Outstanding Art – Subculture Studios, Estelí | Cigar Trophy Award 2018

Photo: Volke Scheffner

Cigar Journal’s Cigar Trophy competition gets fiercer each year. The 2018 winners were decided – as always – by public votes from across the world and were announced at this year’s InterTabac tradeshow in Germany to a packed audience of the great and the good of the cigar world.

There are four categories, however, which are not decided by public vote: Outstanding Art, Ambassador, Charity & Community and Lifetime Achievement.

Drew Estate’s Subculture Studios has changed the way cigars are sold and seen. Led by Nicaraguan street artist Jessi Flores, the team of talented young artists have created eye-catching and provocative masterpieces for cigar boxes, walls, floors, cigar stands, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

“I’m still shocked and humbled,” Flores told Cigar Journal. “My mother used to say I would never do any good with graffiti. The sky’s the limit, I say. Thanks, Cigar Journal and the Drew Estate team, for believing in my craziness and design styles.”