PCA 2023: Warped Cigars

Visiting a booth first thing in the morning on day three is not a great visual indicator of how busy a company has been. Still, despite the photo below, Warped’s booth was one I saw consistently filled with retailers whenever I walked by on the first two days.

Having taken a hiatus from the show in 2022, Warped Cigars has a new booth this year that looks to have borrowed some design elements from its 2021 booth. Though with a different background, the gray wall looks familiar, though with new displays, tables, chairs, and flooring.

Warped Cigars owner Kyle Gellis took a few minutes to give me a rundown of the two new things at the show, both of which should be exciting to any fans of the brand.

La Colmena Black Honey (2023)

Initially released in 2015, the La Colmena Black Honey saw another limited release in 2017. Six years later, we’re again getting a limited run of them, but this time in a 10-count box instead of a bundle. Gellis noted that while he hand-wrote Black Honey on all the bundle’s wrappers previously, this time, he instead took an image of that handwritten name and printed it on the box to keep the feel of the original.

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano Oscuro)
• Binder: Ecuador
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua

• La Colmena Black Honey (2023) (5 x 48) — $22 (Box of 10, $220)

Production: Not Disclosed

Release Date: Fall 2023

Sky Moon

The cigar is billed as a combination of the Sky Flower and Moon Garden lines, offered in a corona with a 109-style head. This was previously a personal blend of Gellis that was only available if he handed you one himself. Now, this limited release can actually be purchased, though the number of boxes released will still make it a hard-to-find cigar.

• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Shade-Grown Corojo 99)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua (Corojo 99, Criollo 98, Jalapa Medio Tiempo)

• Sky Moon (5 1/2 x 42) — $11 (Box of 50, $550)

Production: 500 Boxes of 50 Cigars (25,000 Total Cigars)

Release Date: July 2023