ACE Prime to Debut Mas Igneus at PCA 2022

The word balanced gets used a lot in the descriptions of new cigars, but with its upcoming new line, ACE Prime is taking the term to a new level.

The new line is called Mas Igneus, which comes from a Catalan expression meaning “house of ignition” and which is shared by a winery in the Priorat region of Spain. If the name sounds familiar, ACE Prime’s president and co-founder, Luciano Meirelles, is a partner in the winery along with Jerome and Ornella Valcke, and in November 2021, the trio announced they had created a wine to complement ACE Prime’s Luciano The Dreamer cigar.

Now, a cigar is being created to pair with a wine, and instead of simply offering a balanced flavor profile, the tobacco has been selected for its pH balance, which is a measure of how much acidity or alkalinity something has.

The Mas Igneus blend features a high priming, Ecuadorian corojo 98 wrapper, a Brazilian binder, and fillers from Nicaragua. The tobaccos in the filler were selected for offering a balanced pH level that is designed to not only create an outstanding cigar on its own, but one that is designed to be a perfect match for the “M” wine from the Mas Igneus winery. To do that, Meirelles and the ACE Prime team adapted a chemistry kit to help them select filler tobaccos that match the pH of the wine.

“We are thrilled with all of our joint projects,” Meirelles said in a press release. “Blending a cigar and winemaking are independently captivating processes, but to work jointly on this, it’s simply been a remarkable journey; searching for a balanced pH in the combined leaves was an interesting journey to say the least.”

But the pairing capability of the Mas Igneus blend is not limited to just that wine; Meirelles told halfwheel that it would be well complemented by other denser wines with higher tannin levels such as Malbecs, cabernet sauvignon, Grenaches, shiraz and Bordeaux. He described it as a very meaty cigar that is “almost a meal” when it comes to the density and texture of its smoke.

Mas Igneus will be offered in four vitolas, all of which are offered in 20-count boxes:

• Mas Igneus Short Robusto (4 1/2 x 50) — $11.95 (Box of 20, $239)
• Mas Igneus Toro (6 x 52) — $12.45 (Box of 20, $249)
• Mas Igneus Ancho (5 x 54) — $12.95 (Box of 20, $259)
• Mas Igneus Excelente (6 x 60) — $13.45 (Box of 20, $269)

“At Mas Igneus, our goal is to bottle every wine with passion, dedication, and confidence in what we’ve created,” said Ornella Valcke, co-founder of Mas Igneus and a WSAT sommelier, via a press release. “To find that same commitment with Luciano, and ACE Prime, in creating what is not only an independently innovative cigar, but something that can be paired with our wines is priceless.”

The cigars are produced by Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí, Nicaragua, and will debut at the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show, which happens July 8 – 12 in Las Vegas. Meirelles told halfwheel that the cigars are scheduled to begin shipping to stores around the last week of July.

Images courtesy of ACE Prime.