IPCPR 2015: Nat Sherman

It took me a while to find the Nat Sherman booth thanks to bad directions from some of their “friends” elsewhere at the trade show, but I eventually found it. My inability to locate it speaks entirely to the massive layout of this year’s trade show and not to the actual presence of Nat Sherman—or the flood of suits from the company’s sales representatives around it. Nat Sherman had a new booth, which they were advertising as much taller. There’s probably not a company that understand its brand as well as Nat Sherman and the booth definitely shows that off.

85th Anniversary
While this began shipping about a month ago, the company was still featuring its 85th Anniversary. The cigar is limited to 2,500 boxes so I imagine there’s not a ton left. More details here.

Sterling Extensions
There’s three new Sterling vitolas—Short Robusto (4 x 52, $12), Robusto (4 3/4 x 50, $14) and Churchill (7 x 48, $16)—bringing the total for the line to eight vitolas. Interestingly, these three sizes are offered in boxes of 10, whereas the rest of the line—with the exception of the Super Lancero—come in boxes of 25. Michael Herklots, the vp of retail and brand development for the company, told me there were no plans to put the other four sizes in boxes of 10.

Executive Collection
The start of the booth is no doubt the new line of Executive Ashtrays ($159.95) and Humidors ($449.95). Both are offered in six finishes— burl, Macassar, mahogany, maple, red and white—and definitely go well together.

The humidors use a magnetic-attaching lid to store Bovedas. It’s part of a solution to better regulate humidity within a wooden humidor environment. To accomplish this, Nat Sherman is foregoing standard Spanish cedar and using lucite lining, which also means that the aroma of the wood is not being infused into the cigars themselves.

As for the ashtrays, they feature a removable metal base and grid design lid that can be found in the Nat Sherman Townhouse. Some of the items, particularly the red and Macassar are striking enough that I could see people remove the metal ashtray components and using the wooden bases as decoration when not in use as an ashtray.

Both are slightly higher-priced, but not Elie Bleu pricing and it will be interesting to see how Ashton’s Savoy and Daniel Marshall–the two companies who have previously dominated this space in the humidor world–deal with the added competition.

Candles
The company is expanding its cigar-themed candles which are offered in Connecticut Shade, Maduro and now Candela variants.

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.