Every show we get to see the coming cigar trends – the things that you will see at your local tobacconist in the next coming months. There are things that just everyone seems to have latched onto. A big trend from last year’s show was the BIG ring gauge cigar. We saw an awful lot of 70 and higher ring gauges last year. And, these huge ring gauges were exceedingly popular at the shops. This year, the trend is the exact opposite. This is the year of the lancero and the short, chubby cigar. This could be for a number of reasons. The big cigars require a big time commitment to smoke them. Who isn’t time crunched? So cigar manufacturers this year are showing off the thinner lanceros & the shorter chubbier cigars. These short guys are 4″ by 48 or 50 ring gauge. You get the flavor and taste of the big guys, but without the huge time investment. A great example of this is Sam Leccia’s newest addition, the Luchador Gringo. This beautiful box pressed cigar is short, chubby and promises to be full of flavor. It’s one of the cigars that we just can’t wait to try!
Drew Estate had many of their popular blends available in 4 x 46 or 4 x 48 sizes:
Lanceros were also everywhere. Lots and lots of them. Lanceros have slowly been gaining popularity for the last couple of years. At last year’s show we saw just a few of them at the boutique brands, but this year almost everyone had a new lancero to show off. The Crux Du Connoisseur also made our list of cigar we can’t wait to taste and is a beautiful slim lancero.
Another big trend we saw at the show was Pennsylvania Broadleaf tobacco. Fermented to a dark, sweet oily maduro, these wrappers give the cigar an earthy, woody, smokey flavor with coffee and chocolate flavors. No wonder they were such a favorite this year! Who doesn’t enjoy coffee and chocolate flavors! Last year, we only saw this wrapper on the Veritas 412, but this year everyone seems to have jumped on the bandwagon.
Veritas 412 with Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper
The last trend we saw a lot of was the 10 count boxes. Can’t afford $200 for a 20 count box of cigars, but love the blend? Like the cigar, but 20 just seems like too many to have on hand? No problem, Cigar manufacturers are now packaging lots of the new blends in a 10 count, making it easy for you to go home with just the right amount at an affordable price. Terrific!