The Tabernacle Knight Commander

Last year, Nicholas Melillo was awarded the title Knight Commander of the Ethiopian Star of Honor! Wikipedia says this about the honor:

The Order of the Star of Ethiopia was established as an order of knighthood of the Ethiopian Empire, founded by the Negus of Shewa and later Emperor of Ethiopia Menelik II in 1884–1885. It is currently awarded as a house order by the Crown Council of Ethiopia.

The Order was established to honour foreign and domestic civilian and military officials and individuals for service to the country and is considered the fifth ranking order of the Empire of Ethiopia alongside the Order of Menelik II.

This special edition Tabernacle is limited to just 700 boxes that were aged for 15 months in cedar. 100% of the wholesale proceeds will be donated to charity directly impacting Ethiopian lives!

Metapa

Metapa marks the first time Foundation has released an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper! It’s named after the city a famed poet Rubén Darío was born in. You can read his poem Litany for Our Lord Don Quixote via the poetry foundation here.

This release follows Foundation’s recent method found in the Olmec brand, allowing cigar enthusiasts to decide on their preference of claro or maduro wrappers! The rollout includes four sizes of each, letting us explore Nicholas Melillo’s first foray into Ecuadorian Sumatra wrappers with several nuances.

Charter Oaks Pasquale and Pegnataro

Charter Oak continues Melillo’s tradition of honoring his roots: specifically his grandfathers. As a whole, Charter Oak aims to create affordable cigars like his grandfathers used to smoke with Connecticut wrappers.

Pasquale and Pegnataro are premium versions of the Charter Oak series. If that sentence made you do a double take because the Charter Oak already punch well above their price point, that points to Melillo’s blending prowess and his keen business acumen to partner with AJ Fernandez.

Both of these new Charter Oak releases are offered in a single size at this time, and both use Connecticut wrappers over Nicaraguan guts. One is a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro version that one of his grandfathers preferred, and the other is a Connecticut shade version that his other grandfather preferred. Both come in 12-count boxes and are adorned with a pigtail cap.

It's important to remember where you came from and I love seeing Nicholas Melillo continue to honor his roots and those of the people he works with to create amazing cigars!

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