Trinidad Lost Blends Launching in March

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 02/13/2015

Altadis U.S.A. Inc. said it has recently unearthed a small batch of Trinidad cigars that have been neatly tucked away in the depths of its vintage cedar room for nearly a decade. After years of aging, the cigars are being released to the public under the moniker Trinidad Lost Blends.

Two sizes of the exclusive series will be made available: Salomon, 6 inches by 52 ring gauge, and Belicoso, 6 1/8 by 54. The scope of the Lost Blends release is extremely limited, as only 50,000 cigars will be made available to the public.

In a recent conversation with Cigar Aficionado, Yasemin Ozoncul, marketing manager for Altadis U.S.A., revealed that while pricing has not yet been established, the rare smokes are expected to retail somewhere between $10.00 to $12.00 per cigar. The cigars will ship in 50-count tray boxes. With packaging aesthetics yet to be finalized, Ozoncul confirmed that the box pictured here will look similar to the final and improved packaging.

Lost Blends features a vintage Indonesian shade wrapper from Java, a vintage Dominican Olor binder and filler tobaccos of vintage Dominican and Connecticut broadleaf. The cigars were rolled almost ten years ago at the Tabacalera de Garcia Ltd. factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic, and are expected to launch across the United States later in March.

Though Lost Blends is only a small release, its availability suggests something of a revival for the mostly dormant Trinidad brand—its most recent new release was the Trinidad Paradox, which debuted in 2012. And, Altadis confirmed that the brand's core line as well as the Trinidad Reserve line are no longer being manufactured. Compared to some of the more vigorous brands in Altadis's portfolio (Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta), which continually see new launch titles every year, Trinidad has some catching up to do. Enditem