Expert: James Yee - 2/9/2009

Question
QUESTION: James-
I have been trying to find someone who sells Hoja yellow label cigars and
have yet to succeed. They seem to have just disappeared. I have an old band
that simply says Hoja, 1965 on it. Through some research this was the Hoja
1965 style cigar that I smoked and it was one of the best I have ever had
surprisingly. I would appreciate any direction you could give me in obtaining
some of these cigars.

ANSWER: Hi Andrew,

I haven't smoked Hoja cigars in many years but I do know that they are manufactured by Universal Cigar Co. (& Tony Borhani who makes Bahia cigars).  As far as I know, Hoja Yellow Band and Hoja 1965 were still being produced the last time I checked (a few years ago) so they still might be in production today.  It's strange that you can't find these cigars anywhere because many online cigar vendors on the Internet list having these cigars in stock.  They should be available at most cigar stores.

Again, Hoja are now made by Tony Borhani so if your local cigar store sells Bahia cigars, they may be able to order Hoja Yellow Band and Hoja 1965 cigars for you if they don't have any in stock.  As an alternative, you can also google "Hoja Yellow Band" and you should be able to find many online cigar retailers that sells these cigars.

Hopes this helps.  As always, if you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: James-

I have exhausted the google engine searching for these cigars. Only 2 places I
found carried them and one was out of stock the other was an inoperable
website. Any other ideas for tracking these down would be helpful.

Answer
Andrew,

Here are two websites that Google found for me:

http://www.bighumidor.com/products.cfm
http://www.bonitasmokeshop.com/hoja_cigars_online_at_bonita_smo.htm

Again, if you're having trouble finding these cigars online, you may want to ask your local cigar store to order them.  Any store that carries Bahia/Borhani cigars should be able to order them for you.  If not, you may want to contact Universal Cigar Co. and inquire about official retailers in your area that carry these cigars.

Here is their contact info:

Universal Cigar Company
245 East Olive Ave.
Burbank, CA 91502
Tel: (818) 557-8705

Regards,
James