J.C. Newman Cigar Co. will introduce its LeRoy Neiman 2025 Collector’s Edition cigars at the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) trade show, held April 11-14, 2025, in New Orleans. This release marks the third collaboration between the Tampa-based, family-owned cigar manufacturer and the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation. The project pays tribute to the late American artist LeRoy Neiman, known for his love of cigars, with all profits directed to arts education in public schools.
The 2025 edition highlights Neiman’s painting “Jazz Horns,” which captures the energy of a live jazz performance. “This year’s edition features LeRoy’s painting, ‘Jazz Horns,’ a beautiful image depicting the spontaneous energy and sounds of jazz,” said Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner of J.C. Newman. “We chose this image because of the return of our annual trade show to New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz.”
Tara Zabor, Executive Director of the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, reflected on the artist’s connection to the genre. “Jazz was always fuel for LeRoy Neiman’s creativity,” she said. “LeRoy spent many nights in clubs drawing live performances and hobnobbing with the greats like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He had a passion for the improvisation unique to the genre which he mimicked in his own painting practice. Down the hall from his New York City studio, you could frequently hear jazz standards belting out of the speaker while the aromas of a freshly lit cigar wafted throughout the space.”
The cigars, handcrafted at J.C. Newman’s El Reloj factory in Tampa, Florida, are 6 1/4” x 52 Torpedoes featuring a Havana Rosado wrapper, a Florida Sun Grown binder, and a blend of aged Latin American filler tobaccos. Limited to 15,000 cigars, they are packaged in 750 cabinets of 20, with a suggested retail price of $22 per cigar. Shipping is planned for fall 2025.
Each cabinet includes a lithograph of “Jazz Horns,” also featured on the cigar bands, and a print of Neiman’s paint-splattered studio floor on the cabinet’s base. “We’ve placed this lithograph inside our cigar cabinets to welcome aficionados into LeRoy’s cherished world,” Zabor added. “Every time someone opens the cabinet, they’re getting not just a great cigar, but a piece of LeRoy’s legacy.”
Profits from the collaboration will fund arts education in Tampa’s public schools, particularly those near the El Reloj factory. “Every cigar from the LeRoy Neiman 2025 Collector’s Edition directly supports our ongoing mission at the Foundation,” Zabor noted. “The profits help us improve arts education in local public schools, keeping LeRoy’s passion for nurturing creativity alive and thriving among the next generation of artists.”
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