PDR Cigars Revamps Half Corona Tins, Adds Jose Rey Boxes

At the Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) trade show this week in Las Vegas, Abe Flores of PDR Cigars showed off updated packaging for his A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva half corona tins, the latest in a number of updates to the company’s branding that has been going on over the past two years.

The vitola is available in the line’s four wrapper options, Desflorado, Sungrown, Maduro and Corojo 2006. It should begin showing up at retail in the next month or so.

Additionally, Flores said that his Jose Rey line, which had previously been offered only in bundles, is set to begin shipping in wood boxes. The line debuted at the 2019 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show and was displayed in similar looking boxes, though they weren’t ready for retail quite yet.

Jose Rey is a trio of sweet-tipped cigars that harken back to the early days of PDR Cigars and the retailer Don Leoncio in New Orleans, La. There are three wrapper options, Connecticut, Sumatra and Maduro, though the binder and filler are not being disclosed. Each is available in a Corona (6 x 44), Robusto (5 x 50) or Churchill (7 x 50), debuting with pricing between $5-5.60 per cigar. The new packaging will increase that cost a bit, which Flores estimated would nudge the range up to roughly $5.40 -6 per cigar.

The new packaging is slated to begin shipping in the coming month.

Finally, the company confirmed that outside of the Jose Rey change, it will not be taking a price increase in 2020. The company said it feels that there are “better ways we can increase profitability without it affecting our retailers and their consumers.”

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.