Foundation Unveils Three Cigars

Ten years ago, Nick Melillo left Drew Estate after a 12-year career as the manager and master blender of the company’s Nicaraguan factory to establish his own company, Foundation Cigars. While the move was risky and fraught with obstacles to overcome, Melillo is now celebrating Foundation’s 10th anniversary with the release of a brand new cigar.

Unfortunately, due to a recent fire at the factory where those cigars are produced, resulting in a loss of “thousands of cigars” the launch of the Foundation 10 Year Anniversario Salomon (7 x 58) cigars have been delayed until the end of the year. Made by AJ Fernandez in Nicaragua, the Foundation 10 Year Anniversario cigar is made with a Connecticut Broadleaf Habano hybrid wrapper covering a Brazilian Mata Fina binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos grown in the Condega, Estelí and Jalapa.

The cigars will be available at an MSRP of $35 but will be available in two packaging options—a 10-count box or a 20-count box.

While Foundation fans will have to wait a little longer than originally planned to enjoy the 10th Anniversario, they can bide their time enjoying a new Lancero (7 x 40) for both The Wise Man Natural and Maduro lines. Presented in 20-count boxes, The Wise Man Lancero cigars are made by My Father Cigars in Nicaragua with an MSRP of $14.50 per cigar.

Last but certainly not least, Foundation is introducing an event-only smoke, the Primer Fabrica 1810. Packaged in 3-count boxes to be given to people who purchase boxes of Foundation cigars at events, Prime Fabrica 1810 is a soft-pressed perfecto (5 ¾ x 60) that’s made from a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Brazilian Mata Fina binder and undisclosed filler tobaccos. The unique cigars get their name from oldest known cigar factory in the United States, that was based in Suffield, Connecticut. According to Melillo, who is almost as passionate about cigar history as he is about current tobaccos, the CAA placed a monument on the site of the old factory in 1935.