Apostate Cigars' first-ever Nicaraguan production — a 5th-anniversary collaboration with James Brown at Tabacalera Oveja Negra, strictly limited to 250 boxes.
The Death Mask marks a pivotal moment for Apostate Cigars. For the first time in the brand's five-year history, co-founders Kendrick Woolstenhulme and Brandon Oveson stepped outside their longtime home at Tabacalera Palma in the Dominican Republic to produce a cigar in Esteli, Nicaragua. Their partner for the project: master blender James Brown of Black Label Trading Co., at his Fabrica Oveja Negra factory.
The result is a strictly limited release built from tobacco pulled from Brown's personal inventory. Only 250 boxes were produced — all of which sold through to retailers before a single box shipped.
The Blend
Death Mask is dressed in a dark, oily Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Ecuadorian binder, with a long-filler blend from Nicaragua and USA Broadleaf. The 5½ × 48 format — a robusto on the thinner side — was built to let the blend unfold slowly, giving the darker tobaccos room to develop across an hour-plus smoke.
Blend Information
- Vitola: 5½ × 48 Robusto
- Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
- Binder: Ecuadorian
- Filler: Nicaraguan, USA Broadleaf
- Factory: Fábrica Oveja Negra, Esteli, Nicaragua
- Blenders: Kendrick Woolstenhulme & Brandon Oveson
- Production: 250 boxes of 20 — 5,000 total cigars
- Occasion: Apostate Cigars 5th Anniversary release
