera de Garcia in the Dominican Republic.