Whether you're holding on to a $100 Sans Pareil Gold or a value smoke, preserve that cigar's flavor with Boveda, click here to get emails: https://hubs.la/Q01BLsBF0

Sans Pareil is pronounced sahn-pah-rehy. (BTW, Boveda is pronounced boh-veh-dah.)

Sans Pareil is French and translates to "without equal or unparalleled." Fitting for four lines of ultra-premium cigars that command $38 to $100 a stick.

Should you save a Sans Pareil for a special occasion? Or work celebratory sticks into your cigar rotation? If you smoke luxury cigars regularly, do they lose their panache?

David J. Swinburne, CEO and co-founder of Sans Pareil cigars talks luxury cigars and new releases with Boveda's Drew Emmer at PCA 2024, the preeminent event for premium cigar and pipe industry.

00:00 This is Box Press

00:12 NEW Green line of Sans Pareil Cigars

01:51 Shout out to the Cedar Room Fine Cigars & Lounge, Scottsdale, Arizona

02:54 Re-release of Super Lancero in the Sans Pareil Gold line

04:48 New Sans Pareil Toro cigar, The Jeddo

05:09 What Sans Pareil cigars should a new cigar smoker try?

05:54 Sans Pareil cigars origin story

07:41 How the wrong humidity affects cigars—Sans Pareil cigars are packaged with Boveda

09:51 What's next for Sans Pareil cigars?

What is Boveda? Luxury cigar brands like Sans Pareil protect blends with Boveda 2-way humidity control—that brown pack that you find in the box with your cigars. Boveda preserves the flavor and character of premium cigars by keeping them at ideal humidity. At home, continue to use Boveda in your humidor to keep cigars well-humidified or they can be hard to light, burn to too fast or get moldy. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll enjoy full flavor and a perfect smoke from every cigar.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/BovedaInc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/?..

- David Swinburne from Sans Pareil

has joined us for a chat

about some extremely unique

and wonderful cigars.

Tell me what I'm lighting, David.

- This is our first release

And this is the Green, which,

what makes this one unique

is the Habano wrapper.

High quality, as always

with all of our cigars,

aged, and well-balanced.

You know, when you smoke our cigars,

there's nothing that's

gonna hit you in the face

and say, "Oh, there's a lot of that.

There's a lot of this."

It's more the nuances.

It's the enjoyment.

And we think that the

Green hits with this.

- I started my day with this cigar

over coffee this morning at about 6:30,

and I was really impressed.

The guys gave me one yesterday.

And congratulations on

just a very accessible,

the draw is great.

The construction's beautiful.

It's obvious that quality

is a huge consideration.

And I understand you're

kind of a quality expert.

- Yes, quality, supply chain.

I recently joined within

the past year or two.

Always been a founder, always part of it,

but recently joined to do more activities,

bringing in the expertise of

supply chain quality control.

But I'll be honest,

Jochy Blanco at Tabacalera

Plama makes it easy.

His facilities, his employees,

everyone who works on these cigars,

it's an absolute blessing.

- He's a tremendous

reputation in the industry.

- The most humble gentleman I know.

- And he's helped a tremendous number

of very recognizable

names in this industry

to be successful.

So my first exposure to your brand

was at the Cedar Room

in Scottsdale, Arizona.

- That's right.

- A buddy of mine from Minnesota

was living down there and I was visiting,

and he shared what I

think was called an A.

- Okay.

- And it was just sublimely delicious.

It's a lux cigar, it's

a very high-end cigar.

You brought with you a box today

of a new announcement.

Is this A?

- It's almost a re-release.

So back in 2017, when

we came to the market,

we brought what we call the Super Lancero.

And that is a 13.5x40 ring gauge cigar.

And of course, everyone

thinks we're crazy, right?

There are so many things that can go wrong

with that long of a smoke.

And Jochy Blanco was the only one

that would be willing to

take that risk with us.

So we created that and we

call this our Gold line.

Our Gold line in the new release

is gonna be a Maduro wrapper, chocolatey,

just as a beautiful cigar.

- And it's a fun joy.

- This is fun to unbox.

I mean, this is just.

And the amount of detail

that goes into even making the

container that it comes in.

Now how long is it gonna be?

I mean, a Lancero of this size

is gonna take a few minutes to smoke.

- Yes, I've talked to multiple people.

It all depends on what you're doing.

If you're going on YouTube

and doing your stuff,

and just focusing on smoking it,

they can get down to about two hours.

For me, I'm enjoying it, conversation,

not that they're not enjoying it,

but you know, going through

and going through the

experience of conversation,

about four.

About four hours.

- Four-hour cigar.

- Yeah.

- Wow.

And it's an absolute privilege for us

to have our [Boveda]

pack in your cigar box.

It speaks to your commitment

to delivering freshness

to your clients.

I mean, what a treat to have

something this exquisite.

You know what, it reminds me

of when I first met the

folks from Atabey and Byron.

This exceptionally long curing process,

very disciplined,

very picky about what makes the grade,

what goes into the product.

- Yes.

- So it's a wow factor.

What is the price point on the Green?

- So this is gonna be $35.

- Okay.

- And then we have one more size larger,

which is the Diademas,

kind of a big Figurado and that'll be $48,

which goes along the same lines

of all the prices of our cores.

- No wonder I like it so much.

I mean, it's just a lovely cigar.

What's the price point on this?

- So this one's gonna be $100.

And then we have one more size,

which is gonna be a Toro size on the Gold.

It's gonna be 54x6/6.5.

Once again, the Maduro wrapper,

we're calling it The Jeddo.

- When you introduce somebody

to the Sans Pareil line,

where do you start them?

What's the entry point?

- So I actually love the conversation

that I have to bring that up.

Going through and explaining that Jochy,

100% he made this Dominican

Puro, the Blue Criollo '98.

That's my number one go-to

for introducing someone to the blend.

It's something that has subtleties.

It's creamy, it's enjoyable.

It attracts many different people,

not just I like this taste or that taste.

So it's a great

introduction with the Blue.

- As a founder,

when did this all begin?

When did the story start for Sans Pareil?

- About 2016.

- Okay.

- 2016 we started

and it was really a project

of can we do this?

And I remember, we came to the market

and everyone thought we were crazy, right?

That's an expensive cigar.

You look around today,

this is no big deal.

It's crazy to think.

I'm not saying that we're a trailblazer,

but it's like, it was crazy then.

Five years later, it's not crazy anymore.

Maybe we're onto something here.

- Yeah, and there's a number

of lines that have come out

with a lux version of their cigars.

So we had a very spirited conversation

with Rocky [Patel] last year about a...

he actually packaged it

looking like a gold bar.

It's the most expensive cigar

that he's ever brought to market.

I think quality speaks for

itself and discerning palates,

people that love cigars, they find it.

I may not be burning five

or six of these a day,

- Sure.

- But I'd certainly want

this to be in my collection

for when I have a special occasion

or as the peak of my smoking experience

for any particular session.

I mean.

- It's something that, you're right.

I am blessed, absolutely blessed.

But if you smoke these every day, right?

It's like you want it for

almost a special occasion.

You don't want to have, you know,

a filet mignon every single day.

But it's there

and it's great.

- A couple times a week.

- Fair enough, yeah.

I wouldn't mind that either.

You're absolutely right, Drew.

But it is something that is special.

It's something that is

consistent no matter what.

When you're ready, it's

there for you to enjoy,

and you know that you will enjoy it.

And I would like to make

one more point, Drew,

on the point of Boveda.

These are very finicky

when it comes to humidity.

And I'm talking even slight percentages.

If that changes, I'll be honest,

our cigars do not taste the

way that we wanted them to.

So it's a no-brainer to

bring Boveda into our cigars.

And it tells the customer too, that knows,

oh, the percentages make a difference.

They see that logo in there

and it shows that we truly

care about our products.

So I do wanna thank you, guys,

for allowing us to do that.

- Well, it's a privilege.

We consider it a privilege.

You know, we've had a habit of, for years,

of taking the names and

the faces of the people

that lead these companies,

making them a part of our For My Humidor.

You guys have made that commitment.

It's a real privilege for us

to be the asterisk on your business,

to be the freshness guarantee.

I don't know if you've gone

down this road with Mike [Stous]

I think it's a conversation

that we should have.

The quality that you, guys, are producing,

the legacy that you're creating.

And with a relatively

young company, I mean,

that's not a long period of

time in the cigar industry.

- Absolutely.

- So I think with you as a founder

and coming on now as the CEO

and running the show again,

it's good timing to possibly talk

about getting you up on the wall.

- Oh man, I can't wait.

I'll even sign it for you.

- All right, yeah.

I need an autographed copy.

- Blessings, you know.

- I appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah, that's great.

Just a beautiful line of cigars,

tremendous testament to

quality and commitment.

I don't know, it doesn't get a lot better

than what you've brought to

market and shared with us.

- And hearing those

words, it never gets old.

It never goes unappreciated

because we put everything

we have into these cigars.

And hearing that feedback,

it just feels fantastic.

- Well, and you had a

vision in the beginning.

I'm curious what the vision is today.

What's the next few

years look like for you

and the trajectory of

the Sans Pareil line?

- Yeah, so actually, I

was talking with Jochy

and the team on the supply chain.

We're looking at our inventory,

seeing where we're at.

The main reason we're

back at the trade show

is to bring on more retailers.

You know, we're not

bringing it to the masses,

but it's people that truly

understand what we're doing.

So if we have a retailer

that can explain that to their customers

and they have customers that enjoy that,

we're looking to partner with them.

You can even look at it.

We don't even put our name on the cigar.

We highly rely on the

tobacconist to partner with us.

- Sans Pareil?

- Sans Pareil.

- Sans Pareil.

- But people call it Sans Pareil as well.

Heard it both ways.

- And what does it mean?

- Yeah, so it's actually

a French phrase for

"without equal".

So these are unmatched, unequaled.

- Unparalleled.

- Unparalleled, exactly.

- Yeah.

- And the five bars is

actually the five founders

that when we started with the project

of bringing this to light.

So everything revolves

around what we started with.

And the symbol is showing

where we'll always be.

- Beautiful.

You've done a great job, man.

You gotta be really proud.

- Oh, it is the hardest

work I've ever done

and the most enjoyment I've ever had.

- How terrific.

How true.

Thanks a lot for having a chat with us.

- Thank you, Drew.

- Yeah, really a treat.