Vlada Stojanov, best known as the U.S. distributor of Casa 1910, Despot, Lampert, Xhaxhi Bobi and formerly the American distributor for Casdagli, is launching his new cigar brand named Somm at TPE 2023 with two debut blends.

Somm Premier Cru is a limited edition 6 x 49 piramides made at the KBF Factory in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. Given the factory origin, it should come of no surprise that it uses tobaccos from the Kelner family’s vast library. This includes a wrapper from Bonao, Dominican Republic from the 1997 harvest, a binder from the Kelner’s farm in Monte Plata, Dominican Republic—it’s from the 2007 harvest—and Dominican San Vicente viso from 2018, Peruvian pelo de pro visas from 2017 and BVS African hybrid from 2017 in the filler.

It will have an MSRP of $30 and limited to just 300 boxes of five cigars. Stojanov says Somm Premier Cru will begin shipping in March.

Both the Somm and Premier Cru parts of the name are references to wine as Stojanov is a trained sommelier.

Update (Feb. 25, 2023) — This is a five-count box, not a 10-count box as originally stated.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.