PCA 2023: Ozgener Family Cigars

Following this year’s Premium Cigar Association Trade Show, there was one story I wanted to cover more in-depth – and that is Ozgener Family Cigars. Yes, they had a new release, but that isn’t what I want to focus this write-up on. While we didn’t get to talk to Tim Ozgener, this wasn’t the worst thing because I wanted to gauge and observe this booth closely. In this case, Tim was in a client meeting, so it was very understandable.

This was Ozgener Family Cigars’ second PCA Trade Show. Like last year, Ozgener Family Cigars shared a booth with Crowned Heads, a company that Tim is also partners with. It was also Tim’s second show since returning to the industry last year. As many know Tim’s family owned and started CAO Cigars. Ozgener’s return was one of the top stories of 2022. After the Trade Show, the well-documented split with ACE Prime resulted in Tim adjusting the course for the Ozgener family brands going forward.

Tim has migrated the production of his first regular production release Bosphorus from the Pichardo S.A. factory in Nicaragua to Tabacalera La Alianza (the factory owned by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo) in the Dominican Republic. Factory changes are not uncommon for a startup, but given Tim’s depth and experience, Ozgener Family Cigars is no startup. However, this was still a significant change even for a company like Ozgener. Some retailers were well aware of this change, and some probably had no clue. In the end, I think the reception for Ozgener was quite positive. I didn’t see the factory move have any impacts here as plenty of business was being done when I was at the booth, and that is a healthy sign for Ozgener Family Cigars.

On a side note, back in May, Ozgener released its second line – Aramas. That is a cigar that also comes out of Tabacalera La Alianza.

In terms of what’s new, there is Pi Synesthesia Red. This is the second installment of the Pi Synesthesia that was introduced last year. This started out as an art concept developed by the late Cano Ozgener, father of Ozgener Family Cigars’ founder Tim Ozgener. Cano believed the most important number in the world was Pi because it went on to infinity. He went on to pair the digits of Pi with colors and this was demonstrated in his art. Synesthesia is also a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses. People who have synesthesia are called synesthetes. For example, synesthetes can often “see” music as colors when they hear it, and “taste” textures like “round” or “pointy” when they eat foods.

Last year Tim decided to apply a similar concept to cigars. He first decided to create a cigar reminiscent of the color yellow, and that was the first Pi Synesthesia release, Pi Synesthesia Yellow. Now Tim moves on to Pi Synesthesia Red. Red is often associated with bold and spicy, and that’s the angle Tim went with for Pi Synesthesia Red.

The blend features an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over all Nicaraguan tobaccos. It comes in one size – a 6 x 52 Toro. Last year Pi Synesthesia Yellow was produced at the Pichardo factory in Nicaragua. This year, Pi Synesthesia Red also moves to Tabacalera La Alianza, thus strengthening the partnership was Ozgener and Tabacalera La Alianza. A total of 2,500 boxes were produced and pricing is set at $15.00 SRP per cigar.