The Gurkha Royal Challenge Maduro is on its way to retailers, as the company made the announcement on Tuesday via its Twitter feed.

The cigar was unveiled at the 2014 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, but delays with the boxes and the holiday closure of the factory it was made at pushed back its release into 2015. A possible release date of as early as August 2014 had been suggested at the show, though that got pushed back to mid-December.

The Gurkha Royal Challenge Maduro uses a broadleaf maduro wrapper over a Honduran habano binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. It’s available in five sizes: Robusto (5 x 50, $8.38), Toro (6 x 50, $8.66), Churchill (7 x 52, $10), Torpedo (6 1/2 x 53, $9.46) and XO (6 x 60, $11.06). All five sizes come in boxes of 20 and are produced at American Caribbean Tobacco S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua.

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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.