Foundation Cigar Company celebrated its tenth anniversary at the 2025 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. In 2024, owner and Master Blender Nicholas Melillo made significant changes by revamping the Wise Man line and rebranding Metapa as Aksum. He expected 2025 to be a more relaxing year. However, a recent fire at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua has impacted Foundation, as many of its lines are produced there. Despite these challenges, Melillo is determined to move forward.
Melillo has said that, between AJ Fernandez’s perseverance and help from industry friends like Perdomo and Oliva, Tampa has helped AJ get his factory back up and running. Because of the fire, many packaging materials need to be reprinted. Melillo has stated that this could impact inventory supplies for the next three months. The good news is that no tobaccos were lost.
Foundation has a limited edition, a line extension, and a new event-only cigar. The common denominator is that all of these projects will involve Connecticut tobacco, as Connecticut is Melillo’s home state and the location of Foundation Cigar Company’s headquarters.
Foundation 10 Year Aniversario
The 10 Year Aniversario is a limited release that pays homage to ten years of Foundation Cigars. It is branded with the Foundation name. This has been a project that Melillo says has been five years in the works. The wrapper is a unique Connecticut Broadleaf/Connecticut Habano hybrid. Due to the fire, Melillo indicates that this cigar will likely be delayed until late fall or early winter. The cigar features a 7 x 57 Salomon vitola.
It is offered in both a ten-count box and a collector’s edition 20-count box. It comes in one size – a 7 x 57 Salomon. Pricing at $35.00 per cigar. A total of 2,000 ten-count boxes will be issued, along with 700 of the collector’s edition boxes.
Wise Man Lanceros
In 2024, Foundation announced it was discontinuing the El Güegüense and Wise Man Maduro blends, which were produced at the Aganorsa factory. However, they were replaced by two new blends, The Wise Man Corojo and The Wise Man Maduro. Both of these cigars will be made at the My Father Cigars factory. This year, the new Wise Man Corojo and Wise Man Maduro are being introduced in a 7 x 40 lancero size. Both of these sizes become the fifth size offered in each of the lines. The Wise Man Maduro is slightly different from the rest of the line, as a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper replaces the San Andres wrapper found on the other four sizes.
Primer Fábrica 1810
Primer Fábrica 1810 is Foundation’s latest event cigar offering. This pays homage to what Foundation says is the first known cigar factory in the United States, which was established in Suffield, Connecticut, in 1810. The vitola utilizes Connecticut’s signature tobacco, Connecticut Broadleaf, for the wrapper. The binder is Brazilian Mata Fina, and the filler is undisclosed. Primer Fábrica 1810 is a soft box-pressed 5 3/4 x 60 perfecto. It comes in three-count boxes and is available free of charge with the purchase of select Foundation boxes, including: The Wise Man, Highclere Castle, Aksum, Charter Oak, and The Upsetters. Availability begins this summer.
Interview with Nicholas Melillo, Foundation Cigar Company
