The Great Cigar Caper

Cigar Box Staff with Jack Sandlin of Oliva Cigars

Hello cigar fans! Sorry it’s been a while since I last posted. Things have been crazy at the Box. We hosted two major events, Oliva at

the end of March and Nish Patel mid-April. Both were wildly successful and we want to extend our appreciation to all of you that were able to make it out! We will be continuing our series of big events with Miami Cigar and Co. May 25th. Check the events or Facebook page for more details.

Cigar Box Staff with Nish Patel and Gordon Will of Rocky Patel

Every month when it comes time to decide what to write about in my blog, I review cigar related articles and news stories I have saved over the previous weeks. Normally, I have a hard time deciding what the most interesting bit of news to share is, but April was easy. In the first week of the month we at the Cigar Box and every other cigar retailer in the country received a letter from Arturo Fuente. This letter stated on April 3rd, 2017 a 40-foot shipping container went missing. The container had arrived at Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale Fl. where it was loaded onto a delivery truck to be transported to company headquarters in Tampa Bay. Somewhere along the 250 mile transit the truck was stolen along with hundreds of thousands of cigars. On April 25th the company announced that the truck had been located. While they declined to say when and where the truck was found, they did say that the substantial majority of the cigars were still missing. A theft of this scale is completely unprecedented in the cigar industry. While Arturo Fuente has stated that they are working diligently to make up for this loss, don’t be surprised to see a lapse in availability in the line.

Omar de Frias is a force to be reckoned with. When an injury dashed the 6’9 Dominican’s dreams of being a professional basketball player, he set his sights on a new goal. Omar enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico where he earned his MBA. In 2004 he was recruited by NASA where he wore a number of hats including Program, Business and Budget Management. In 2011 de Frias decided to go back to his Dominican roots and began research to open his own cigar company. In 2013 Fratello Cigars was launched and Omar has not looked back since. With his company offering three separate blends available in over 600 retailers nationwide Omar has now retired from NASA to focus on Fratello. While the line has many great sticks, in my opinion the Bianco Boxer is the true gem. The Bianco blend consists of a Mexican San Andreas wrapper, Dominican binder and Nicaraguan and Peruvian filler. The Boxer tweaks this blend with the addition of more ligero tobacco. Found at the top of the tobacco plant, ligero is known for its bold and spicy flavors. All of this is rolled into a beautiful 6 ¼ x 52 box-pressed torpedo making for a complex yet approachable smoke. The main notes for this cigar are white pepper and sweet cocoa. Coming in at a medium to full this cigar falls right into my wheelhouse. Any and all maduro fans absolutely must try this cigar.