Espinosa Premium Cigars is giving its vanilla sweet-tipped cigar line, @ZUCAR, a full remake before the company re-releases it at the upcoming Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) at the end of January. While the blend was previously never disclosed, this new version is being made with Dominican long filler tobacco, including the wrapper, according to the company.

It will now be available in four sizes, up from three in the original release with the addition of the toro vitola:

  • @ZUCAR Cañita (5 x 30)
  • @ZUCAR Lonsdale (6 x 44)
  • @ZUCAR Robusto (5 x 50)
  • @ZUCAR Toro (6 x 50)

The robusto size was previously known as the Caña while the 6 x 44 was dubbed a Corona. All four sizes come in 25-count boxes, with production hands by the Aveja Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic, the same line that made the original version.

Additionally, the line is getting new packaging to make it more retail-friendly, according to Hector Alfonso Sr., the company’s director of operations. The name is a stylized version of azucar, the Spanish word for sugar.

The line will begin shipping to retailers in April 2020. Pricing for the line has not yet been announced. @ZUCAR debuted at the 2016 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, but fell victim to backorders, so Espinosa decided to reboot the project with a new blend and packaging.

The TPE trade show runs from Jan. 29-31 in Las Vegas.

Update (Jan. 21, 2020) — The company announced the shipping date, which has been added to the story.

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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.