Tampa, Fla. – This week J.C. Newman Cigar Co. will ship The American All-Star Humidor to premium cigar retailers in the United States. All six sides of this humidor are made from wood from the floor of the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. An officially licensed product, this humidor is part of the NBA Reclaimed program, which repurposes authentic game-used NBA courts. Each humidor contains 30 The American All-Star cigars, one representing each NBA team, along with a signed certificate of authenticity and a Boveda starter kit.
“Basketball is an American game,” said fourth-generation owner Drew Newman. “My great-grandfather founded our company four years after basketball was invented in 1891. As the oldest American cigar company and maker of the all-American cigar, it’s our privilege to celebrate the greatest basketball players in the world with a humidor made from the wood that they competed on.”
Due to the scarcity of wood, only 40 humidors were made this year. Each humidor is one-of-a-kind because of its unique pattern of authentic court wood. Pieces of the blue three-point line are inlaid on the lid of each humidor. The humidors highlight the scuffs and scratches made by the greatest basketball players in the world. They are lined with Spanish cedar and are designed to hold 90 cigars. Each was handcrafted by Jason LeGear in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The American All-Star humidor has a suggested retail price of $3,000.
“Running your fingers over the top of this humidor, you can feel its history,” said Newman. “The planks of the floor are uneven and still bear the shoe and ball marks left by the legends who played on this special basketball court.”
The 30 The American All-Star cigars are exclusive to this humidor. They are a new 6.5” x 50 size of J.C. Newman’s award-winning The American cigar brand. Like all The American cigars, the All-Star is hand rolled in J.C. Newman’s historic El Reloj cigar factory in Tampa, Florida with 100% heirloom American tobaccos, including Florida Sun Grown, Connecticut Broadleaf, Pennsylvania Mennonite, and Connecticut Havana.
“Of the 40 humidors that we made, I am shipping 37 of these one-of-a-kind humidors to premium cigar retailers in the United States,” said Newman. “I am sending one to the NBA and am adding one to our El Reloj cigar museum collection. I am holding the last humidor in case Michael Jordan calls.”
The 2011 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 20, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference, 148–143. The game’s roster is below. Kobe Bryant was named the Most Valuable Player. Rihanna, Kanye West, and Drake were the halftime performers.
