As part of Federal Cigar’s 96th anniversary, the New Hampshire-based store will be receiving a small amount of Altemose, a new cigar from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust.

It’s a single 5 1/2 x 52 vitola that uses a San Andrés negro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers.

“This was a custom blended cigar I crafted solely for my father-in-law, Wayne Altemose’s smoking pleasure,” said Steve Saka, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust’s founder. “Wayne was a hardworking, blue collar guy that loved his family, was always quick with a bad joke and a lifelong cigar smoker. He always favored his cigars to be rather rough and extra pungent. Words like ‘nuance,’ ‘complexity’ or ‘elegant’ were not part of his vocabulary when it came to the cigars he enjoyed. To put it in perspective, one of his personal favorite cigar before I created this liga for him was the Te Amo Robusto Maduro, a Mexican puro.”

“I crafted this cigar specifically for his tastes and in his size of choice, a 5.5 x 52 parejo. It immediately became his daily cigar for the last 5 years of his time with us. He took great pleasure in smoking them and beamed with pride when sharing ‘his cigar’ with his personal friends.”

Saka said he never had any real intention of selling the cigar, but Federal asked for something special and he decided to use Altemose. The cigars that are being sold at the event were rolled in early 2015 at Joya de Nicaragua. He said there are only “200 or so” cigars available for the event and he is unsure if anymore will be made.

Pricing is $6 per cigar and Federal will not take phone orders for Altemose.

Federal’s 96th Anniversary Pig Roast takes place on March 4 at the store’s Epping location.

Cindy Saka, Steve’s wife and Wayne’s daughter, will be in attendance along with Janny García (My Father), K.C. Johnson (L’Atelier), Pete Johnson (Tatuaje/L’Atelier), Nicholas Melillo (Foundation) and Terence Reilly (Quesada).

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.