As can happen in our coverage of the show, booths that we have covered year after year sometimes don’t make sense in our schedule for the current year, and instead are assigned to one of the other writers. This year Alec Bradley, a booth that Patrick usually covers, is assigned to me.
It’s not that I had never stepped foot in the Alec Bradley booth before — in fact, I covered the Alec Bradley booth back in 2017 due to similar scheduling conflicts. My point however, is, that it had been a while since I had walked into their booth, so my commentary on booth changes from year to year will not be particularly helpful.
What I will say though, is that the booth design is one I prefer for the busier booths, where the edges of the booth are open, making it easy to weave in and out of the crowd without being confined by walls. The wall along part of the side and back of the booth is large enough to display the company’s portfolio of cigars without being constricting. While there, I took the chance to talk to Jonathan Lipson, the director of sales and marketing, along with Bradley Rubin, son of the company’s founder, Alan Rubin. They gave me a rundown of all the new stuff coming out of the company.
The third release in the company’s Experimental Series, this blend is built around Connecticut-seed broadleaf tobacco that was grown in Honduras. That tobacco is used for the wrapper and one of the binders, while a Nicaraguan-grown broadleaf wrapper was selected to add another layer of flavor.
- Wrapper: Honduras (Connecticut Broadleaf)
- Binder: Honduras (Connecticut Broadleaf) and Nicaragua (Broadleaf)
- Filler: Honduras & Nicaragua
- Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf Chunk (4 x 60) — $10.50 (Box of 24, $252)
- Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf Robusto (5 x 50) — $9.85 (Box of 24, $236.40)
- Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf Toro (6 x 52) — $11.50 (Box of 24, $276)
- Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf Gordo (6 x 60) — $12.75 (Box of 24, $306)
- Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf Gran Corona (7 x 46) — $11 (Box of 24, $264)
Production: Regular Production
Release Date: August 2022
Alec Bradley Project 40 Natural 07.70
The Project 40 line is getting a 7 x 70 vitola for both its Natural and Maduro options.
- Wrapper: Nicaragua
- Binder: Brazil (Habano)
- Filler: Nicaragua
- Alec Bradley Project 40 Natural 07.70 (7 x 70) — $9.50 (Box of 24, $228)
Release Date: August 2022
Production: Regular Production
Alec Bradley Project 40 Maduro 07.70
- Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
- Binder: Brazil (Habano)
- Filler: Nicaragua
- Alec Bradley Project 40 Maduro 07.70 (7 x 70) — $8.85 (Box of 24, $212.50)
Release Date: August 2022
Production: Regular Production
Alec Bradley New-Mix Classics
This is Alec Bradley’s PCA-exclusive release, which means it is only available to retailers who attend the show and order it while here. The company calls the release a reflection on its history with PCA, and is intended to evoke nostalgia amongst tobacconists and brand advocates. More specifically, they found some bands from lines that have been discontinued and decided to create a limited run of these classic blends as a PCA exclusive. The production of these samplers is limited to 1000 displays of 10 four-packs.
Maxx Connecticut Culture Toro (6 x 54)
- Wrapper: Ecuador
- Binder: Costa Rica
- Filler: Colombia, Honduras, Mexico (San Andrés), Nicaragua
SCR Toro (6 x 52)
- Wrapper: Honduras
- Binder: Honduras, Indonesia
- Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Sanctum Toro (6 x 52)
- Wrapper: Honduras
- Binder: Costa Rica
- Filler: Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua
Vice Press Toro (6 x 54)
- Wrapper: Nicaragua
- Binder: Costa Rica
- Filler: Honduras, Mexico (San Andrés), Nicaragua
- New Mix-Classics Four Pack Sampler — $34.95
Release Date: July 2022
Production: 1,000 Display Boxes of 10 Four-Packs (10,000 Total Cigars of Each Individual Blend)