There’s a saying that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. In the case of Casa Cuevas, they’re making a limited edition cigar.

Today, the company announced the upcoming release of La Mandarria, a limited edition that gets its name from the Spanish word for sledgehammer. That is relevant as back in February, the company’s Miami headquarters was broken into and product stolen by way of burglars using sledgehammers to break through a warehouse wall. The company estimates that the thieves got away with over 25,000 cigars, including half the inventory of the limited edition Flacos; which were unable to be replaced as the numbered boxes were shipped from the factory out of sequence and there was no way of knowing which particular boxes were stolen, according to a company statement.

Now that the company has returned to normal operations, it is set to release a limited edition extension to the company’s red-banded habano line at the upcoming IPCPR Convention & Trade Show in late June. La Mandarria is a 6 x 52 toro that uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Colombian, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. Additionally, the cigars feature a pig tail cap and shaggy foot. It’s being billed as the first full body and full-strength cigars in the Casa Cuevas line-up. Gabriel Alvarez, the company’s director of sales, told halfwheel that the blend’s ratios were adjusted for more strength in flavor and body.

The company has not set a formal cap on how many cigars will eventually be produced, but did say that only 500 boxes of 20 cigars are being created for the initial production. MSRP is set at $12 per cigar and $240 per box, before taxes.

La Mandarria will ship in July, immediately following the trade show.

Photos courtesy of Casa Cuevas.

Davidoff is the official sponsor of halfwheel's coverage of the 2019 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show.
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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.