JR Cigars

For almost 50 years, JR Alternative Cigars have been one of our best-selling brands with a presence in the humidors of aficionados across the country. Beloved for their affordable prices, consistent flavors, wide selection of sizes and blends, and top-notch construction, JR Alternative Cigars are a favorite among cigar connoisseurs with a tight budget who still want to enjoy a quality smoke. When JR Cigar first opened for business in 1971, it was operated out of a small storefront on the corner of 5th Avenue and 45th Street in the heart of Manhattan. Room for displays is at a premium in a space that is 14 feet wide and 21 feet long, so JR Cigar founder Lew Rothman commissioned a fixture maker to make two large showcases to display a large cigar selection to passersby through the front window. Rothman asked if Blumenthal could send him Punch and Hoyo in bundles instead of boxes, and nude without any bands on the cigars. Not only could Blumenthal fulfill the request, but he would sell the nude bundles to Rothman for less than the boxed and banded cigars. Instead of charging customers the same price, Rothman passed the savings on to them and JR Alternatives to Punch and Hoyo were born! Back then, JR Alternative Cigars were the exact same cigars as the boxed and banded cigars, but the cigar boom of the 1990s changed everything. Demand for premium handmade cigars soared, and supply just could not keep up. Cigar makers would no longer sell the nude bundles of their name-brand cigars to JR at a discount, and a new source for the production of JR Alternative Cigars needed to be found. When the cigar boom ended in the late 1990s and early 2000s, cigar makers had tons of excess tobacco stored up as demand sharply dropped, and JR Alternative Cigars were the perfect way to turn their inflated tobacco inventories into reasonably priced cigars. Today, JR Alternative Cigars are produced at some of the most famous cigar factories in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. This includes the likes of Flor de Copan and Tabacalera de Garcia, homes of famous brands such as Montecristo, H. Upmann, and Romeo y Julieta. You can find JR Alternative Cigars in a wide range of blends and sizes to fit any thrifty aficionado’s palate.