Flores y Rodriguez Habano – on display at the PDR Cigars booth at the 2012 IPCPR Trade Show

At the 2012 IPCPR, PDR Cigars showcased their new blends at their booth.   The new releases from PDR Cigars had been announced before the show, and some had been rolled out to retailers.  At the show,  I had a chance to sit down with PDR Cigars’ owner Abe Flores to review the offerings.

There were three new lines by PDR released in 2012, as well as a line extension to an existing line.   We have covered many of these cigars prior to the show in terms of previews and/or assessments.

1.A. Flores 1975 Serie Privada – this is an all box-press line available in natural and maduro. The 1975 reference is the year Flores was born.

2.Flores y Rodriguez – this is a cigar made in the classic Cuban style.  It gets its tobacco from a single farm and single vintage.  It is available in both a natural and maduro.  This cigar is named after the two principal owners of PDR Cigars – Flores and Juan Rodriguez.

3.Small Batch Reserve – as the name indicates, this is produced in small batch quantities.  It is available in natural and maduro.

4.Pinar Del Rio Reserva Liga Especial Reserva Superior – this is a line extension available in a salomon.  Flores indicated there were some unique molds used for this vitola.  A limited production of 2000 boxes were done for this.

The trend for the new releases had a pattern of both natural (habano) and maduro releases. The A. Flores 1975 Serie Privada and Flores y Rodriguez lines are the first to feature the names of the men behind these cigars.   Flores seemed extremely proud of this work to put his name on these cigars.  Flores also seemed very happy to be in his new PDR Cigars’ factory.

I asked Flores about the successful PDR Cigars 1878 line.  Flores indicated there would be no additional blends added to this line.  He seemed very pleased with how this line had done.