Alec Bradley

Alec Bradley was born in 1996, in the United States, out of Alan Rubin's decision to go into cigars after the sale of the family hardware import business, according to the retailer Cigars Direct. According to the trade press, he had no background in tobacco.

He named the company after his two sons, Alec and Bradley.

The early days were hard: the first brand, Bogie Stogies, cigars for golf courses, did not survive the end of the boom, and Rubin began producing brands for retailers. In 2000 the veteran Ralph Montero joined him; with Henke Kelner, master blender at Davidoff, they brought out Occidental Reserve, made in the Dominican Republic, followed by Trilogy (Cigars Direct).

The house owns no factory: it has its lines rolled under contract. Most are rolled at Raíces Cubanas, in Danlí, Honduras; a few at the Plasencia family's in Nicaragua, and since 2019 lines such as Project 40 at J. Fuego, in Estelí (trade press, Wikipedia). None of the pages read dates a link with the Plasencia factories in Honduras.

The Prensado, presented at the IPCPR in 2009 in five formats, is box-pressed, a first for the house: Corojo wrapper grown in Trojes (Honduras), binder from Jalapa (Nicaragua), filler of Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos. Its Churchill was named the number one cigar of 2011 by the trade press, a turning point that the house itself highlights.

Next come Tempus (2007 or 2009 depending on the source), Black Market (2011), Coyol (2014), Magic Toast (2018) and Project 40 (2019). In 2018 Rubin's sons launched their own brand, Alec & Bradley, from which Kintsugi comes according to Wikipedia. On 1 March 2023 Scandinavian Tobacco Group took over the Alec Bradley portfolio; Rubin remains an adviser and the house is now attached to Forged Cigar Co.

Range Depth

• Prensado

  Wrapper Honduras (Trojes) · Strength Medium-Full

  Presented in 2009 (trade press). Honduran wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, Honduran-Nicaraguan filler, rolled at Raíces Cubanas, says the house (alecbradley.com, October 2026), which announces it as medium to full in body. Formats from the Robusto 5 x 50 to the Double Toro 6 x 62, including the Torpedo 6 1/8 x 52, box-pressed.

  Torpedo · Robusto · Gordo · Double Toro · Corona Gorda

• Tempus

  Wrapper Honduras

  Line with a Honduran wrapper, built around a criollo that Rubin discovered on a small farm in Honduras in 2001, according to a retailer; its name is the Latin word for time. Launched in 2007 (Cigars Direct, Wikipedia) or 2009 (Wikipedia's product list). Maduro and Nicaragua variants cited by the trade press in 2022.

  Toro · Robusto · Churchill · Torpedo

• Black Market

  Wrapper Nicaragua · Strength Medium-Full

  Presented at the IPCPR 2011 (press headline seen). Nicaraguan wrapper, Sumatra binder, Panamanian and Honduran filler, says the house, which speaks of a lot of rare Panamanian tobacco and eighteen blends tested. Filthy Hooligan is its St. Patrick's edition, which appeared in 2013 according to the press.

• Magic Toast

  Wrapper Honduras · Strength Medium-Full

  Released in 2018 according to the press (October, after the IPCPR). Honduran wrapper, Nicaraguan and Honduran binder and filler, says the house, which ties the name to a harvest night and a toast under the stars; the press instead tells of Rubin and Montero clinking glasses over Glenfiddich on a farm in Honduras.

• Project 40

  Wrapper Nicaragua · Strength Medium

  Worldwide release in May 2019. Nicaraguan wrapper, Brazilian Habano binder, Nicaraguan filler, medium body, says the house. The name refers to the idea that about 40% of happiness depends on our choices, a thesis taken up by the house and the press; rolled in Estelí at J. Fuego in 2019 according to the press.

• Kintsugi

  Wrapper Honduras (Trojes) · Strength Medium

  Attached to Alec & Bradley, the brand launched by Rubin's sons, according to Wikipedia. Announced in March 2020, delayed by the pandemic; first delivery in early December 2020 according to the trade press, July 2021 according to another (the sources diverge). Honduran wrapper from Trojes, Honduran-Nicaraguan binder and filler, medium body, says the house.

🥃 Pairings

• Uncut Series

  Bourbon and rye

  The house offers, on its website (October 2026), a series of cigars paired with single-barrel bourbons and ryes.

✨ Notable limited editions

• Black Market Filthy Hooligan
• Thirty Years (30e anniversaire)