Alec Bradley Black Market Phantom Appears at Retail

Alec Bradley didn’t show any new products at the 2016 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, but that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have any new cigars in the works. Instead, the company has been slowly releasing a number of new lines, including the recently spotted Black Market Phantom.

One retailer informed halfwheel that they recently received five sizes of the new cigar, a Churchill (7 x 50, $7.75), Gordo (6 x 60, $8.15), Robusto (5 1/4 x 52, $6.85), Toro (6 x 50, $7.60) and Torpedo (6 1/8 x 54, $7.70), which are coming in boxes of 10 and 22. No details about the blend or factory producing the cigars has been announced.

In recent weeks, Alec Bradley has released several other lines, Project 50, Post Embargo Zenith, Pedro Pan and Magic Toast. It has been very quiet about the new cigars, telling halfwheel that the company will use the next six months to determine what will be launched into full scale production, while smaller projects will remain in the market at some level.

Alec Bradley is one of several cigar brands and manufacturers that have been quietly releasing new products to small numbers of retailers in order to get them on the market prior to FDA’s deadline of Aug. 8 to release cigars without needing FDA pre-approval, with the intent of having a full rollout at a later date.

A request for comment from the company declined to comment on the release, but did say that “you will see many more of these projects pop up around the country as retailers receive, sell and promote them.”