If three is the magic number, then expect Artista Cigars to pull a few rabbits out of their hat this year, as the Dominican cigar manufacturer is introducing three new cigars at the PCA Show—two additions to its Artista Cigar and David Ortiz lines, and the launch of a brand-new value cigar, ART-56.
Artista Cigars traces its history back to 1956 and now produces millions of cigars each year in its Tamboril, Dominican Republic, factory. The company also grows tobacco across the Caribbean region, Central America and South America that it uses for its own brands or sells to other manufacturers. In more than 60 years, Artista has quietly grown and the company’s president, Radhames “Ram” Rodriguez, who is the third generation of the family to work in the business, has big plans to lead Artista into becoming a household name among Dominican cigar manufacturers.
Since Rodriguez took over daily operations at the company, he established its signature brand—Artista Cigars—and forged a relationship with Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer, David Ortiz, to produce his cigars. For the 2024 PCA Show, Rodriguez brought extensions to both the flagship Artista line and David Ortiz Cigars.
Artista Falu joins the Artista Harvest and Artista Midnight cigars for 2024. The cigars that make up the Artista lineup are made from newer seed strains or from tobaccos that are often overlooked to create cigars with a different flavor and aroma profile. The Falu is a full-bodied and strong cigar that features a toothy and rich Broadleaf wrapper, Indonesian binder and a flavorful and strong filler blend to create a cigar that starts off with notes of hay and aged hardwood, builds with hints of cranberries and finishes with notes of cracked pepper notes and sweet Dominican rum. Artista Falu is box-pressed and available in either Robusto (5 x 54) or Toro (6 x 50) sizes.
HOF by David Ortiz is an extension of David Ortiz Cigars and celebrates the famous Boston Red Sox player’s induction into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. HOF by David Ortiz features a Mexican San Andres wrapper over a sweet Indonesian binder and a powerful filler blend of tobaccos and will be offered in a regular production Toro (6 x 54) size, as well as in a limited edition Figurado. The Toro will come in 20-count boxes. There will only be 541 boxes of the Figurado, matching the number of career homeruns hit by Ortiz in his stellar career. Each of the 10-count limited-edition boxes of the Figurado will be hand-numbered and a select few will be autographed by Ortiz. Artista expects the cigars will ship to retailers by July.
ART-56 is Artista’s all-new value bundle and the cigars are offered in 10-count packages in either Robusto (4 3/8 x 54) or Toro (5 ½ x 50) formats. Each of the sizes is available with Maduro, Natural or Claro wrappers. All ART-56 bundles have MSRPs of less than $30 and the cigars are available immediately after the show.
