Attic Series Coming Later This Month From West Tampa Tobacco Co.
After leaving General Cigar Co. and forming West Tampa Tobacco Co. earlier this year, Rick Rodriguez is already getting ready to launch his second cigar line. The new smoke is called the Attic Series, and it’s made with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper. It’s scheduled to be the first in a line of limited-edition cigars.
“Attic Series will be an ongoing project that will allow Rick to take you on a journey through his life by delivering blends and stories that he has kept locked away in his ‘attic’ for nearly 30 years,” the company said cryptically.
The Attic Series is set to debut in mid-October and the first installment—simply called Attic—comes in one size, a Toro that measures 6 inches by 54 ring gauge. Underneath the dark, Mexican wrapper is a Nicaraguan binder from Condega and Nicaraguan fillers grown in Condega and Estelí. Rodriguez intends the blend to be medium-to-full-bodied in strength.
The Toro has a suggested retail price of $12.99 each and comes in boxes of 14, but the box is as much part of the story as the cigar. According to the company, the packaging is decorated with Easter eggs found throughout the box and bands. The shadowy image of an old chaveta resting against a lone chair in an attic, for example, is a nod to Rodriguez’s grandfather, who made cigars in both Cuba and West Tampa. And a QR code on the foot band of each cigar relays a message when scanned with a cell phone.
Only 2,000 boxes are being produced and they will only be sold to retailers five boxes at a time. Like West Tampa Tobacco Co.’s namesake debut line, Attic is made in Nicaragua at the Garmendia Cigar Co. factory.
