Changes For Luciano Cigars: A New Rebrand
A lot has changed for Luciano Meirelles in the last few months. Only a short while ago, his company ACE Prime was making cigars for Crowned Heads at Tabacalera Pichardo and his cigars were distributed by Crowned Heads in the United States. But the partnership with Crowned Heads ended, not in a good way I might add. So a lot of the production of Crowned Heads cigars moved away, Mereilles rebranded ACE Prime to Luciano Cigars and started a distribution company to distribute his cigars.
And now one of his lines, Pichardo, names after Eradio Pichardo, the co-founder and co-owner of ACE Prime and owner of Tabacalera Pichardo, gets a make-over and a rebranding as Pichardo is no longer associated with Luciano Cigars. The Pichardo blends will now be named Tiago Cigars, named after Luciano Cigars co-founder and vice-president Tiago Splitter.
The Tiago Cigars series consists of the Clasico, Maduro and Natural. The Clasico has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan filler and binder. The Maduro sports a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper whole the Natural has a Ecuadorian Sungrown wrapper. The Pichardo Reserva Familiar lines will be rebranded to Tiago Familia Escogida series. That means “chosen family,” which the company said “highlights the relationships we build, and the people we intentionally call family.”
The Tiago Familia Escogida line keeps the same three offerings as the Pichardo Reserva Familiar, though as previously mentioned, the blends are not changing, according to a press release from the company. The Tiago Familia Escogida Connecticut uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a Dominican binder and Nicaraguan fillers; the Tiago Familia Escogida San Andrés uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler, and the Tiago Familia Escogida Habano uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
Splitter is a former NBA player and a former champion as he won the championship in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs “You get a lot of opportunities after a career in the NBA, but this project, this dream to me is like coming home to people and a company I call family,” said Splitter in a press release. “It’s an honour to have my name as a brand and product I personally know to be extraordinarily blended by Luciano Meirelles.”
The cigars are made at Luciano Cigars Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. The company expects that the first batch of rebranded cigars will begin shipping in late April, which means the Tiago lines should begin appearing on store shelves during the first week of May.
“It was a natural process for the whole team,” said Meirelles in a press release. “We believe these blends deserve a worthy and upstanding name. Tiago is not only my partner, he’s more like a chosen brother. That’s what this rebranding is about: honouring him for the extraordinary person he is and elevating the family we choose for ourselves.”
.In the announcement of the name change, Luciano Cigars said that it retains sole rights over the name and trademark “Pichardo,” as well as its logo and design, maintaining its rights for current products in the market and eventual future use.
