La Palina to Release New Goldie

In the coming months, La Palina will be following up their highly successful Goldie Laguito No. 2 with a bigger edition, the 6 x 54 Goldie Laguito No. 5, according to La Pailna’s Director of Sales, Andrew Brennan.

The blend is designed to be very similar to the Laguito No. 2, which used an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper over an Ecuadoran binder and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Like the No. 2, the No. 5 will also feature the Laguito fan tail cap.

Several aspects of the new La Palina Goldie Laguito No. 5 are still being worked out, including price, but it will be more than the $15 MSRP that the No. 2 had. Production is slated to be around 2,000 ten-count boxes, though it may expand to 2,500 boxes. Like the Goldie No. 2, all the cigars are being rolled by master roller Maria Sierra at El Titan de Bronze on Calle Ocho in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Brennan said that production has already begun on the project.

The La Palina Goldie Laguito No. 5 is slated to hit retail shelves in the summer, with one shipment possibly going out before the IPCPR Convention and Trade Show in mid-July, and the other shipment going out after the show. Like the No. 2, distribution of the No. 5 will be limited to a select group of retailers.

As for the La Palina Goldie Laguito No. 2, which was reviewed on halfwheel here and finished #12 in the 2012 Consensus and #22 in the 2012 halfwheel 25, it will not be returning. “It’s done,” Brennan said.

La Palina’s executive team – Bill Paley, owner of La Palina; Courtney Smith, vice president; and Brennan – will be travelling to Miami and El Titan de Bronze to work on another new project that will be released at the 2013 IPCPR trade show. It is slated to be a single-vitola release in a Short Robusto size, with a limited production of 1,000 ten-count boxes.

Also under consideration for IPCPR are new vitolas in the La Palina Classic line, including a Corona, Lancero and Short Robusto.

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.