Espinosa Premium Cigars – IPCPR 2017

Espinosa Premium Cigars made their big announcements a few days leading up to the show, introducing a revamped Murcielago and a pair of new Jamaican-themed cigars.

Both brands were on display, accompanied by a new booth layout as well. For the past 2 years, Espinosa had teamed with Pure Aroma Cigars (D’Crossier), but it was announced earlier this year that Espinosa would no longer be distributing D’Crossier and the companies returned to separate booth locations for IPCPR 2017.

This seemed to be a good move, as the Espinosa brand has grown enough to fill the same-sized booth with their own cigars. The layout was familiar, with the brand’s signature Laranja-style orange carpet; but the cigars were dispersed around the perimeter this year, allowing each cigar its own custom display, as well as a clutter-free path to see what they had to offer.

And to set the booth apart, Espinosa showcased a local Miami artist in a corner of the booth. Custom plaques were hung around the booth and retail customers took home designs that were painted live at the show. As Cigar Dojo and Espinosa have teamed up for the annual Dojo Bash each year, plaques (and cigars from all La Zona-made companies) were raffled to guest attendees as well, including custom-designed Cigar Dojo artwork.

Murcielago

This is a brand that predates Espinosa Premium Cigars. Murcielago was a project from company owner Erik Espinosa’s previous venture, EO Brands. In 2015, Espinosa relaunched Murcielago, displaying an updated look and a new take on the original blend (with the Espinosa team dissecting old Murcielago cigars to reverse-engineer the cigar from scratch). Now, after partnering with AJ Fernandez and his new San Lotano factory, Espinosa has revamped Murcielago once more—boasting a smoking experience that is even closer to the fan-favorite original.

The bands feature the same logo from 2015’s redesign, but the color scheme is now a reflective, pearlescent finish. The band’s shape has been overhauled as well, being die-cut to resemble a bat when removed from the cigar. The cigar boxes are a bit more traditional, using a cedar finish and showcasing the new design on the underside of the lid.

Blend-wise, the cigars are said to use the same composition, only upgrading to a more mature selection from AJ’s vast inventories (said to include up to 3-year-aged tobaccos). According to Espinosa, this brings out more chocolate notes and smooth tendencies, which is more on par with original Murcielago cigars.

Reggae

Espinosa’s biggest focus this year was on a pair of Jamaican-inspired cigars. Espinosa emphasized that these new blends are not “Jamaican cigars,” but rather Nicaraguan cigars that include a touch of Jamaican tobaccos, making for a unique smoking experience.

Both cigars feature the colors of the Jamaican flag, although the designs are slightly different. Reggae is the core-line, regular production offering, using Jamaican Lengua de Vaca in the filler. Reggae DREAD uses a similar blend, but is said to offer a fuller-bodied experience. The DREAD is available in only 1 size and is more limited in production, with the cigars being produced in small batches to fill demand.

Both Reggae cigars are expected to ship within the next 2 weeks.

SEE ALSO: Reggae DREAD Cigar Review & Rating

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