Amendola Launching NYC Series The West Side Story at TPE 2023

There are few cigars made in America, most of which come are made in various parts of Florida. But cigar factories exist in places all over the country, including in New York City. At this week’s TPE 2023 trade show, Amendola Family Cigar Co. will debut a new series that pays tribute to New York City with cigars made at the city’s oldest cigar factory.

Amendola’s The West Side Story will be the first of the company’s new NYC Series. It’s actually two different blends that will be packaged in the same 20-count box. The blends are named after the weapons used by the gangs in the 1957 play, West Side Story.

The Blade is a 6 x 52 torpedo that uses a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper over an Indonesian binder over fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The Bat is also a 6 x 52 torpedo that uses as Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Indonesian binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The cigars are produced at Martinez Cigars, a family-owned cigar factory located in Manhattan.

Because the cigars come in a single 20-count box with 10 cigars of each blend, the MSRPs are the same for both: $14 per cigar. The cigars are differentiated by a secondary band, which has an image of the respective weapon.

“In 2014 I met Jesus Martinez, at the time I was working to start my own factory in Durham, N.C.,” said Jeffrey Amendola, co-founder of Amendola cigars, in a press release. “I reached out to Jesus for advice and guidance. Martinez became monumental in making my dream a reality by introducing me to a cigar roller and gifting to me many tools of the trade that I needed to get my operation running. To this day I am still rolling cigars with chavetas, tuck cutters and cigar molds that Martinez gave me. Chris and I are honored to be producing this project with the whole Martinez Cigar Factory crew. Special thank you to Dave Rivera, (head of product development and marketing for Martinez Cigar Factory).”

The West Side Story will debut at TPE 2023, which takes place Feb. 22-24 in Las Vegas. A ship date was not announced in the press release.

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 handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.