Escobar Cigars Adds Nas as Co-Owner

A lot of celebrities have cigars with their names on them, but Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum recording artist Nasir “Nas” Jones is getting into the cigar industry as a co-owner and equity partner in Escobar Cigars.

The brand and its parent company, Puros Privados, launched approximately three years ago and currently offers two lines, the Escobar Natural and Escobar Maduro, both of which are made at the Escobar Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua according to brand co-founder David Gomes. The brand name is also a tie-in to another name that Nas has frequently referred to himself as, including in a 1997 track called Escobar ’97.

The Escobar Natural line features an Ecuadorian habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler, and is offered in five vitolas, a Robusto (5 x 50), Churchill (7 x 50), Double Corona (6 3/8 x 52), Double Toro Gordo (6 x 56) and the Distinguidos Romeo (5 1/2 x 46), a perfecto that is the lone figuardo in the group.

The Escobar Maduro line uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan fillers, and is offered in the same five vitolas. Both blends have MSRPs between $12.50 and $14.50 and are offered in 25-count boxes as well as via samplers that contain one of each vitola.

Escobar Cigars currently operates on a direct-to-consumer model but is actively looking to enter the traditional retail market both in the U.S. and internationally.

“When the team at Escobar Cigars initially approached me, I was immediately drawn to the brand by the exceptional quality of their product,” said Jones via a press release. “This partnership with Escobar has been almost two years in the making and I am honored to be an equity partner with them. I am looking forward to growing this brand and to giving back to the local communities in Nicaragua where our tobacco is grown, aged, and hand-rolled into a premium cigar.”

Both the lines and the company also underwent a rebranding as part of the announcement, updating the bands on the cigars and the logo of the company at the suggestion of Jones.

There also appear to be plans for a line of aged cigars that will involve Nas more closely, as the company has begun teasing the Escobar Ultra Black. That cigar shares its name with a 2020 song by Nas off his album, King’s Disease, which won a Grammy in 2021 for Best Rap Album.

Image courtesy of Escobar Cigars.