Foundation Cigar Co. has begun shipping the new versions of its The Wise Man line.

Earlier this year, the company announced that it would be El Güegüense—the company’s debut blend, which was released in 2015—and the previous version of The Wise Man Maduro. Those two lines were both produced by AGANORSA in Nicaragua, a factory the company will no longer be working with.

In their places, the company has two new The Wise Man blends, both of which are made by My Father Cigars S.A., also located in Nicaragua. The Wise Man Corojo uses a corojo-seed wrapper from Nicaragua, while the new Maduro uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper. Underneath, both blends use tobaccos from Nicaragua: binders from Estelí and Jalapa, while the fillers come from Condega, Estelí and Jalapa.

Each will be offered in the same four sizes:

• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Corona (5 x 48) — $10.50 (Box of 20, $210)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Robusto (5 1/2 x 50) — $11.50 (Box of 20, $230)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Toro (6 x 52) — $12.50 (Box of 20, $250)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Double Corona (7 x 54) — $13.50 (Box of 20, $270)

“We are excited to introduce the new Wise Man Corojo and Wise Man Maduro to our lineup,” said Nicholas Melillo, owner of Foundation, in a press release last month. “Working with Pepín García and his family has been a dream come true, and we believe that cigar enthusiasts will appreciate the craftsmanship and flavor profiles of these new offerings.”

El Güegüense was the first blend from Nicholas Melillo’s new Foundation Cigar Co., introduced in 2015. The cigar was inspired by a Nicaraguan folk dance of the same name. A year later, the company added The Wise Man Maduro; El Güegüense is Spanish for the wise man.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.