Like most manufacturers at the show this year, SAG Imports looked much like it had in recent years, and a conversation with Terence Reilly revealed that is right in line with what the company is doing with its cigar lines.

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The company isn’t launching a bunch of new lines this year; rather, they’re bringing back Oktoberfest, with a new 5 x 43 vitola called the Krone. It shares a vitola with the Quesada Seleccion España.

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The Kaiser Ludwig is back as well in an increased quantity, as the production in that one vitola is up to about 500 boxes from about 250 last year.

With fewer new releases, SAG Imports turned their attention to Cubita Nouveau, a mark they’ve held since the mid 1990s but that hasn’t been a focal point of their portfolio. At around $4-$5 per cigar, they fill a hole in the company’s offerings between bundle and premium priced cigar. It’s available in Robusto, Toro, Gordo and Churchill, all using long filler Dominican tobacco.

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Other than that, Regius Cigars, who SAG Imports distributes, has a pair of new limited editions coming out. One is the Regius Culebra, the other was made in collaboration with UK cigar merchant Mitchell Orchant, and bears the Orchant Seleccion name, much as several of his Cuban cigar offerings do.

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The Orchant Seleccion, a 4 3/4 x 52 Robusto, uses all Nicaraguan tobacco and is said to be a bit fuller body than the regular line.

Beyond that, the massive 9 x 60 Fonseca 150 (don’t call it the F-150) made for the Texas market was on display:

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The only other note of interest is that the unbanded blends in their Blenders Sampler probably aren’t going to be turned into a regular production cigar, at least not without some tweaks. Response was good in terms of quantity, though the results were fairly polarized.

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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.