Black Star Line Cigars will introduce Meadowood MLK at the 2025 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. It’s a cigar that pays homage to Martin Luther King and his time on a tobacco farm.
Meadowood was a tobacco farm in Connecticut owned by Cullman Brothers in Simsbury, Connecticut, where King worked. Black Star Line Cigars owner Aric Bey says, “This is a very significant and not well-known piece of history. Martin Luther King Jr worked on a tobacco farm before he went to college. He helped to grow Connecticut broadleaf. King also got the inspiration to become pastor at the farms because he used to do small sermons for the other employees. King also stated that he noticed how much different he was treated because the racism in the North was not as bad as it was in the South,” states Bey.
Bey teamed up with Hostos Quesada of Tabacalera La Isla in the Dominican Republic for this project. The blend is a five-country blend highlighted by a Dominican Corojo ’99 wrapper and a Dominican binder. The fillers come from Peru, Brazil, the USA, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. The cigar comes in one size – a 5 x 50 Robusto. Pricing comes in at $11.99.
The packaging of the band and the box have an image of tobacco fields and the tobacco barn. The colors are “old gold” and black, the official colors of Alpha Phi fraternity, where King was a member of the Sigma chapter. Cigar Dojo did designs for the box and band.
“I really wanted to use this name because it definitely represents how it doesn’t matter what color you are, gender, or how much money you have, cigars brings everyone together. That is also a concept King believed in,” states Bey.
A total of 250 20-count boxes were produced. The 2025 PCA Trade Show opens on April 12, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
At a glance, here is a look at the Meadowood MLK:
Blend and Origin
Wrapper: Dominican Corojo ’99
Binder: Dominican
Fillers: Peruvian, Brazilian, American, Nicaraguan, and Dominican
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: Tabacalera La Isla
Vitolas Offered
Robusto: 5 x 50
