Five years ago, Oscar Valladares began his foray into manufacturing cigars, releasing a line called 2012 by Oscar that was a nod to the Mayan calendar and the accompanying thought that it foretold the end of the world on Dec. 21.

For his fifth anniversary celebration, Valladares and his blender, Byron Duarte, decided that it would be fitting to bring that original line from March 2012 back to the market. This reinvigorated series is being released in three blends with four sizes that are rolling out throughout 2017.

The packaging of the original release contained 21 cigars—20 with a standard cigar band on it and one wrapped in a tobacco leaf with a band directing the consumer to smoke the cigar on Dec. 21, 2012, making it either your last cigar or the first of a new era. Both blends used a Nicaraguan binder and Honduran filler, with the 20 cigars using a Honduran corojo wrapper and the end-of-the-world cigar using a Nicaraguan maduro wrapper.

This updated version will come packed in 20-count boxes that are prominently decorated with Mayan artwork and references. Unfortunately, there won’t be another of the cigars wrapped in a tobacco leaf and with the instruction to smoke the cigar on Dec. 21, 2012, as that date has long passed.

As for the blends, the Corojo version will use a Honduran top leaf, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua. The Maduro version gets its wrapper from Mexico’s San Andrés region, while the binder comes from Honduras and the filler comes from Honduras and Nicaragua. Finally, a milder Connecticut line uses a Honduran binder with fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua under the Connecticut wrapper.

The 2012 by Oscar is currently shipping in a box-pressed toro vitola that measures 6 x 52 and sells for $8.50 per cigar before taxes.

Two more sizes are due out in the first half of 2017, a 4 x 54 short robusto and a 6 1/2 x 52 torpedo, while the aptly named Sixty, measuring 6 x 60, is slated for late 2017. All of the sizes are box pressed, making these the first box-pressed cigars to come out of Valladares’ factory in Danlí, Honduras.

Pricing and more specific release dates have not yet been announced.

Update (Sept. 18, 2017) — Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co. announced a change to the name of this cigar, which had originally been called the 2012 by Oscar Rebirth Edition. Another cigar company has raised issue with the use of the word “rebirth,” and as such, Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co. has removed it from the cigar’s name.

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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 MLB.com, 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.