PCA 2022: CLE Cigar Co.

CLE Cigar Co. is back in a similarly laid out booth again this year, mostly sans walls and with consolidated display cases that stood around the edge of the booth space last year.

The bright red carpet creates a stark delineation between the actual booth space and the show floor aisles, producing a nicely defined area while remaining open. Something I thought of this year, which I don’t think is necessarily a good or a bad thing, is that while the walls of the old booth did enclose the space, it also created this intriguing air of mystery surrounding what was inside the booth. Overall I think the open booth is better, as you can get a sense of the entire lineup quickly and easily.

The only big change from last year is the addition of a wall that takes up part of one side of the booth. Instead of multiple display cases all around, this allowed the company to display all its lines in a nice, orderly fashion. One thing of note was that while there were boxes and cigars on display for almost all the company’s offerings, there were a few conspicuous poster-board photographs of boxes where boxes should be. This was because UPS didn’t deliver a large number of items in time for the show, so the options were to either not have anything to show and empty shelf space or to at least have the photos so customers could at least see what the new products and packaging looked like.

Eiroa PCA Exclusive 2022

The first thing on our list didn’t get delivered or have photographs on the shelf. It is the same as last year’s PCA Exclusive, with the small change of making the cigars round instead of box-pressed.

• Wrapper: Honduras (Cameroon)
• Binder: Honduras
• Filler: Honduras

• Eiroa PCA Exclusive 2022 50×5 (5 x 50) — $16 (Box of 20, $320)
• Eiroa PCA Exclusive 2022 11/18 (6 1/4 x 52/60) — $17 (Box of 20, $340)
• Eiroa PCA Exclusive 2022 60 x 6 — $18 (Box of 20, $360)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: July 2022

CLE Signature and 25th Anniversary Packaging Update

The CLE Signature and 25th Anniversary lines are getting packaging updates, and as promised here is a photo of the photographs. There were other items that were not delivered in time, but CLE was able to get these photographs of the new boxes printed up instead.

Of note, the boxes are completely redesigned and will be boxes of 20-count instead of the previous 25-count. While the boxes are changing, the bands on the cigars are staying the same.

CLE Fresh Pack

A new humidified sampler pack is being released this year. It has four 6 x 60 cigars, one of each of the CLE Connecticut, CLE Habano, CLE Corojo and CLE Prieto, of which the Prieto is a round shape instead of box-pressed like the regular line. It will also come with a Boveda pack to keep the humidity ideal in the sealed pack.

MSRP: $35

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August/September 2022

(New CLE and Eiroa Sizes Not Pictured)

New Sizes for CLE and Eiroa Lines

Another thing that didn’t show up for the show was all the new sizes for some of the CLE and Eiora lines. The CLE Corojo, Habano and Connecticut will all be getting a new 6 x 54 toro size. For the Eiroa side of things, the Classic and CBT lines are getting a lancero size.

• CLE Connecticut 54×6 (6 x 54) — $9.50 (Boxes of 25, $237.50)
• CLE Corojo 54×6 (6 x 54) — $9.50 (Boxes of 25, $237.50)
• CLE Habano 54×6 (6 x 54) — $9.50 (Boxes of 25, $237.50)
• Eiroa CBT Lancero (7 x 39) — $13.60 (Boxes of 20, $272)
• Eiroa Classic Lancero (7 x 39) — $13.60 (Boxes of 20, $272)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2022

CLE 50/10

Lastly, another thing that wasn’t on display at the show but was certainly asked about is the CLE 50/10. Posted to the CLE Cigar Co.’s Instagram stories, everybody—including myself—was asking about how to get this cigar.

It is not a planned release, so much as just a special side project that was requested to be made in celebration of Christian Eiroa’s 50th birthday and a simultaneous celebration of the company’s 10-year anniversary. It’s the same blend as the Eiroa Classic line, so a Honduran puro, is a 10 x 50 which is slightly bigger than a classic A size and only had 300 total cigars made. It currently isn’t for sale and therefore no pricing is available.