After more than 10 years away from the cigar industry, Tim Ozgener returned to the business this year with a new company—appropriately named Ozgener Family Cigars—and two debut blends.

The former head of CAO left the cigar business in late 2010 when General Cigar Co. absorbed CAO as part of a merger between the two companies’ parents—Swedish Match and Scandinavian Tobacco Group—and Ozgener left his role as president of CAO.

Since Ozgener is a co-owner of Crowned Heads, it is no big surprise that his new company’s products are being distributed by Crowned Heads, nor is it a surprise that Ozgener’s cigars are being sold in the Crowned Heads booth. If you are counting, that makes a total of three different brands—the third company is ACE Prime—that are being shown off and sold in the Crowned Heads booth.

Bosphorus

Ozgener’s parents were born in Turkey, and the name of this cigar refers to the Bosphorus Strait, a slim and historically important body of water located in that country that separates Europe from Asia. As is the case with Pi Synesthesia, Bosphorus is being made at Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí, Nicaragua.

  • Wrapper: Ecuador (Sumatra)
  • Binder: Ecuador (Connecticut) & Nicaragua (Jalapa)
  • Filler: Nicaragua (Estelí, Jalapa & Ometepe)
  • Bosphorus B-50 (4 x 50) — $12 (Box of 20, $240)
  • Bosphorus B-52 (5 x 52) — $12.75 (Box of 20, $255)
  • Bosphorus B-54 (6 1/2 x 54) — $14.25 (Box of 20, $285)
  • Bosphorus B-55 (5 1/2 x 55) — $13.50 (Box of 20, $270)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2022

Pi Synesthesia

The name Pi Synesthesia comes from an art series created by Cano Ozgener—Tim’s late father, who was also the founder of CAO—that uses the mathematical pi as inspiration for art. As is the case with Bosphorus, Pi Synesthesia is being made at Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí, Nicaragua.

  • Wrapper: Ecuador (Connecticut)
  • Binder: Ecuador (Habano)
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Pi Synesthesia (6 x 52) — $15 (Box of 12, $180)

Production: 2,500 Boxes of 12 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)

Release Date: August 2022

Overall Score

Avatar photo

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.