IPCPR 2014: Crux Cigars

Regular readers of halfwheel should know the Crux Cigars name, but for many of the retailers attending the 2014 IPCPR Convention and Trade Show, it was their first chance to get a look at the brand. As you’ll notice, there’s a little note in front of the booth indicating it is Crux’s first time as an exhibitor. The brand is owned by a pair of retailers who are no stranger to the trade show floor, Jeff Haugen and Joel Rogers, the co-owners of Tobacco Grove in Maple Grove, Minn. All five of Crux’s lines were on display, with the focus on the three latest additions to the portfolio. The long and slender Ninfamaniac has already begun shipping, a 7 x 33 ninfa vitola priced at $5.99 per stick. Skeeterz was one of the two original lines announced along with Ninfamaniac. It’s a 4 x 32 that comes in 40-count boxes with a single stick SRP of $2.99, or $119.60 for the box. It has a Nicaraguan habano wrapper from Jalapa, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan filler.

The rest of the company’s lines are expected to begin shipping within two weeks or so, with the exception of some sizes of the Passport.

Passport uses an Ecuadorian wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler; it will come in five sizes, three of which will ship in a few weeks: the 5 1/2 x 44 corona gorda ($5.99), 6 x 48 toro marblehead ($7.99) and 7 x 40 lancero ($6.99). The remaining two sizes, a 4 x 42 half corona ($5.99) and 4 7/8 x 47 No. 4 marblehead ($6.99) should be shipping in mid-September. All five sizes come in 20-count boxes.

The Crux Classic uses Nicaraguan tobacco for the binder and filler with a Nicaraguan habano wrapper from Jalapa. There are three sizes: 5 x 50 robusto ($6.99), 6 x 52 toro marblehead ($7.49) and 6 3/4 x 47 churchill marblehead ($7.99), all in 20-count boxes.

Bull & Bear is a full-bodied offering available in two sizes, a 5 1/2 x 55 robusto extra ($7.99) and 6 x 60 gordo marblehead ($8.75), again in 20-count boxes. Like the Classic, it has a Nicaraguan binder and filler with a Nicaraguan habano wrapper from Jalapa.

Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.