LaVega Cigar Co. Adding Robustos Next Year

Aaron Paoletta’s will pay tribute to his late father by adding robustos to the LaVega Cigar Co. core lines early next year.

On Jan. 8, 2024, the company will release a 5 x 52 robusto size for its il Primo, il Secondo and il Terzo lines. Each of those lines debuted this past May in 6 x 50 toro sizes.

All three blends are made at the Cuevas family’s Tabacalera Las Lavas S.R.L. in the Dominican Republic.

• il Primo, Italian for the first, uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Dominican binder and Colombia, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania broadleaf fillers
• il Secondo, Italian for the second, uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper over a D0minican olor binder and Dominican piloto cubano, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania broadleaf fillers
• il Terzo, Italian for the third, uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Dominican olor binder and Nicaraguan criollo 98 and Pennsylvania broadleaf fillers

The three new robustos will have an MSRP of $9.50 per cigar and will be offered in 10-count bundles as well as three-count samplers. They are being released on Jan. 8 as that’s the anniversary of the passing of Paoletta’s father.

After spending time in Las Vegas as a chef, musician and owner of his own record label, Paoletta relocated to Pennsylvania and launched a mobile cigar lounge called LaVega, a nod to his time in Vegas. Last year, he met Alec Cuevas at a cigar event in Ohio, which led to the creation of LaVega Cigar Co.

Update (Oct. 23, 2013) — The original version of this story indicated that Paoletta’s father passed away on Sept. 8; it was Jan. 8. 

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.