Casdagli Ships Cypher 3311

One of the more ambitious projects from Casdagli Cigars is heading to stores.

The Cypher 3311 pays tribute to Major A. T. Casdagli, the grandfather of Jeremy Casdagli, the founder of Casdagli Cigars. During World War II, A. T. Casdagli was captured by the Nazis but was allowed to stitch crosspoints, some of which were sent back to Britain. Inside those stitching were secret messages, part of his work as a member of the British Intelligence unit MI9.

As for the cigars, there are four cigars, though there are two different blends between them. Each cigar comes in its own coffin, packaged in boxes of eight. All of the cigars were rolled at IGM Cigars in Costa Rica and aged for one year.

• Cypher 3311 Colossus (6 x 60) — $50 (Box of 8, $400)
• Cypher 3311 Needle (7 1/2 x 48) — $50 (Box of 8, $400)
• Cypher 3311 Enigma (7 1/2 x 49) — $50 (Box of 8, $400)
• Cypher 3311 Lorenz (9 1/5 x 58 diadema) — $60 (Box of 8, $480)

Colossus and Needle use an Ecuadorian wrapper over an Ecuadorian binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Peru and an undisclosed country. The Enigma and Lorenz sizes use an Ecuadorian wrapper, the only component the company is disclosing.

Just 250 boxes of each size are being released this year, though the production is expected to double for next year and those cigars are already in production, ready to be aged for one year. The boxes are decorated with various hidden messages as a tribute to A. T. Casdagli.

Casdagli is donating €1 per cigar to the Red Cross, which A. T. Casdagli credits for saving his life.