PCA 2021: American Caribbean Cigars

While I’m not sure when the first year American Caribbean Cigars had a booth at the trade show, 2018 was the first time I visited the company. In 2019, the company was not at the trade show, and in 2020 nobody was at the trade show since it didn’t happen. This year, American Caribbean Cigars is back with an updated booth and some special limited edition cigars.

This year the booth is more lounge-like and less of a long display area. Cesar Cuenca, sales director for the company, greeted me and happily took the time to tell me all about the new cigars and new packaging that was being debuted at the show.

Maradona Tribute Edition Robusto

Diego Maradona was a professional football (soccer) player from Argentina. If you’re not familiar with Maradona, he is considered one of the best players of all time, showing in the first few pictures when Googling “top soccer players of all time” and placing number one in Sports Illustrated’s 2019 article The 50 Greatest Footballers of All Time.

Maradona was also a cigar smoker and eventually decided he wanted to have his own brand. A friend of a friend happened to be Emiliano Lagos, a distributor for American Caribbean Cigars. Lagos introduced Maradona to some of the ACC products, which eventually convinced Maradona to choose them to make his cigar. Tragically, Maradona passed away unexpectedly before the project was finished in November of 2020. Working with his estate, the project moved forward, now named the Maradona Tribute Edition. While the cigar will have an initial run of only 500 boxes in a single size, tentative plans are to have follow-up releases in additional sizes.

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
• Binder: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Filler: Honduras & Nicaragua

• Maradona Tribute Edition Robusto (5 x 50) — $25 (Box of 20, $500)

Production: 500 Boxes of 20 (10,000 Total Cigars)

Release Date: July 2021

The Bouncer Humidor

The Bouncer is getting a special humidor-only release that is a new size and has a slightly different blend than the normal Habano blend. It features some Peruvian tobacco in the filler, whereas the regular blend only has Nicaraguan tobacco in it.

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
• Binder: Ecuador
• Filler: Nicaragua & Peru

• The Bouncer Humidor (6 1/2 x 5) — $14 (Box of 50, $700)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: July 2021

La Rosa de Sandiego Packaging Update

Lastly isn’t a new blend or even a new size, but some packaging updates to the La Rosa de Sandiego lines. The Connecticut, Habano and Maduro blends are all getting a fresh makeover, with updated box designs, brand new artwork for both the box and the bands, and the boxes hold 21 cigars now instead of 20. The one exception is the La Rosa de Sandiego Gigante line, which will continue to have the same packaging as before. These redesigned boxes are shipping now.