The range of Macanudo cigars available in U.S. humidors will soon expand, as this month General Cigar will release the Macanudo Inspirado Orange for brick-and-mortar retailers and the Macanudo Inspirado Black for online and catalog merchants.

Macanudo Inspirado Diplomat Box 1

The original Macanudo Inspirado, which comes in orange packaging, was launched in May 2014 to Europe and Canada. It’s a medium-full bodied cigar that is wrapped in a rosada leaf grown in San Agustin, Honduras, with a binder from the Jamastran Valley in Honduras and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. The cigar is made at General Cigar’s STG Danlí factory in Honduras.

Macanudo Inspirado Feature

The Macanudo Inspirado Black came out in September of the following year, using a habano-seed wrapper from the Connecticut River Valley that is grown by the Thrall family exclusively for STG. The binder is also proprietary: a leaf called La Vega Especiale from the Dominican Republic, while the filler is made up of Dominican olor and piloto cubano along with Honduran and Nicaraguan tobacco. It’s billed as a full-bodied profile, with production handled by General Cigar Dominicana in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Alan Willner, vice president of marketing at General Cigar, told halfwheel that the company has seen good traction with both products since they have been introduced. It marks another step in the evolution of the Macanudo brand, which has been undergoing a rebranding of its packaging and presentation this year.

While the blends are different, both lines are being launched in the same four sizes and prices and all in 20-count boxes: Toro (5 3/4 x 52 ring, $6.59), Gigante (6 x 60, $7.19), Churchill (7 x 50, $6.99) and Robusto (5 x 50, $6.19).

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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 MLB.com, 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.