At its upcoming The Great Smoke event, Smoke Inn will release the 13th installment in its Microblend Series, a cigar called Hand Gripper that is made by Moya Ruiz Cigars and La Zona Cigar Factory.

The cigar is a 5 x 52 robusto that uses an Ecuadorian Habano oscuro wrapper over a binder and filler from Nicaragua. The release is limited to 300 numbered boxes of 12 cigars, with an MSRP of $99 per box or $8.25 per cigar, though it will be tough to buy just one cigar. Similar to the company’s La Jugada Nunchuck release from 2013 that was an exclusive release for Cigar Dojo, pairs of cigars are connected, though in this case it is done in order to resemble a pair of forearm flexing hand grippers using a spring instead of tobacco.

“For us the concept was simple, let’s create something that’s never been done before,” said Danny Moya of Moya Ruiz Cigars, via a press release. “We are the only company that has a utility patent to be able to connect two cigars together so we came up with The Hand Gripper,” he commented.

The cigars will launch on Feb. 16 at The Great Smoke in West Palm Beach, Fla., and any remaining boxes will be sold via Smoke Inn’s retail stores and online shop beginning on Feb. 18 at 12 noon EST.

This is the second addition to the store’s Microblend Series to be announced in recent weeks, joining the Red Meat Lovers Club from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. That cigar has already gone on sale. Smoke Inn’s Microblend Series also includes cigars made by Davidoff, Tatuaje, Quesada, Drew Estate, Illusione, Espinosa, Room101, My Father and Arturo Fuente.

Image via Moya Ruiz Cigars on Instagram.

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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 MLB.com, 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.