Gurkha Suspends Colección Especial Due to Wrapper Shortages

Gurkha Cigar Group has announced that the production of its Colección Especial line has been suspended due to shortages of the Ecuadorian tobacco used for the cigar’s wrapper.

The blend features a Connecticut-seed hybrid wrapper that the company described as being both scarce and difficult to cultivate, which limited the cigar’s availability since its debut in 2022. However, severe weather in 2023 that brought both extreme heat and significant amounts of rain reduced the amount of tobacco grown by farmers across the country.

“We’ve decided to put a pause on the release of this year’s production for Colección Especial,” said Jim Colucci, president of Gurkha Cigar Group, via a press release.  “The cigar is fantastic largely in part to the flavor of its hybrid Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. With the popularity it has gained across the world, we’re having a hard time securing enough viable wrapper to sustain the demand, as many of the crops were not able to fully cultivate this past year.”

Collucci went on to say that the pause on production of the line will last for three to six months to allow crops and production to catch up to demand. The line is made by PDR Cigars at its factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic, and as of the widespread release of the cigar in November 2022, was limited to 150 retailers.

While the Gurkha Colección Especial is going on hiatus, the line will be expanding in the coming months as the company will be giving the Colección Especial Nicaragua a widespread release at the 2024 PCA Convention & Trade Show next month in Las Vegas. The Colección Especial Nicaragua had previously been limited to members of the Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA), with that line shipping in August 2023.

Image courtesy of Gurkha.