Viva La Vida Releasing New, Limited Size
Former cigar retailers turned cigarmakers Billy and Gus Fakih are adding a new, limited size to their Viva La Vida line to honor their customers from their first year in business, and it will begin shipping later this week.
Limited to small-production batches that will be released twice a year, the Club 500 is the first box-pressed size in the Viva La Vida line. It’s made in Nicaragua at A.J. Fernandez’s factory and is a Nicaraguan puro that uses the same tobaccos as the rest of the line: a Habano Oscuro wrapper, Corojo ’99 binder and Criollo ’98 filler.
According to Frank Santos, sales and marketing director for A.J. Fernandez Cigar Co., the wrapper underwent an alternative fermentation so as to produce one with more oils and a different flavor profile.
Introduced in March of last year, the original Viva la Vida line consists of five sizes and is a relatively fat line of cigars, with the thinnest measuring 52 ring gauge. A sixth size, the Jester, was also added to the line in October.
The Club 500 carries on that tradition at a hefty 6 inches by 60 ring gauge. The new cigar ships in 10-count boxes and retails for $13.80 per cigar.
“We are honored and humbled by the support that we have received as we transitioned from the retail side of the business to the manufacturing and distribution side. We thank each and every one of those who have embraced the Viva La Vida brand,” the brothers said in a joint press release.
