Atabey Box Presentation

[Digi]

Thought this might be of interest to the board given the tie-in to Habanos.

Atabey is a relatively new brand of cigars out of Costa Rica owned by Nelson Alfonso Egüed (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Alfonso_Egüed).  He's also the founder of GVAD, the firm who designed preso packages for Behike, etc.

Tried my first one back in November and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Have had a few more since and decided to pick up a box. Halfwheel's take on them:

https://halfwheel.com/__trashed-3/267133/

It was interesting to see packaging that's a dead-ringer for Habano's piano finished boxes.  Very pretty in my opnion:

 

[Islandboy]

Interesting...you definitely see the connection there. The one and only I sampled was pretty good, but expensive as hell if I recall. 

[ha_banos]

Expensive and very light. Bland I noted down. Glad I tried one though of course. Now need to try a behike 😁

[Juliano88]

Apparently he uses Cuban filler in the Atabey/Byron brands. The owner of the cigar lounge i regular is a friend of his. Mentioned he buys tobacco from tabacuba and uses it in his blends. 

[Habana Mike]

1 hour ago, Islandboy said:

Interesting...you definitely see the connection there. The one and only I sampled was pretty good, but expensive as hell if I recall. 

Almost Ghurkaesque. Though I have heard better reviews of these.

[saltbox]

1 hour ago, Juliano88 said:

Apparently he uses Cuban filler in the Atabey/Byron brands. The owner of the cigar lounge i regular is a friend of his. Mentioned he buys tobacco from tabacuba and uses it in his blends. 

I’ve heard the same said about Villiger and find those claims really hard to believe. The marketing around the blend is definitely designed to imply it.

If it is true, I didn’t taste it at all. I found the Atabey to be overwhelmingly bland and the Byron not much different from a Davidoff. 

[Juliano88]

24 minutes ago, philipl said:

I’ve heard the same said about Villiger and find those claims really hard to believe. The marketing around the blend is definitely designed to imply it.

If it is true, I didn’t taste it at all. I found the Atabey to be overwhelmingly bland and the Byron not much different from a Davidoff. 

I agree. The Byron 5 Anos I had was pretty good but I’ve had better cigars for a third of the price. 

[Juliano88]

I’ll take an Aganorsa, Illusione or EPC over those any day. 

[Digi]

19 hours ago, Juliano88 said:

Apparently he uses Cuban filler in the Atabey/Byron brands. The owner of the cigar lounge i regular is a friend of his. Mentioned he buys tobacco from tabacuba and uses it in his blends. 

Can't say I've heard of or know much about that but seems risky given that the US is their only market, I believe.  Had originally ordered a box of the torpedos but the shop called me to say Atabey has been shipping in bundles because they can't get a supply of boxes.  "Supply Chain" is going to be 2022's magic phrase, haha.

They are definitely under medium bodied but I wouldn't say mild.  To my palate, the cigar offers something unique and that's a great reason to stash a box in the collection!  I'll always reach for an UltraMK or a Mag46 when in the mood but sometimes this mood strikes too

20 hours ago, Islandboy said:

Interesting...you definitely see the connection there. The one and only I sampled was pretty good, but expensive as hell if I recall. 

All in with shipping, I paid about $25 per stick. It's certainly on the high end but that doesn't ring as particularly expensive in the current market.  Running the numbers across 162 box purchases last year, my average price per stick is $25.10 so it's right in the zone.

[porkchop]

If you consider $25 per stick just average price, te salute, Don Digi.

[Cigar Surgeon]

The average price of the new NC cigars I've reviewed so far this year is over $15.