The AR Cigar Collective is now Union Star by A&R.

Richie “Riot” Otero, PDR Cigars’ director of sales, told halfwheel the company was changing the name of the brand to help differentiate itself from other cigar companies. Otero and Abe Flores, PDR Cigars’ founder, started the concept as a way to sell cigars that had been sitting in the company’s aging room. Those cigars were originally designated for another project or client, but for one reason or another, the cigars stayed at the company’s factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic.

So far there have been two releases as part of the project.

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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 have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.