Foundation came to the PCA 2023 with a booth that had a similar feeling to the 2022 booth, but with a slightly bigger feeling. They had the big wooden triangles showcasing products on either ends of the booth, with a little kiosk type set up between the triangles with apparel and a nice small area for interviews and private meetings. There were wooden picnic tables from one end of the booth to the other that were constantly full of people taking orders. Overall it had a nice open feeling with big bold signs of each of the respective brands and was a bustling booth through the entire show. 

First we explored the two new extensions to an already solid coreline the Charter Oak Pasquale and Pegnataro. Nick wanted to expand the homage to Connecticut by incorporating the references to his grandfathers. The blends are different compared to the original coreline and meant to represent a cigar for a slightly more special occasion, or something enjoyed on the weekend. The Pasquale is wrapped in a CT Broadleaf while the Pegnataro is wrapped in CT Shade, and binder and fillers are Nicaraguan. The cigars are offered in one size a 5 1/2 x 48 vitola, in 12 count boxes, and are made at the AJ Fernandez factory. MSRP is set at $13.00. 

The next cigar is the brand-new core line, Metapa. It is a brand in honor of the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, who is pictured on the band and box, who was born in Metapa Nicaragua. The blend consists of a unique Sumatra Ecuador wrapper, CT broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. There will be four vitolas, Corona Gorda, Robusto, Toro, Double Corona, offered for both the maduro and claro priming’s of the cigar offered in ten count boxes. Nick has been playing with the Sumatra Ecuador wrapper for a while and is happy to finally release an offering to the public. 

Nick was recently knighted by the Ethiopian crown council with the star of honor holding the rank of Knight Commander and wanted to pay tribute to this incredible recognition. The Tabernacle Knight Commander is a special blend based off of the Tabernacle line and is coming in one size, 6 ¾ x 52 perfecto with CT Broadleaf wrapper. The cigars are going to be hitting the market with extra age on them with around 15 months of post role age. This will be a limited production of 700 boxes but Nick is hoping to make this a yearly release because all the profits of The Knight Commander will be donated to an Ethiopian charity. 

Finally the Highclere Castle Senetjer is going to become a yearly limited release to honor the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. Blend and box will be the same as the 2022 release and cigars are to be expected to hit shelves every November. Make sure to watch the full interview with Nicholas Mellilo of Foundation Cigars below

Mitchel
l Santaga

Being a Canadian resident, the tobacconist introduced Mitchell to Cuban cigars and for special occasions he would light up a Cuban cigar. After exploring the Cuban portfolio, he stumbled into new world cigars and fell in love with the bold flavors and great consistency and construction. Ever since then he has been entrenched in exploring as much of the new world cigars and finding his favorites to keep in the humidor.