Jas Sum Kral Ships Söta Kakor Chokladkakor to Sweden

Swedish fans of Jas Sum Kral will soon have a new cigar to try out, as the company has released Söta Kakor Chokladkakor, the promised follow-up to 2020’s Söta Kakor.

It is a 5 1/2 x 48 vitola that uses a Mexcian-grown maduro leaf over a Nicaraguan criollo 98 ligero binder, with the fillers coming from Nicaragua’s Condega, Jalapa and Somoto regions. It is produced at Tabacalera de Aragon S.A. in Nicaragua, with 290 boxes of 12 cigars being produced. That is a notable increase of the 180 boxes of 12 cigars that were produced for the original Söta Kakor.

The cigar gets its name from the Swedish phrase for sweet cookies, with this version adding the Swedish word for chocolate cakes. The band also contains traditional elements from the Dalarna region of Sweden.

“When it comes to detail, I am my worst enemy,” said Riste Ristevski of Jas Sum Kral via a press release. “Working on the band, I knew I wanted to incorporate the history of Sweden. Complete with traditional art, colors, and regal looks,” he added.

Ristevski added that this was the last band that Nuzli Hakiim designed for Jas Sum Kral before moving onto other opportunities. “Going back and forth with Martin picking his brain to get that authentic Swedish look and feel we finally agreed on prob(ably) the best band design I have seen in a long time.”

Jas Sum Kral is distributed in Sweden by Karl Martin Brix Nelson from Kind Cigars. Ristevski said that the pricing works out to about $13 per cigar.

Update (Dec. 17, 2021) — Added pricing information.

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 Major League Baseball, 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.