Outside of Cubans, there aren’t a ton of cigars the U.S. market doesn’t receive. One of them is Chogüí, a small Dominican brand that is currently being sold only in the Dominican Republic.
Victor Nicolás launched Chogüí Cigars last year with the Primera Edición, a 6 x 43 Dominican puro limited to 300 boxes that were only sold in the Dominican Republic. During the drive between the factory in Tamboril, Santiago and Santo Domingo, one box was lost, box number 277. That odd occurrence became the inspiration for Chogüí’s next release, Dos77.
The new release goes on sale today in the Dominican Republic because it’s July 27, or 27/7 in the Dominican Republic. Interestingly, there are 300 boxes of 16 created for the initial release. This time, the cigar measures 5 x 52 and is known as Rogusto, a combination of robusto and gusto, Spanish for flavorful. The blend uses a Havana-seed Dominican wrapper, a criollo 98 binder with “habano 2020” and corojo fillers.
For the initial release, Chogüí is releasing 300 Birdhouse Edition containing cigars that were rolled last August. Pricing is suggested at $7 per cigar, or $112 per box of 16.
Dos77 isn’t limited and there’s another 25,000 cigars that have been rolled that will be made available once the Birdhouse Edition is sold out. Those cigars will come in boxes of 10 and have six months of aging. Each of those boxes will contain the following insert.
Nicolás told halfwheel that two additional vitolas are planned for the regular production line, although they have not been finalized.
As for when Chogüí arrives in the U.S., it’s being worked on. The relatively young and small brand has already found some notable fans in the U.S. including a handful of retailers and Skip Martin of RoMa Craft Tobac.
Nicolás declined to list the factory where the cigars are being produced.