Drew Estate Updates Nica Rustica Packaging

Drew Estate is updating the Nica Rustica package as part of what the company says is “a top-to-bottom relaunch” of the brand. The most notable change is that the cigars will now be sold in boxes of 25 instead of bundles of 25.

Most importantly, the blend and sizes are remaining the same, while the price points are more or less the same. What is changing is the packaging, which the company says will feature less of the El Brujito carving that has defined the Nica Rustica since it debuted in 2013. El Brujito is an image found on a rock that dates that was carved into stone by indigenous people living near Estelí, Nicaragua. It shows an image of a shaman, the earliest known user of tobacco in Nicaragua.

While the El Brujito will remain part of the packaging going forward, the new designs focus on the colonial houses founded in Estelí. Richard “Dog” Diaz of Subculture Studios, the Drew Estate art studio located next to the company’s factory, designed the new packaging.

“When Drew Estate opened its doors in Estelí in 1998, the mission, philosophy and mantra was to unite New York City and Nicaragua to birth a cigar company unlike any that the world has ever experienced,” said Jonathan Drew, co-founder of Drew Estate, in a press release. “From our earliest days, the most important core value was our bond to Estelí, the newly proclaimed ‘Mecca of Cigars.’ Nica Rustica has always been a high tribute to our Nicaraguan colleagues and community, as well as toward its boundless future. This redo is long overdue, and we nailed it in every aspect. We are investing huge Swisher money behind this brand, believe that.”

Nica Rustica will continue to use a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Mexican San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It is offered in three sizes, which will now all come in 25 boxes:

• Nica Rustica Belly (7 1/2 x 54) — $6.48 (Box of 25, $162)
• Nica Rustica Brujito (6 x 52) — $5.76 (Box of 25, $144)
• Nica Rustica Short Robusto (4 1/2 x 50) — $5.04 (Box of 25, $126)

Those prices represent minor changes to the previous pricing. The Belly size reduced in price by 2 cents per cigar, while the Brujito size is one cent per cigar more and the Short Robusto is 4 cents per cigar more.

Drew Estate says the new versions will be shipping to stores in July.