Custom, limited-edition humidors have been commissioned for the final Serie R Limitada release. Handcrafted in Italy, the humidors feature an Ebony Makassar veneer and an overlay of Indonesian wood. Each humidor top is shaped with curved glass and features an etched Serie R insignia in gold and black. The inside of the humidor features three trays capable of holding 10 cigars each. Only 700 humidors of each blend are being released.

According to Alec Bradley president Alan Rubin, the wrapper derives Cuban-style strength from the Havana strain, and smoothness from the Connecticut strain. The long-filler blend is not disclosed.

“This cigar was developed for the smoker who has sampled cigars from Cuba and is looking for that robust taste,” says Rubin. “The wrapper contributes almost half of the cigar’s flavor, and the taste of its Havana origin is very prevalent.”

Grande, like all HSG shapes, is boxed in two rows of 10 and retails for $5.75. The entire HSG line is affordably priced between $4.65 and $5.75 per stick.

Rather then build a standard pre-pack that only fits its own brands, HBI Tobacco has developed the innovative Flexible Freedom display featuring adjustable size slots that can dispense eight different styles of any brand or size a retailers chooses.

“HBI is extremely confident in its brands,” the company explains. “We know that if a store fills one of these displays with a mix of brands including our own, our brands will likely outperform the other brands and thus both HBI and the store succeed together.”

Typical pre-packs force stores to carry only particular brands or styles, says HBI, which often includes slow movers and doesn’t account for regional preferences. “While 1 1/4 is the most popular size in the West, 1 1/2 is more popular in some parts of the South,” notes HBI.

According to the manufacturer, focus group studies have yielded positive responses and promising results. When compared with the leading mentholated cigarette brands, respondents agreed that 32 Degrees was a better tasting cigarette than the leading premium varieties, according to General Tobacco.

“32 Degrees will also have an equally impressive campaign featuring modern packaging, exciting consumer promotions and advertising. It will be affordably priced matching the perfectly blended combination of tobacco and menthol,” said Doreen Colondres-Henriquez, marketing director for General Tobacco.

“Creating a bundled line of cigars was new for Bucanero,” says Robert Spoden, president of Bucanero Cigars. “To remove a cigar from an individual box and pack them in small display cases that the tobacconist can refill is cost effective for the consumer. Our goal was not to compromise the cigar’s flavor by using poor quality tobacco, something that a lot of bundled cigars are known for.”

Bundelo Cameroon is available in three sizes, all single boxed pressed: 5 x 50 Robusto, 5 1/2 x 44 Corona, and 6 x 54 Belicoso. The Havana Rose is a medium-flavor cigar that uses a “beautiful, rare red Rosado wrapper leaf,” says Spoden. It is also available in three sizes: 6 x 60 Canon, 7 x 54 Gigante, and 8 x 50 Presidente.

“Another benefit of being a small manufacturer is we have access to very special tobaccos that are only available in small quantities, something a larger manufacture would not purchase based on their need for vast quantizes,” says Spoden, whose cigars are produced in factories in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Each Bundelo cigar is draw tested and bears a suggested retail price of $2.90 per stick.

H. Upmann cigars are the namesake of German banker Herman Upmann who so enamored with Cuban cigars he moved to Havana in 1844 and became both a banker and cigar maker there. Today, all leaves in H.Upman are from the Vuelta Abajo region.

The cigar is described as medium-to-full in body and richly flavored, delivering a “round, smooth” smoke. Piloto Cubana Vega Especial long filler from General’s farms in La Vega and Mao are bound with Piloto Cubana grown in Jima, finished with a vintage Havana seed wrapper grown in Mao during the 1994 season.

“While this is General Cigar’s first Dominican puro, there very well could be others in the not-too-distant future,” said Bill Chilian, director of marketing for Partagas.

Frontmarks are named in Spanish for the three months of winter and are each packaged in boxes of 20. Diciembre is 5 1/2 x 49 ($5.70 per stick, $114 per box); Enero is 6 x 54 ($6.25 per stick, $125 per box); and Febero is 6 1/2 x 45 ($5.60 per stick, $112 per box).