The American All-Star

J.C. Newman brought a piece of the Staples Center basketball court to the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show. It came by way of a humidor.

One day, Drew Newman, the company’s fourth-generation owner, was notified that someone from the NBA had called his office wanting to speak with him. He thought, the National Basketball Association, why would the NBA want to speak with me? As it turns out, it was because they wanted to see if J.C. Newman wanted to take part in a program called NBA Reclaimed, which sees the league take the wooden floors from used basketball courts and repurpose them. The most basic item is to cut up a tiny piece of the court and turn it into some sort of collectible, even as a base for an action figure, but by reaching out to J.C. Newman, the idea was clearly to have it turn into some sort of cigar-related project.

   

What it turned into were 40 humidors that used pieces of the 2011 All-Star Game court. The humidors themselves were produced by Jason LeGear of JML Modern, a humidor maker in Milwaukee, Wis. The humidors were made out of Spanish cedar and then pieces of the Staples Center floor were applied to the outside of the humidor.

Inside of each humidor were 30 cigars, a 6 1/2 x 50 toro extra version of J.C. Newman’s The American cigar. This size is exclusive to the humidor and is appropriately called The American All-Star.

The American is the brainchild of Drew Newman, who wanted to create an all-American cigar. Blend-wise, it uses a Florida Sun Grown wrapper from Jeff Borysiewicz’s tobacco farm in Clermont, Fla. The binder is a Connecticut broadleaf from Foster Farms in Windsor, Ct., which also grows the Havana-seed tobacco used for the filler. There’s also Pennsylvania tobacco in the filler. In addition to being made entirely of tobacco, the packaging used for The American is also entirely from the U.S. This includes bands printed in the U.S., and for the regular production sizes, all of the cigar boxes and cigar box hardware—down to the hinges—are made in the U.S.

Of the 40 humidors, just 37 were offered for sale with a price of $3,000. J.C. Newman kept two of the humidors, one of which is on display at the company’s El Reloj headquarters in Tampa—where The American cigar is rolled—and the third humidor was sent to the NBA.

• Cigar Reviewed: The American All-Star
• Country of Origin: U.S.A.
• Factory: El Reloj
• Wrapper: U.S.A. (Florida)
• Binder: U.S.A. (Connecticut Broadleaf)
• Filler: U.S.A. (Connecticut & Pennsylvania)
• Length: 6 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Toro Extra
• MSRP: $100 (Humidors of 30, $3,000)
• Release Date: Nov. 28, 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: 40 Humidors of 30 Cigars (1,200 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Over the years, I’ve smoked a number of The American cigars, so the wrapper’s slightly darker brown color with a good amount of veins isn’t at all surprising. There’s some discoloration as well as touches of black spots and lots of oils. What’s a bit less familiar are some of the detail elements of the bands. Last year, J.C. Newman began shipping all The American cigars with two bands, though this special edition gets three bands. I find the caps to be a bit flatter than I find on other The American cigars, and one of the three cigars is noticeably not a perfect cylinder. The wrappers are medium-full or full with acidity joining sweeter aromas—graham cracker and cocoa stand out—over secondary notes of pond water, wood, raisin and some generic cigar aging room smells. The aromas from the feet of the cigars have much more of that aging room smell, along with chocolate syrup, raisin, acidity and something that reminds me of stale bottled water. While the aromas of the cigars—especially from the feet—are pretty consistent, the cold draws are not. One cigar is unpleasant with some hickory over a stale, dirty water-like flavor and something that tastes like rotten raisins. The second cigar has a tighter draw with better flavors: pine, walnuts, lemon, creaminess and leather. The third cigar is more like what I recall The American delivering: graham cracker over earthiness, a bit of floral flavors and some white pepper.

All three cigars start off with a different leading note: unbuttered popcorn in one, creaminess in another, and oatmeal for the final cigar. What’s even odder is that there are very little signs of those individual flavors in the other two cigars. Earthiness, black pepper, leather, white pepper and grains make the list of secondary flavors for the first puffs of The American All-Star. What is common is that there are clear signs these cigars have been aged, and the draws are on the tighter side. The latter becomes an immediate issue for two of the cigars, which are clearly constricted. On the third cigar, I try removing the band to see if it helps, and it seemingly does, though perhaps that cigar just had less of a blockage than the other two. At its best, the flavor profile has hard pretzels, oatmeal and creaminess on top of some botanical flavors—I’m not that attentive of a gin drinker to tell you the individual ones—as well as peanuts, black pepper and some woodiness. At its worst, those flavors are muted, harsher and more bitter. The finish tends to be bitter regardless, with black pepper coming more alive and toastiness slotting just underneath it. Milder flavors include a slightly sweet bread note, vanilla and some creaminess. Retrohales add more sweetness—vanilla—but also grains and some bitterness. They tend to finish closer to the initial flavor with peanuts, earthiness, white pepper and woodiness, though sometimes it’s dominated by black pepper. Flavor is medium-full to full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. The draws on all three cigars are too tight, though the impacts on the flavor profile vary.

There are some cigars that I don’t mind when a flavor profile gets dry, but this isn’t one of those cases. Earthiness tends to become more generic while starchiness adds itself. There’s some creaminess that helps to balance things out, but given the dry profile, it’s not enough. Secondary notes include black pepper, wood, berries, generic sweetness and peanut butter. At times, some puffs can be quite harsh, especially on the cigars with tighter draws. The combination of bitterness, sweeter starchy flavors, and pepper burn remind me of an overproof spirit. The finish has black pepper and earthiness with some white pepper breaking in. Cedar and some underlying sweetness help to break it all up, but like the first third, it’s not enough to overcome the sharp and drier nature of the profile. Retrohales have peanuts, earthiness and cedar. The sweetness dissipates when I blow the smoke through my nose, but there’s a lot more creaminess in its place. The finish adds some saltiness, and again, the peanuts return. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium-plus. All three cigars need touch-ups from the lighter, though my concerns are still focused on the overly tight draws.

As I alluded to earlier, removing the band helps. The draw on the second cigar gets better, though it’s still not where I’d like it to be. The flavor improves slightly, though it’s still more muted than it should be. There is a lot of cedar and starchiness over creaminess, black pepper, white pepper and rye bread. In addition to the muted flavors, there’s an added sharpness. The finish has a sharper earthiness with leather, white pepper and creaminess. Retrohales are similar to the second third, but the woodiness dominates the other flavors and there’s some added cinnamon. Unfortunately, the finish is quite harsh. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus, and strength is medium-plus. One cigar needs a touch-up, but again, my focus is on the tight draw.

Final Notes

• The 2011 NBA All-Star game is notable for Kobe Bryant fans as it was the final of his four All-Star Game MVP awards. Furthermore, it was won on the Lakers’ home court.

• One of my favorite parts of this humidor is that it comes with a card that shows where the various pieces of wood came from.

• The humidor’s hinges stick out from the back of the box. It’s not something I see on too many humidors.
• The humidor that we purchased featured parts of the three-point line. If I didn’t see the NBA logo and didn’t know what this was for, I would have zero idea that this was from a basketball court.
• There will not be a review of this humidor. It’s with Patrick Lagreid in Phoenix.
• This finished #10 on halfwheel’s Packaging Top 10 of 2023.
• Credit to the NBA for being willing to make a product that had a cigar tie-in. While plenty of athletes openly smoke cigars, few sports organizations are willing to get involved with cigars. In the U.S., this isn’t because of any law; rather, it’s due to pressure from anti-tobacco groups. I’m not sure when the last time there was a major sports organization with a prominent tie-in. For example, in 2011, Davidoff signed a deal to sponsor the Orange Bowl for three years. Within weeks of the announcement, the agreement was canceled.
• For 2024, J.C. Newman and JML Modern are teaming up for another sports-themed humidor. This time, it will be a humidor shaped like home plate that is decorated in wood from broken baseball bats. This humidor will launch alongside J.C. Newman’s new Tampa Smokers cigar, which is also being made at El Reloj.
• If J.C. Newman is taking requests for 2025, I’d love to see a humidor that uses the grass from the All England Lawn & Tennis Club (Wimbledon) or red clay from Roland-Garros (the French Open).

• Weighing and measuring the cigars produced pretty wide ranges. For context, the cigars are advertised as 6 1/2 x 50.
• After being much more attentive to the final cigar, I noticed a hard spot right where the secondary band is.
• While this was not as good as the other The American cigars I’ve smoked, it was clear that these cigars have been aged longer than most cigars. While at times, the flavor got sharp and bitter, it also showed a smoothness that I don’t find unless a cigar has spent some significant time resting after rolling.
• Over the years, we’ve purchased a number of humidors that come with exclusive cigars. I imagine that many people struggle with the idea of opening up the one box of cigars they get as they know it will hurt the value—or just the appearance—of the overall package. Fortunately, J.C. Newman packages the cigars in two bundles, which seems to give you a great option: open up one bundle and smoke through that. If you don’t like the cigars that much, you can just leave the other bundle unopened and still have some of the special cigars.
• That said, I don’t think there’s that much of a secondary market for non-Cuban humidors with special cigars. Perhaps some of the Arturo Fuente items over the years will command a premium, but most of the time, these things depreciate in value. I’d put the Padrón 50th Humidor on the list of “non-Cuban humidors that might have appreciated,” though that market has been negatively impacted by Padrón’s decision to continue to make those cigars.
• J.C. Newman advertises on halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was a lengthy three hours as the cigars burned very slowly, no doubt in part due to the tight draws.
• Site sponsor Corona Cigar Co. has The American All-Star Humidor in stock.