Tatuaje Gran Maravilla Set for 2014

Pete Johnson’s first single store release for 2014 has been announced, the Gran Maravilla made for Silo Cigars of Knoxville, Tenn. It’s actually a return to Tennessee of sorts for the maravilla name. In 2006, Johnson released the La Maravilla to the now-defunct Leaf & Ale, which was also based in Knoxville.

The Gran Maravilla measures 6 1/8 x 46, slightly longer than the 5 5/8 x 46 original Maravilla. It will use the same internal blend as the original—a make-up of Nicaraguan corojo and criollo—but will feature an Ecuadorian habano wrapper as opposed to the original’s Nicaraguan wrapper. Since 2007, Johnson has been using Ecuadorian wrapper on all Brown Label-banded cigars, except for the Reserva releases. While neither cigars carry an actual band, they both fall under the Brown Label category.

The cigars will be released at Silo Cigars in “early second quarter 2014” according to a post Johnson made on his Saints & Sinners forum. There will be 200 boxes of 25 cigars and 10 or 20 boxes of 50 cigars, meaning the release size will be 5,500 or 6,000 total cigars. Silo Cigars owner, Paul Warner, told halfwheel that he expected it would be 20 cabinets given the feedback he’s heard.

Like the original, the cigars will be wet-packed and feature a covered foot. Pricing is expected to be $10.00 per cigar barring any changes, the same as the original.

At this time, Silo Cigars plans on launching a pre-order list in January and as such is not taking orders.

With the release of the Gran Maravilla, all three of the 2006 single store releases will have been rereleased. Last year, Johnson sent the Bombazo Capa Especial back to FUMARE of Reno, Nev., another version of the original Tatuaje Bombazo released for the store. Earlier this year, the Cohete returned to Tower Pipe & Cigars of Sacramento Calif., the same place it went to in 2006.

While Leaf & Ale and Silo Cigars share the Knoxville connection, the stores are unrelated. Mike Nelson closed Leaf & Ale in late 2011.

This is the third exclusive for Silo Cigars of recent memory. Last month, the La Sirena Triton was released at the store following an exclusive Flores y Rodriguez release earlier in the year.

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.