Civil Pleasures Debuts in New York City

A quartet of friends who met in New York City over cigars have launched their own brand.

It’s called Civil Pleasures, and the brand is debuting with CP1, a 5 x 50 box-pressed robusto that uses a criollo-seed wrapper grown in Jalapa, Nicaragua over a Dominican binder and five-year-old filler tobaccos from Nicaragua’s Condega, Estelí and Jalapa regions. Civil Pleasures has partnered with Joya de Nicaragua to produce the CP1, which has an MSRP of $30.

The four friends are Sean Dorsey, Sharif Khalje, Cody Min and Jesse Roth. None of them have backgrounds in the cigar business, though they felt so strongly about cigars and the community that can be built around cigars, they decided to launch their own brand.

“The overwhelming interest and support that emerged from these events and amongst our community inspired us to create our own, independent brand, Civil Pleasures,” said Dorsey, who is ceo of Civil Pleasures, in a press release. “We worked closely with our friends and master-blenders at Joya De Nicaragua to craft what was to become CP1, our first Civil Pleasures cigar which we intended to appeal to both beginners as well as enthusiasts. CP1 is just the beginning.”

The company’s cigars debuted last month, and the CP1 is now on sale at shops in New York and New Jersey.

“Since 2018, we sparked up a relationship with Civil Pleasures, and quickly found ourselves excited with their style and innovative take on cigar enjoyment…they’ve crafted not just a cigar, but a whole vibe,” said Juan Ignacio Martínez, executive president of Joya de Nicaragua, in a press release. “Designed for those who appreciate the finer things without the airs and graces, because luxury is best enjoyed with feet firmly on the ground. Civil Pleasure brings to a new generation of cigar smoker what very few brands can.”

The brand has a new-age look, one that is rather different from the vast majority of cigar brands. For example, it hired photographer Gogy Esparza to shoot its first brand campaign. Esparaza photographed New Yorkers in the hospitality, art and fashion worlds, including Scarr Pimentel of Scarr’s Pizza, Luc Levy of Cafe Gitane, Maxwell Osborne of anOnlyChild and photographer Lucka Ngo Gogy.