Two years ago, El Cedro Cigars debuted as one of the first clients of Hendrik Kelner Jr.’s Kelner Boutique Factory, now Anwar Elboustani is moving El Cedro’s producing to another Dominican factory.

“We moved the operation to Cesar,” said Elboustani to halfwheel. “I had to make a move in terms of growth.”

It’s not just production that’s moving to Fabrica de Cesar, but also the distribution for El Cedro, which will now be handled by Cesar’s U.S. sales team.

In addition to the business changes, El Cedro’s lines are expanding.

The company is adding three new cigars—available in two different wrappers—at this year’s IPCPR Convention & Trade Show. They are Purple Dye (6 x 54, $8.60/$8.90), Rama (6 3/4 x 50, $9.60/9.90) and Tronco (6 x 60, $8.20/8.50). Both versions use Dominican piloto cubano ligero and seco and Pennsylvania fillers over a Dominican corojo binder. They are offered in the choice of Ecuadorian habano wrapper and a Mexican San Andrés Maduro wrapper.

The Maduro is about 30 cents more than the Habano version. Each size is sold in boxes of 20, which Elboustani said he expects to begin shipping in late August to early September.

As for the company’s original line, it will remain, although it’s being made by Cesar.

“We worked as close as possible to make it to the original,” said Elboustani.

It uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper, Dominican corojo binder and a mixture of criollo 98 ligero and piloto cubano seco. The original El Cedro will continue to be offered in two vitolas: Corona Gorda (6 x 48, $7.80) and Robusto (5 1/4 x 52, $8).

Davidoff is the official sponsor of halfwheel's coverage of the 2015 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show.
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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.