Yagua Returns for 2021

JC. Newman’s most unusual cigar is once again off to stores.

It’s the second time the company has shipped Yagua, a 6 x 54 toro size, though that calling it a “toro shape” would be a bit misleading. That’s because the cigars are bunched and rolled like a normal cigar, but rather than going into molds that have cylindrical channels to help give a cigar its round shape, the Yagua cigars are immediately banded and then packed tightly into a royal palm leaf. As such, each cigar takes on a unique shape. 

After a year of aging, J.C. Newman ships the cigars to stores still wrapped in the palm leaf, meaning the cigars keep their unique shapes, though they do change a bit once the leaf is undone.

The idea came from Lazaro Lopez, who manages the J.C. Newman PENSA factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Lopez was explaining to the Newman family how his grandfather used to use the technique to make cigars in Cuba. Now, the practice is being done in Nicaragua using a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos covered by a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper.

J.C. Newman shipped 1,000 boxes of Yagua last summer but has not released anymore since that first shipment. This week, another 1,000 boxes will head to stores, though it may not be the last for 2021. Drew Newman told halfwheel that there might be more released later in the year.