Nomads Weekly: The New Cigars You Need to Know About

If you happen to own a humidor with empty space in it, congratulations. Enjoy that strange and temporary condition while it lasts. InterTabac wrapped up in Dortmund this week, and between September 15 and today the cigar industry unloaded enough new tobacco to create several new arguments with your spouse and at least one questionable credit card statement.

One of the biggest announcements came from Oliva with the new Nub México. It takes the familiar short and fat Nub format and gives it a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. Two sizes are coming, a 4 x 60 460 and a 4 x 64 Torpedo called the 464T. The 460 will receive worldwide distribution while the Torpedo is reserved for the U.S. Both arrive in 24-count boxes, with the launch scheduled for October. This isn't some museum-piece cigar you'll have to hunt down through a man named Eduardo who only answers WhatsApp after midnight. It's a proper new addition to the Nub lineup, and probably one of this week's releases most of us will actually get a chance to smoke.

Oliva wasn't finished. The company also introduced its Year of the Goat, a 6 x 60 Double Toro wearing a Cameroon wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. Only 2,000 ten-count boxes are being produced, with distribution focused on Europe, Asia and the Middle East ahead of the 2027 Lunar New Year. Unfortunately for American smokers, this one isn't officially coming here. Apparently the goat requires a passport.

AJ Fernández has a goat of his own. The AJ Fernández Year of the Goat is the company's first Chinese Zodiac limited edition, a 6 x 54 Toro made with Nicaraguan tobacco and packed 18 to a box. This one has a little more personality behind the marketing than the usual annual zodiac exercise. Abdel Fernández was born in 1979, a Year of the Goat, and his factory was founded in 2003, another Goat year. AJ says the cigars should reach markets before the end of 2026.

Then we arrive at Meerapfel Project 18, where financial restraint politely leaves the room.

Project 18 is a 6 x 50 Toro wrapped in genuine Meerapfel Cameroon tobacco. Production consists of only 180 chests containing 99 cigars apiece. The cigars arrive bundled together inside an elaborate Japanese Paulownia wood chest with two gold-plated cigar tubes. The American suggested price is $99 per cigar, or $9,801 for the chest. At nearly ten grand, the chest should probably include dinner, a hotel room and someone explaining the purchase to your wife. Shipping begins during the fourth quarter.

C.L.E. also came to Dortmund carrying plenty of ammunition. The company showed three releases, including the 1916 Tabacalera Eiroa, celebrating 110 years of the Eiroa family in tobacco and marking the first blend from Santi Eiroa, Christian Eiroa's son. It uses Habana 2000 wrapper and binder with Corojo Piñareño filler. There is also Asylum Arabian Nights, built around Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Colombian binder and Honduran and Colombian fillers. And then there's the Eiroa Dark 30th Anniversary, a limited edition made entirely with Honduran Corojo and offered in three sizes.

J.C. Newman brought something for smokers who believe a 60 ring gauge is insufficiently ridiculous. The new Brick House Commodore measures 5 1/2 x 70. Yes, seventy. At that point you're no longer holding a cigar so much as carrying a small piece of agricultural equipment. J.C. Newman also introduced Sarzedas, a handmade Nicaraguan long-filler aromatic cigar, while giving its established Maximus line new packaging and bands.

There were plenty of boutique releases worth watching too. Chateau Diadem introduced Alisio, a milder and more affordable Ecuador Corojo-wrapped line, alongside Midnight Wonder, a fuller cigar that took nearly three years to develop and incorporates Connecticut Broadleaf inside the blend rather than using it as the wrapper. Lampert showed Baba Yaga, a 6 x 52 Toro using tobaccos aged as long as five years. Oscar Valladares unveiled COLABORACIONES, an especially interesting project consisting of three Toro boxes made separately by Casa Carrillo in the Dominican Republic, Tabolisa in Nicaragua and Oscar Valladares in Honduras. Only 1,500 sets will exist worldwide.

And Casdagli may have won the award for best backstory. Its new Brothers of the Sabre Flamboyant and Custodian cigars continue a series inspired by generals of the Napoleonic Wars. Flamboyant honors Joachim Murat, Napoleon's spectacularly dressed cavalry commander and eventual King of Naples, while Custodian honors Sir Hudson Lowe, the British officer charged with guarding Napoleon during his exile on Saint Helena. Cigars, history and dead European generals. Somebody over there clearly understands us.

That's the week. Dortmund gave us expensive Cameroon tobacco, Mexican San Andrés, giant Brick Houses, dueling zodiac goats and cigars inspired by Napoleonic cavalry officers.

The humidor was never going to stay empty anyway.

Sources

Cigar Journal: InterTabac 2026 coverage

Cigar Coop: Nub México and InterTabac coverage