Emma Viktorsson’s Freyja to Be Las Cumbres Tabaco’s Second Blend

Las Cumbres Tabaco will be releasing its second line at the upcoming IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, with Swedish mythology behind the brand and Emma Viktorsson behind the blend.

Freyja gets its name from the Viking goddess of beauty and fertility and chief of the Valkyrie, the female figures who choose who lives and dies in battle. Viktorsson called Freyja the bridge between her ancestry and the cigar countries.

The new cigar is coming out of Tabacalera Palma, but the blend was developed by Viktorsson and Geraldito Perez, the production manager at the factory. She was quick to mention to halfwheel that neither Jochy Blanco or her husband, José Blanco, were involved with the blending process, saying that after more than 10 years in the premium cigar industry she felt confident enough to produce her own blend, and wanted to see just what “Emma’s blend” would be.

That blend uses a Dominican criollo ’98 wrapper, while the binder is a Mexican San Andrés leaf and the filler uses Dominican criollo ’98, Dominican Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan tobacco grown in Estelí. Viktorsson said that the Piloto Cubano comes from double primings, while all of the Dominican tobacco comes from the La Canela farm and has between four and five years of age on it.

Viktorsson is releasing Freyja in four sizes, each with a name that gives a nod to Viking mythology: Sessrúmnir (5 3/4 x 42, $7) is a corona larga whose name comes from Freyja’s Heavenly Hall to which she carried fallen Viking warriors. The 5 1/2 x 50 robusto is called Valhalla ($7.85) and its name comes from the place to which the Vikings’ main god, Odin, would take the fallen warriors. The 6 x 54 toro is named Thor’s Toro ($9) and gets its name from the well-known god who is associated with storms, strength, the protection of mankind, fertility and healing. The line rounds out with the Valkyrie Pyramid (6 1/2 x 52, $10), which is another nod to Freyja as chief of the Valkyries.

Each of the sizes will come in 21-count boxes, and shipping is expected to begin immediately after the trade show, which should have the cigars on shelves by the end of July or early August. For the artwork, Viktorsson enlisted the help of Jana Jovanova from Skopje, Macedonia, a family friend of hers who created an oil painting for the release.

Viktorsson got her start in the cigar industry working with her father, Ake, at Swedish Match in 2005. She then moved onto General Cigar Company’s operations in the Dominican Republic before starting Las Cumbres with José Blanco early in 2014.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.