The Oveja Negra Brands booth at the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was bustling with activity in 2025, as always. While our interview couldn’t capture all the excitement happening there, it was anything but slow. A major highlight is that Black Works Studio is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a series of special releases. Additionally, Black Label Trading Company and Emilio are introducing new offerings as well. Another significant development that occurred after the Trade Show is that Apostate Cigars will be joining the Oveja Negra family in June. Lastly, during the 2024 awards season, Oveja Negra Brands emerged as a major winner in the Cigar Coop Coalition.
Black Label Trading Company
James Brown stated that there is something new coming later for Black Label Trading Company, but at PCA, the focus was on the new Toro sizes for three of its core lines: Royalty, Lawless, and Last Rites. Oveja Negra Brands is known for some of its unique sizes, but they opted for a traditional 6 x 50 Toro in these three lines. This was a direct result of consumer and retailer feedback.
Black Works Studio
For Black Works Studio’s tenth anniversary, Oveja Negra Brands is releasing the Boombox. Boombox was one of the most talked-about samplers at this year’s Trade Show. This has a similar vibe to when Black Label Trading Company celebrated its tenth anniversary and Oveja Negra released the Black Album Anthology sampler. The Black Album Anthology featured some of Black Label Trading Company’s most popular limited editions. The Boombox contains some of Black Works Studio’s most popular limited editions. Pricing comes in at $265.00, and it has shipped already.
This includes two of the following cigars (except where noted)
- S&R – 5 x 50
- Hyena – 5 x 46
- Sindustry – 5 x 50
- Sindustry – 7 x 38 (3 cigars)
- Paper Crane – 5 x 46
- Boondock Saint- 6 1/4 x 46
- Boondock Saint – 5 1/4 x 50
- Killer Bee Shaolin – 5 1/2 x 46
- Intergalactic Sumatra – 6 x 46
- Intergalactic Event Horizon – 5 1/2 x 50
Another Black Works Studio sampler is “The Five Temples, Seven Stars, Fist of Shaolin.” This contains Pyramid/Torpedo sizes from the Killer Bee, Killer Bee Shaolin, and The Hornet lines. These are based on the core blends as well as some offshoots. This is coming later this year.
Emilio
Emilio was quite a busy brand this year. Highlighting Emilio’s releases was the new Emilio Static. Emilio Static is a new limited edition release. There is a barber-pole featuring both Ecuadorian Corojo and Ecuadorian Maduro wrappers. Additionally, the blend features an Ecuadorian Habano binder and is composed entirely of Nicaraguan fillers. Static comes in two sizes: Robusto (5 x 48) and Toro (6 x 50), priced at $11.00 and $12.00, respectively. Each comes in 20-count boxes. The Emilio Static has shipped to retailers.
Emilio Grimalkin is back. This is a brand that dates back to the old days of House of Emilio, but it is now available as a seasonal, limited-edition item for Halloween. This was last released for Halloween in 2023 as a barber-pole release in a Robusto. It’s returning in the same format for 2025.
Oveja Negra also introduced four-pack fresh packs for Emilio Suave and Emilio Suave Maduro. Both samplers contain the 6 x 50 Toro size of each blend. Both are priced at $34.99.
Oveja Negra Sampler
Oveja Negra didn’t talk about this much, but this ten-count sampler containing core blends from both Black Label Trading Company and Black Works Studio. The cigars showcased in the sampler at PCA were:
- Black Label Trading Company Porcelain
- Black Label Trading Company Last Rites
- Black Label Trading Company Lawless
- Black Label Trading Company Salvation
- Black Label Trading Company Royalty
- Black Works Studio The Hornet
- Black Works Studio Killer Bee
- Black Works Studio NBK
- Black Works Studio Rorschach
- Black Works Studio Rorschach Sumatra
Apostate Cigars
The day after our booth visit at PCA (day two), Oveja Negra Brands announced that it was adding Apostate Cigars to its portfolio. While Oveja Negra is handling distribution, Apostate’s focus is on Dominican-made brands – something different for Oveja Negra to offer. The company was still showcasing its brands at its booth. The big release was The Eight Witnesses – a 4 1/2 x 44 Petite Corona line extension for each of the company’s eight blends.
Dissident Cigars
Oveja Negra Brands has made no mention of Dissident Cigars, a brand it has distributed and sold for several years. Dissident Cigars was not present at the 2025 PCA Trade Show, nor was it part of the Oveja Negra Brands booth.
Interview with James Brown, Oveja Negra Brands
