David Blanco may very well be one of the most congenial people I talked to at the 2021 PCA Convention & Trade Show: helpful, forthcoming and clearly excited to be a part of the cigar industry. For this year’s show, his Blanco Cigar Co. brand is featuring a new blend made in collaboration with a popular cigar reviewer on YouTube as well as a sampler pack of toro vitolas.

Blanco Cigar’s booth is definitely more reserved than what it was in during the 2019 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show—there were no couches this year and fewer tables and chairs overall—but there did not seem to be a lack of customers flowing and out; in fact, I had to stop by multiple times in order to get owner David Blanco on camera for the video below.

Cigar Obsession BG Reserve

After introducing the CO line in 2015—named after Bryan Glynn and his popular Cigar Obsession YouTube channel—Blanco’s newest line takes its name from Bryan Glenn himself. All four of the vitolas are box-pressed and feature both a pigtail on the cap and a closed foot except the Figurado, which has an open foot.

  • Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
  • Binder: Indonesia (Sumatra)
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Cigar Obsession BG Reserve Short Lonsdale (5 1/2 x 46) — $10 (Box of 30, $300)
  • Cigar Obsession BG Reserve Robusto (5 x 52) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)
  • Cigar Obsession BG Reserve Figurado (5 3/8 x 60 x 54) — $15 (Box of 20, $300)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: Aug. 7, 2021

Cigar Obsession BG Reserve Toro Barber Pole

The fourth vitola in the BG Reserve blend happens to also be the first barber pole-wrapped cigar in the Cigar Obsession line.

  • Wrapper: Honduras (Connecticut Shade) & Mexico (San Andrés)
  • Binder: Indonesia (Sumatra)
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Cigar Obsession BG Reserve Toro (6 x 52 Barber Pole) — $13 (Box of 30, $390)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: Aug. 7, 2021

Cigar Obsession Toro Sampler

This $49 sampler includes four different cigars in the Cigar Obsession line, all in the same 6 x 52 toro vitola.

  • Cigar Obsession 1st Third Toro (6 x 52)
  • Cigar Obsession 2nd Third Toro (6 x 52)
  • Cigar Obsession Final Third Toro (6 x 52)
  • Cigar Obsession BG Reserve Toro (6 x 52 Barber Pole)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: Aug. 7, 2021

Overall Score

Drew Estate is the sponsor of halfwheel's coverage of the 2021 PCA Convention & Trade Show
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Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.