Black Star Line Cigars Celebrating Fifth Anniversary with Espinosa-Made Marun
Black Star Line Cigars is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a new cigar called Marun, which gets its name from the word for five in the Yoruba language spoken by an indigenous tribe in Nigeria.
The cigar, which uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler, was created with the Espinosa Premium Cigars team and produced at the La Zona Cigars Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Aric Bey, owner of Black Star Line Cigars, says that the opportunity for the two companies to work together came together through Richie “Riot” Otero, who works with Espinosa’s key accounts and other projects.
“It was great working with Hector Alfonso, the master blender at La Zona,” Bey said in a press release. “He is a wealth of knowledge and taught me and my team some new things.”
The cigar is being released in two sizes, one of which will be available to all of Black Star Line Cigars’ accounts, while the other is an exclusive for Oak Glen Tobacconist in Yucaipa, Calif. The size getting a wider release is a 6 x 50 toro that is priced at $12.99 and offered in both boxes and bundles of 20 cigars. Bey is producing 5,000 cigars for the first run of Marun, with 125 boxes and 125 bundles of 20 cigars each, though he said that the line is a regular production and not a limited edition.
The size going to Oak Glen Tobacconist is a 6 1/2 x 48 corona extra that gets both a box press and a closed foot, which the toro size does not have. Production for this version is limited to 1,400 cigars, with Bey saying he expects it to have an MSRP of around $12.99.
“Oak Glen Tobacconist is one of my favorite retail partners, and I felt like honoring our relationship by giving them a special size of Marun,” Bey said.
The Black Star Line Cigars Marun will debut at the 2024 PCA Convention & Trade Show later this month, with Bey expecting that the cigars will ship in early June.
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 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.
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