Atabey Black Ritos Ships to Stores

A cigar that started out as an NFT is now shipping to 10 stores.

In 2021, Selected Tobacco S.A. announced the Atabey Black Ritos as an NFT, a non-fungible token. It offered 10 box NFTs, while there were also 25 single cigar NFTs sold. The boxes were priced for roughly $1,000 and proceeds were donated to Cigar Rights of America.

Since the NFT was announced, United Cigar—which distributes Selected Tobacco S.A. in the U.S.—has hinted that there would be a physical, smokeable cigar offered as part of the project. Earlier this year, it announced the cigar as a 6 1/8 x 55 parejo that uses an Ecuadorian maduro wrapper. Selected Tobacco S.A. oftentimes doesn’t disclose details about the filler blend; in this case, the only information that has been disclosed has been the use of Peruvian ligero in the filler.

Selected Tobacco S.A. says these cigars were rolled in 2018 and have been aging in rooms at the Tabacos de Costa Rica S.A. factory lined with Spanish cedar and French oak, similar to the Alfonso Extra Añejo, Alfonso Gran Selección and Byron 1850.

The MSRP is set at $50 per cigar and this year’s production is limited to 200 boxes of 25 cigars.

Those cigars will head to 10 stores:

• Ambassador Fine Cigars (Phoenix, Ariz.)
• Byron Cigar Lounge (Schaumburg, Ill.)
• Cigarz on the Ave (Winter Park, Fla.)
• Corona Cigar Co. (Orlando, Fla.)
• Franklin Cigars (Franklin, Tenn.)
• Industrial Cigar Co. (Frisco, Texas)
• Maxamar Ultimate Cigars (Orange, Calif)
• Red Beard Cigar Co. (Cottonwood, Ariz.)
• Tobacco Leaf (Robbinsville, N.J.)
• Two Guys Smoke Shop (Nashua, N.H.)

“Atabey Black Ritos captures the essence of Atabey with an exotic twist,” said Nelson Alfonso, founder of Selected Tobacco S.A., in a press release. “We have spared no effort in creating a cigar that embodies the essence of luxury and exclusivity. It is my honor to offer this to those who understand and appreciate what we try to do.”

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.