Alec Bradley Taps Own Sales Team For Limited Regional Exclusives – Cigar Aficionado
Alec Bradley Cigar Co. will soon be shipping a collection of four regional exclusive cigars that were created by the company’s top regional sales managers for the areas they cover.
Inspired by an educational cigar trip last year to Central America, the regional managers approached the company about crafting their own cigar tailored for the taste of their respective region. The project was approved, and under the guidance of Alec Rubin, second-generation owner of Alec Bradley, and vice president Ralph Montero, the regional managers each created their own cigar, from the blend to the name to the packaging design.
“We have a fantastic group of people,” said Alec Rubin, owner of Alec Bradley Cigar Co., in a press release. “Alec Bradley is one big family and it’s humbling to see everyone so enthusiastic about tobacco and premium cigars.”
Each of the four Alec Bradley Regional Exclusives will be a toro measuring 6 inches by 52 ring gauge. They will come in five-count packs and carry a suggested retail price of $8 per cigar. Only 5,000 cigars of each blend are being released right now.
For the Metro region, which includes New York, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, regional manager Jonathan Walsh produced Paper Tiger. The blend features a Cuban-seed wrapper from Brazil over Mexican binder, with a filler mix of Pennsylvania and Nicaragua tobaccos.
Christopher Carey, who oversees the South region, conceived Fashionably Late, a cigar rolled with the same Brazilian wrapper and Mexican binder as Paper Tiger, but this one uses only Nicaraguan tobacco in the filler. It will be sold in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Eastern Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Highway Child was created by Steve Tucker for the Midwest, a region that includes Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Northern Illinois and Northern Indiana. This blend sports the same Brazilian wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler.
For the Rust Belt, which is made up of Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Southern Indiana, regional manager Ryan Ponist created a blend called Corinthian Leather. It features a Honduran cover leaf, two binders from Honduras and Nicaragua and filler grown in Honduras and Nicaragua, too.
All of the new Regional Exclusives were rolled at J. Fuego Cigars in Nicaragua save for Corinthian Leather, which was produced at Raices Cubanas in Honduras.
Each of the lines was scheduled to ship simultaneously, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, plans changed. Paper Tiger, Fashionably Late and Highway Child have arrived in the United States and are expected to begin shipping soon, while Alec Bradley hopes Corinthian Leather can hit stores within a month.
The company indicated it plans to expand the regional exclusive program in the future to other areas of the country as more territory managers opt to craft their own cigar.