December 2, 2014 Patrick Lagreid News

7-20-4 Ships Factory 57

Kurt Kendall’s 7-20-4 brand has shipped its latest creation to retailers, Factory 57.

For this blend, Kendall used tobacco from five countries, including a high-primed and triple-fermented Nicaraguan Jalapa Habano wrapper leaf, Costa Rican binder leaf from Nestor Plasencia, and a filler blend with Honduran, Nicaraguan, Mexican San Andréas and Colombian tobacco. The company says that the tobacco has been aged for three years, with the cigars receiving an additional six months of rest prior to release. It’s a medium-to-full bodied cigar, described by Kendall as being “bold, full, yet very smooth, with distinct creaminess.”

7-20-4 Factory 57 cigars

The line was announced in mid-June and was expected to be in stores by October, though unspecified delays pushed the release back several weeks.

There are four sizes being released: a 6 x 46 Corona with an MSRP of $7.75; 5 x 50 robusto, $7.75; 6 x 52 toro, $8.50; and 6 x 60 gordo, $9.50. All are packed in 20-count, Spanish cedar boxes, with the cigars bunched in the entubado style with a double cap on the head. The cigars are being made at Nestor Plasencia’s Tabacos de Oriente S.A. in Honduras.

When the cigar was first announced, Kendall said that it is a small-brach, limited release for the time being. “If Factory 57 goes the way its predecessors have, it’ll find its way into our regular catalog of boutique cigars,” he said via a press release.

The name refers to the U.S. government’s official designation of 7-20-4 as a licensed and taxed manufacturer of premium cigars. The original 7-20-4 Cigars opened in 1874 and grew to become the world’s largest supplier of premium cigars, until the Cuban Embargo cut off its supply of Havana leaf, leading to the discontinuation of the mark in 1964. The original factory was located in Manchester, New Hampshire, near Kendall’s present headquarters.

Brett Bowersox, an independent sales rep in the northeastern U.S., posted a picture of the box to his Twitter account on Monday afternoon:

(An earlier version of this story listed different prices for the cigars; since the press release was issued those prices have changed and are corrected above. Additionally, while the company previously announced there would a Churchill in the line, that size is now a 6 x 52 toro.)

7-20-4 7-20-4 Factory 57 Brett Bowersox K.A. Kendall Kurt Kendall Plasencia Cigars Tabacos de Oriente
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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, the G-League's Valley Suns, 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.

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