Black Label Trading Co. has begun shipping the fifth anniversary of its limited edition Morphine release, and this year’s version not only comes in three sizes, one of them is being offered in a barber pole wrapper.

For the Morphine Lancero, which measures 7 1/4 x 42, James Brown selected both Ecuadorian maduro and Mexican San Andrés maduro wrappers to create the barber pole design. Underneath that is a Nicaraguan habano binder and fillers from Nicaragua. The cigar is priced at $11.50 before taxes, or $138 for a box of 12 cigars.

The other two sizes, the Corona measuring 5 1/2 x 42, and the Short Robusto Box Press, which measures 4 1/2 x 50, do not use the barber pole design, forgoing the Ecuadorian maduro leaf in favor of the Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper. The Nicaraguan habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers remain the same.

Both the Corona and Short Robusto Box Press are priced at $10.50 per cigar, though the Corona comes in a box of 18 cigars priced at $189, while the Short Robusto Box Press is offered in 20-count boxes priced at $210, before taxes.

The company produced 450 boxes of each size at its Fabrica Oveja Negra factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The Morphine line debuted in 2014 in the Lancero and Corona vitolas.

Avatar photo

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.