On this week’s episode of Smoke Night LIVE, featuring Alec and Bradley Rubin of Alec & Bradley Cigars (discussing Alec & Bradley’s limited-edition Uru Doshi collaboration with Cigar Dojo), the brothers announced Kintsugi (around the one-hour mark in the video) as their third official release.
Kintsugi translates from Japanese to mean golden journey or golden repair, describing the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum—effectively highlighting an item’s journey and history, rather than concealing such “imperfections.” Carried over to the cigar industry, the Rubin’s are embracing the beauty of handmade premium cigars, with the imperfections of human intervention adding a unique story to each and every cigar.
Bradley Rubin elaborated on the cigar’s concept (1:00:44 mark in the interview), “That’s something that we as cigarmakers have to deal with: we have a beautiful product, sometimes it doesn’t burn correctly—it’s a handmade product—and there’s going to be imperfections. No cigar is perfect. It’s about finding the beauty in the imperfections. Because it’s handmade, because so many people’s hands are touching this product before it reaches the final smoker—Kintsugi is a beautiful way to compare a piece of art with another piece of art.”
Alec & Bradley Kintsugi is being rolled at the Raíces Cubanas factory in Honduras, the same factory used for the duo’s freshman Blind Faith cigar and the limited-edition Uru Doshi collaboration with Cigar Dojo. Though specifics weren’t provided, the blend was described as being medium in body and incorporating tobaccos from lots not seen in parent company, Alec Bradley’s portfolio to make for a unique smoking profile. The cigars are expected to have approachable price points, being a regular-production national release. Smokers can expect to see Kintsugi arrive at retailers in the May to June timeframe.
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