Private Label Cigars for Cigar Lounges

Cigar lounges

What Is a House Cigar for a Cigar Lounge?

Private label cigars for cigar lounges, often called house cigars, are made to order for a lounge and sold under its own name. Your band goes on the cigar, the cigar goes into your humidor, and your regulars and members with lockers smoke it in your lounge and beyond.

As a custom cigar manufacturer, Cigar Co Lab blends and rolls your house cigar and designs its band. We also manage the boxes, packaging, and shipping, so you can focus on running the lounge.

House Cigar Projects We’ve Made

Branded bundles that grew into a range

A lounge owner wanted bundles to sell in all three of their locations: packs of 20, every cigar wearing the lounge’s own band. We started with a Habano blend.

Versions with Connecticut and Maduro wrappers have since joined it. We even made a limited-edition Candela production run for the same client, and they plan to repeat it.

A 15th anniversary edition in Europe

A European cigar lounge marked its 15th anniversary by commissioning a limited edition, made with aged tobacco we sourced and presented with ultra-premium boxes and bands.

The lounge has a strong membership with lockers, and most of the boxes were presold before delivery.

Aged leaf is usually reserved for our ultra-premium Best level and used mainly in limited runs like this one. A lounge planning to repeat editions like this can prepay for tobacco and have us hold and age it for those future releases.

One cigar from two favorites

A small chain of cigar shops in the USA wanted a line of its own. The owner liked two cigars, A and B, and wanted elements of both in their own C cigar.

It took several rounds of samples to get right. Today it holds pride of place on the counter by the register in every shop. The owner sells it as their own creation, with a story to tell and a higher margin.

This is a homage blend that brings two favorites into one, and like every homage blend we make, it is exclusive to that client.

Three lines for a Korean client’s lounges and now a brand

In Korea, we make cigars for a client that operates two lounges and a shop. We started off with an initial line, and after three trips to Nicaragua, they now have three lines, and a couple more in the pipeline.

Not to mention many memories: the owner brought his son on one of the trips, before he started university, to see the factory up close and experience a different culture in Central America. We are tobacco guys first and love to show off Nicaragua’s culture and natural beauty; it’s not called “the land of lakes and volcanoes” for nothing!

The client now markets these cigars as its own brand and sells them in Asia, Europe, and the USA.

Why Lounges Add a House Cigar

A house cigar is one your lounge controls: its branding, its place in the humidor, and its price.

• Represents you and your lounge. It’s your blend, your story, and maybe even your palate’s exact flavor profile. A story and a cigar you can fully endorse to your clients.
• Your price, your margin. You set the price of a cigar that carries your name.
• A cigar your regulars can’t buy down the street. Choose a fully custom or homage blend, and we make it for your lounge only.
• Something for your members. You can offer them a chance to be part of a tasting panel (we’ve had great success with this, and it gives you immediate brand buy-in and loyalty), offer it as a pre-release, or even offer special pricing. A house cigar can become your lounge’s secret weapon.

This page is for cigar lounges, cigar bars, and member lounges with lockers: venues dedicated to cigars, with a place to smoke them and sometimes a bar or restaurant too. Some guests buy and go, but many stay to enjoy what they just bought. If cigars are a sideline for your hotel, restaurant, bar, or golf pro shop, if you run another kind of club, or if a company is paying, see our page on custom branded cigars.

Choosing Your House Blend

There are four routes to a house blend.

• A factory blend. The quickest start: one of our approved factory blends, launched under your lounge’s name. After a first call, we can open our private client portal to you, where you can read up on every blend and order sample packs.
• A tweaked factory blend. One of those blends, adjusted to your taste: more strength, say, or a darker wrapper.
• A fully custom blend. Built from the first leaf for your lounge alone. It takes the longest.
• A homage blend. A cigar inspired by ones you love: the Cuban style made with legal leaf, two favorites in one, a favorite reworked to your taste, or a match for a cigar you already sell. Note: Cuban tobacco never goes into anything we make.

Before any blending starts, we decide with you whether your cigar will be long or short filler. Long filler is hand rolled with whole leaves and comes at three levels, from Best (ultra-premium) through Better (premium) to Good (entry-level and bundled). Short filler is handmade from premium and ultra-premium cuttings, uses 100% leaf tobacco, and sits at a lower price point.

Sizes, Bands, and Boxes for Your Humidor

Sizes. We usually sample in a 6 x 52 toro, though the size is your call. An approved blend can grow into several vitolas (sizes and shapes), usually with only the filler rebalanced for each one. One band can sometimes fit two or three sizes.

Your band. Our in-house team designs it around your lounge’s logo, or creates a logo with you first. See how our logo and band design works.

Boxes and packaging. Vetted partners make your bands and boxes, plus stickers and other packaging. For each piece, you choose from three close options in your style, and we manage the makers for you.

Bundles. They can wear your band or go unbanded, with no band at all, and the count per bundle is up to you. If your lounge also sells cigars to take home, our page for cigar shops covers bundles and to-go sales.

Accessories. Ashtrays, lighters, and humidors with your lounge’s logo are among our custom cigar accessories.

From First Call to a Full Humidor

1. A first call. We talk through your lounge, your regulars, quantities, timeline, and budget.
2. Samples. Smoke factory blend sample packs, or samples of your own blend, at your lounge. Or come to Estelí and spend up to a week blending in The Lab alongside our team.
3. Approval. We refine the blend with you, and we start production only after you sign off.
4. Band and box. Your band and your boxes or bundle packaging are designed and proofed while the blend comes together.
5. Rolling and rest. Your cigars are rolled in Estelí and rest at least 90 days in our aging room.
6. Packing and shipping. After final quality checks, we ship your cigars, in batches for larger orders. Freight is passed on at cost, or you can arrange it yourself.
7. Reorders. A reorder of the same cigar and packaging usually takes about 4 to 6 months, rest included, and it can often be a smaller run than the first, as you evolve your sales strategy and see what’s selling and what’s not.

We keep you up to date on production timelines and on when your humidor will need restocking. One of the biggest mistakes with any cigar brand, a house cigar included, is to build momentum and then go months without cigars, so we plan each reorder with you early. Managing inventory and turnover is covered in our guide to launching a cigar brand.

Every production run is tested against reference cigars, and the recipe is fine-tuned as each crop year changes the leaf. Our page on keeping blends consistent explains how.

With our full service, we act as your lounge’s COO in Nicaragua, and you can also order any part of it on its own. Our team works on the factory floors in Estelí every day, and we run our head operations office out of Miami.

Order Sizes, Timing, and Value

A first order for a lounge’s house cigar typically starts at 5,000 cigars, especially when the blend is fully custom.

A lounge can also run a smaller project from about 1,000 cigars, the way we run projects for clubs and companies. These runs are usually either a higher-end release, such as a limited edition for your members, or bundles built on one of our factory blends.

Smaller runs do cost more per cigar. A small run takes as much time and setup as a large one, and switching blends and tolerances in the middle of a day or week interrupts production on the factory floor. For a lounge that resells its cigars and watches its margin, that matters.

We want to work with you. As long as we both share a long-term vision as collaboration partners, we can ease some of the pressure of our order minimums while you grow.

From scratch, a new house cigar usually needs 6 to 9 months. If your lounge’s logo and artwork already exist, plan on 4 to 8 months instead. Both include at least 90 days of rest. Have an anniversary or event date in mind? Tell us on the first call so we can check that it fits and work back from it.

Each project is quoted on its own, so there are no prices here. Your budget buys the best value we can give: tobacco picked for its quality, with one team in charge of every part of the job and every deadline. Our quote won’t be the lowest a lounge can find, because good leaf and the tight tolerances of our quality control come first, and if price is the deciding factor for you, we understand and wish you well. If you love good tobacco as much as we do and want your house cigar delivered on time, with the stress left to us, we’d be glad to make it for you.

House Cigar Questions

What is a house blend cigar?

A house blend cigar, also called a house cigar, is a private label cigar that a lounge or shop sells under its own name. In a lounge, it’s the cigar your staff can recommend as the room’s own.

Can another lounge sell my cigar?

By Cigar Co Lab: Not if it is a fully custom or homage blend. Both are made for your lounge alone. With a factory blend, exclusivity is possible at certain production levels, and the terms, which can include a territory, are agreed on lounge by lounge.

By you: Yes, of course! We have several lounges selling their cigars at different locations (just like the big guys!). We want to be your production partners, so just let us know any new expected sell-through projections, and we can jointly assess the needed production schedule.

Can a house cigar help a lounge make money?

It can. You get a cigar whose price you set, so the margin on it is yours to control. What it earns depends on your blend, quality level, packaging, order size, price, and how well it sells, so we don’t quote figures.

Can you make a one-off cigar for our members or our lounge’s anniversary?

Yes, as we did for the 15th anniversary edition above. A higher-end release for your members can start from about 1,000 cigars. For the launch night, we can arrange to come and present the cigar, and our master blender, Steven Hernandez, has given live rolling demonstrations at cigar lounges before.

Do you ship to lounges outside the USA?

Yes. We ship wherever it’s legal to send cigars, and your lounge handles any import licenses and taxes. Our clients already span North America, Europe, and Asia, so tell us where your lounge is, and we’ll talk you through shipping there. Our cigars are only for adults 21 and over.

Will you name our lounge as a client, or keep our partnership private?

Whichever you prefer: some clients are happy for us to name them, others keep their cigar maker to themselves, and both suit us.

Our lounge already has a house cigar made elsewhere. Can you take it on?

Yes. We can match the cigar you sell today and take over its production, or add a new line beside it. Our page for established brands explains how a move works.