It has been a long lasting tradition to take famous and well known media and use its popularity to try to sell cigars. Many famous cigars today are stemmed from famous novels and plays of their time. For example in Cuba 150 years ago, much like in the United States, many people were illiterate and the only media that they would have would be traveling plays or musicals. Seeing how much the people enjoyed these (and liking them themselves) the cigar manufacturers would create cigars using these names to remind people of the wonderful shows that they witnessed. This is where cigars such as Romeo Y Julietta, Montecristo, and even Punch (based of the old “Punch and Judy” puppet shows which were popular in England at the time) stemmed from.
Today the cigar industry is still using the practice of tying in media into their brands, the only thing that has changed however is the media. Movies, and now even more than before, television have taken over and it seems like every year a brief walk through the humidor will reveal the popular shows/movies of the day. Here is a list of some of the current cigars I have come across that are either directly or loosely related to current movies and TV:
1 CAO Soprano’s Edition: The most obvious and well known example, CAO shelled out a lot of dough in order to use the name, but it works. Who doesn’t want to feel like Tony Soprano when lighting up a stogie?
2 Heisenberg by Quesada: Quesada came out with these little cigars in a 10 count box with the Heisenberg equation on it which pretty much states that the more we know, the less we realize we know. The concept being that Quesada wanted to create a cigar without releasing any information on the blend itself so that the smoker would have no preconceived notions going into it and take it for what it was. Ironically and I’m sure not-so-coincidently, the TV show “Breaking Bad” was national success with the main character’s nickname “Heisenberg”.
3 Limited Halloween boxes by Tatuaje: These cigars come out every year in October and only to select stores. Every year is named for a famous (or infamous) monster from the film industry. For example: Franks and Dracs (for Frankenstein and Count Dracula), The Mummy, The Wolfman, Jason (from Friday the 13th)etc. Some of these will come out in what they call “dress boxes” bearing a likeness to the monster itself (Jason’s dress box looked like a hockey mask)
4 La Palina KB and KBII: La Palina, a newly revived older brand featuring the image of a woman came out with these two cigars at about the same time. Much like Quentin Tarantino did when he released his movies “Kill Bill” and “Kill Bill 2”. Although on paper no one could probably tell you what the KB stands for (dodge the lawsuit!), the reps/brokers in the industry refer to it as the Kill Bill.
5 Foundry: This is an offshoot company owned by General Cigar which although does not have any cigars based specifically on a TV show or movie, they are fashioned in “steampunk” style with names like “Wells, Lovelace, Talbot, and Cayley”, authors of Victorian era futuristic novels. Steampunk fashion and lifestyle has been gaining steam (pun intended) and popping up in cinema such as “Oz: the Great and Powerful” and “Hellboy”
6 Baccarat: Okay, this one is a stretch, but it is my own theory that this cigar owned by Davidoff was given its name because Baccarat is James Bond’s favorite game. It could have been Texas Hold’em or Five Card Draw but that doesn’t relate to 007. One can only imagine the price tag a company would have to pay in order to use anything copyrighted by the James Bond franchise.
7 Psyko Seven: A cigar released by the Ventura Cigar Company…right around the same time as the movie “Seven Psychopaths” I’m sure there is no coincidence there, they’d probably just give you the more admirable reply of “It’s an Asylum 13 knock off”.
8 Sons of Anarchy by Black Crown: There is a popular TV show about a bad-ass motorcycle gang (very hells angels-esc) called “Sons of Anarchy”. Now the TV show has its own cigar with the logo on the band and everything.
9 Duck Dynasty by Ted’s Cigars: There is a popular TV show about a hillbilly family who struck it rich (very Beverly Hillbilly-esc) called “Duck Dynasty”. Now the TV show has its own cigar with the logo on the band and everything. (Ted’s Cigars also makes a Patron cigar, A Gran Marnier cigar and a Maker’s Mark cigar)
10 Dark Knight by Hoyo de Monterrey: This cigar came out before Batman and way before the movie “The Dark Knight”. If anything Bruce Wayne stole the idea from HdM! (of course having the same name I’m sure has not hurt their sales.)
There you have it, the first ten I could come up with, please comment if you can think of any specific ones or are able to come up with some connections or theories. Thank you for reading.