Viva Republica Launching Ivy Today

Tonight at Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, Ill., Viva Republica will launch its Ivy brand.

Ivy was announced at the 2015 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show last July, but not as part of the official offerings from Viva Republic and its distributor Miami Cigar & Co. Rather, some retailers that were selected as part of the 100 Ivy accounts made it known they were part of the program.

The first cigar from the line is the eponymous Ivy, a cigar that uses an Ecuadorian habano corojo wrapper fro 2008, Cameroon and Dominican binders and fillers from 2007 and 2009 including tobacco from the Cibao Valley, Dominican Republic and Condega and Estelí, Nicaragua.

It will debut in three sizes: Dudley (5 x 50, $13.25), Lamont (5 1/4 x 43, $12) and Porcellian (7 1/2 x 50, $14.50). A press release indicated there were more sizes on their way in July, at one point the company had described five sizes for Ivy.

“I used to smoke cigars in Harvard Yard when I was in school,” said Jason Holly, Viva Republica’s founder, in a press release. “In a store on the square I saw an old picture of JFK smoking a cigar in the Yard, the history and tradition is overwhelming and I wanted to create a brand that had that feel of nostalgia.”

Branding for this release comes from Glenn Wolk, who has previously produced work for Ralph Lauren, Led Zeppelin and others.

Viva Republica is produced at the La Aurora Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic.