Hooten Young Premiering Eladio Diaz-Made Operation Gothic Serpent 30th Anniversary at PCA 2023

For its newest regular production line, Hooten Young has enlisted Eladio Diaz, the former director of quality for Davidoff, to create the Operation Gothic Serpent 30th Anniversary.

Diaz created a blend that the company describes as being complex and robust, with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, a Mexican San Andrés binder, and Dominican fillers. The cigars are being produced at Diaz’s Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera in Santiago, Dominican Republic, with the line offered in a 6 1/4 x 54 belicoso vitola. Pricing is set at $15 per cigar and $300 for a box of 20 cigars.

The line gets its name from the 1993 U.S. military operation that sought to capture Mohamed Farrah Aidid, leader of the Somali National Alliance who was wanted for his attacks against United Nations troops. It was also the operation that was featured in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, and the name of the first cigar created by Hooten Young when retired Special Mission Unit Master Sergeant Norm Hooten & Tim Young launched their company. The two created the company in the winter of 2018 as a way to honor friends and family, and in particular, those who have served in the U.S. military. As such, the company donates 10 percent of all profits to charities that serve U.S. military veterans. In addition to cigars, the company also produces several lines of whiskey.

The cigars are scheduled to begin shipping to retailers on October 3, the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu, the mission that sought to capture two of Aidid’s lieutenants.

Hooten Young previously announced two other new regular production lines, The Operator and Operation Neptune Spear, that will be at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show, which runs from July 8-11 in Las Vegas, Nev.