Two Soccer-Themed Smokes From OZ Family Cigars
OZ Family Cigars, maker of Cigar Aficionado’s No. 22 Cigar of 2023, is releasing two new cigars inspired by company owner Tim Ozgener’s love of soccer. Called OZ Family Cigars Maracana and OZ Family Cigars Limited Edition World Cup 2026, the soccer-themed smokes will debut at the PCA trade show in New Orleans next month.
“I am a huge soccer fan,” Ozgener tells Cigar Aficionado. “I played soccer throughout my life and in high school. Both of my boys played soccer. My eldest son, Evan, was an all-city player in Nashville and a statewide recognized player in Tennessee. My late father, Cano, also was a big soccer aficionado and played growing up.”
The first cigar, Maracana, takes its name from the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “[It’s] named after the famous soccer stadium in Rio, where Pelé scored his first and his 1,000th goals,” says Ozgener. Fittingly, the smoke has a Brazilian wrapper (grown from Arapiraca seed), a double binder (one from Nicaragua and the other from Honduras) and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua.
According to Ozgener, the filler tobacco comes from the Garcia family of My Father Cigars. “The fillers [are] from the Talanga Valley in Honduras, from fields managed, grown and harvested by the Garcia family, and from Garcia-managed Nicaraguan farms,” he says.
Maracana comes in four, softly-pressed sizes: Toro, measuring 6 1/2 inches by 50 ring gauge ($12.95); Robusto, 5 by 52 ($12.75); Robusto Extra, 5 1/2 by 55 ($13.50); and Gordo, 6 by 60 ($13.75). The cigar is made in Honduras at the My Father Cigars Honduras factory and distributed by Crowned Heads. All of the sizes are packaged in 21-count boxes and are expected to ship to retailers in May.
Along with its thematic link to soccer, Maracana has a connection to another Brazilian-wrapped cigar called CAO Brazilia. “The Brazilian theme, vis-à-vis the Maracanã Stadium, does hold special meaning,” says Ozgener. “This is due to the fact that one of the most famous CAO lines was called ‘Brazilia,’ released in 2001. Cigar fans that knew of me during those days are always nostalgic for that line that we developed.”
Ozgener once owned and ran CAO along with his father and sister. CAO is now sold and made by Scandinavian Tobacco Group, one of the world's largest cigarmakers.
OZ Family Cigars Limited Edition World Cup 2026, Ozgener’s second new soccer-themed smoke, is centered on the FIFA World Cup, the most-watched sporting event in the world. “The World Cup, in particular, will always hold a special meaning for me because I would watch it with my father and my entire extended family growing up,” he says.
Ozgener says the creation of World Cup 2026 was inspired by a limited-edition box of CAO’s from the past. “When my family owned CAO we did a ‘unique size’ release in honor of the World Cup in 2006 which featured five uniquely-shaped cigars.” The set included two CAO Brazilia cigars, two CAO Italia cigars and a fifth, special cigar that was billed as a combination of the two blends, called Bratalia. “They were in boxes of five called ‘Brazilia vs Italia: Artistry of Champions.’ This new release and blend was inspired by that past, rare release,” he says.
Ozgener is keeping some of World Cup 2026’s blend details a secret, revealing only that it’s rolled with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper and contains “tobaccos from the USA, Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua and Honduras.” He says the idea behind the six-country blend was to “utilize tobaccos from all of the premium cigar-tobacco qualifying countries from this year’s World Cup,” while still including some tobacco from Nicaragua and Honduras.
World Cup 2026 comes in a single size called Toro, measuring 6 inches by 50 ring gauge. Pricing has not yet been determined. Only 2,026 boxes of 10 cigars will be released. The cigar is rolled at the My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Nicaragua and is slated to ship to retailers at the end of May or beginning of June, right before the World Cup begins on June 11. This historic cup will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the first time the contest will be held across three nations.
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