For two years in a row, Selected Tobacco S.A. along with its distributor, United Cigars, are two of the most anticipated booths to see at PCA. Selected Tobacco S.A. is owned by Nelson Alfonso may have designed the packaging and blended the cigars, but he did not design the booth that many are calling the “luxury car showroom” of booths. Black and white, with museum like display cases housing cigars and some actual art worthy ash trays and humidors.

It is an impressive space, plenty of room, luxurious but not gawdy and plenty of meeting space to handle business with customers. This is only the second year that the booth has been used but I really hope that it sticks around for a while.

Nelson is no stranger to ultimate luxury. He also has worked with Habanos S.A., the Cuban-state cigar company responsible for all Cuban cigars. He has worked on some of their more limited products like the Gran Reservas but most notably, the Cohiba Behike which is perhaps one of if not the most sought-after cigar in the world.

Nelson added to his original trio of brands Atabey, Byron and Bandolero last year in 2022 with the Alfonso Extra Anejo, which went on to be our 2022 Cigar of the Year. That cigar was part of an experiment that Nelson did by introducing French Oak into the humidor during the aging process. This year, her brought a new iteration with a darker wrapper called the Gran Selecction.

Alfonso Gran Seleccion

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)

• Binder: Peru

• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua

• Sizes: Estelares (5 1/2 x 54), Exclusivos (6 x 54), Enormes (6 1/2 x 60), Preciosos (7 1/2 x 40), and Grandiosos (8 x 50)

• Production: 1,000 Boxes (25,000 cigars) – 200 boxes of each size

• Box Count: 25

• Availability: Fall 2023

Atabey Black Ritos NFT

Also on display was the first cigar NFT, the Atabey Black. This cigar is being made available to the NFT owners and any of the United Cigar lounges. Outside of the Ecuadorian wrapper, the rest of the blend is undisclosed, with the exception of the Peruvian ligero partially used in the filler. It is available only in the one Ritos size, 6 1/8 x 55 and retails for $50. Only 200 boxes were made, or 5,000 cigars total. Expect to see these in December.

10 Year Aged Atabey Dioses

Also in the Atabey realm, Nelson had experimented with the Atabey Dioses size. Nelson held 9,250 of these back from a previous batch and aged them an addition five years. The Dioses is a longer cigar measuring at 8 x 50, almost an “A” size which is *traditionally* closer to 9″. The cigar will remain at its regular price point as its standard aged counterpart at $36 per cigar or a box of 25 for $900. These will ship to retailers this Fall.

Atabey Humidor

Last year, Nelson had this beautiful black humidor full of Atabey at the center most part of the booth, but no orders were being taken. However, this year, while its spot was replaced by the new Alfonso, it was now available for order. It features five of every Atabey vitola for a total of 60 cigars. There are on 60 of these being made and they retail for $3,999. Expect these in the Fall as well.

As a refresher, here are all of the current Atabey sizes:

• Atabey Benditos (7 1/4 x 58)

• Atabey Brujos (5 x 52)

• Atabey Delirios (5 3/4 x 55)

• Atabey Dioses (8 x 50)

• Atabey Divinos (4 2/5 x 50)

• Atabey Duendes (6 1/8 x 54)

• Atabey Hechizos (4 x 40)

• Atabey Idolos (4 x 55)

• Atabey Misticos (6 3/4 x 56)

• Atabey Ritos (6 1/8 x 55)

• Atabey Sabios (5 1/4 x 52)

• Atabey Spiritus (7 x 40)

Check out our interview with Nelson Alfonso below.

Matt Tabacco

Born and raised in New England, Matthew Tabacco began smoking cigars and living up to his unique namesake in 2017. What began as just a social indulgence became a world of everything premium cigars- learning from some of the biggest and best in the business. From casual smoking to lighting up on the hit podcast The Smokin Tabacco Show, Matthew can usually be found in some of the largest smoke shops in the Northeast enjoying a cigar, talking business, or preparing for a show.