At this summer’s IPCPR trade show, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars (RPPC) will be unveiling a second brand developed by renowned Cuban cigar blender and master roller, Hamlet Paredes. It will be called Hamlet 25th Year.
“I’ve been working on a new blend since last fall, one that was more mild to medium strength,” explained Paredes. “Every rolling event I would host, I would be asked for a medium or even a mild cigar, and my first blend was very robust. So now I’ll have a cigar for the everyday smoker on the market.”
Hamlet Paredes’ first brand, Tabaquero by Hamlet Paredes, made its debut at IPCPR in 2015 and continues to impress with fuller bodied smokers. Now Hamlet 25th Year joins the portfolio, providing a more cedary, more toasty medium-bodied smoke.
The significance of the new cigar brand honors the achievements of Hamlet Paredes’ body of work through a quarter century in the cigar industry, including the numerous years at the Partagas factory in Havana, Cuba. It was in Cuba that Hamlet honed his mastery of blending and rolling cigars “free hand.” That’s the process of hand rolling a ready-to-smoke cigar from scratch, without molds or presses. This is the masterful technique that Hamlet currently demonstrates at his popular in-store events throughout the United States. It’s also what made him a cigar industry icon worldwide, for prior to joining RPPC in 2015, Hamlet had traveled the world on behalf of the Cuban cigar industry, performing cigar rolling events and exhibiting his blending prowess.
The new Hamlet 25th Year will be available in three sizes: Robusto (5 ½ x 50, $8.75 SRP); Toro (6 ½ x 52, $9.30 SRP); and Sixty (6 x 60, $10.00 SRP). Crafted at RPPC’s boutique Nicaraguan cigar factory, Hamlet 25th Year features an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper, a Pennsylvania broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. It will be packaged in 20-count boxes and will come to market at the end of the summer.
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars is an artisan cigar and accessories brand headquartered in Bonita Springs, Florida, with manufacturing operations in Nicaragua and Honduras. The company’s goal is to provide the everyday cigar enthusiast with a smoking experience befitting the luxury lifestyle for which Rocky Patel himself is known.
