Mississippi State University To Debut Cigar Line Honoring Baseball Team
Cigars seem to be enjoying a kind of resurgence in the world of sports. The days of Red Auerbach strolling up and down the sidelines of the Boston Garden with a large cigar in his mouth may be long gone, but lately, the university-backed cigar lines celebrating collegiate sports teams. Now, Mississippi State University is ing the party with a new line of cigars from Bocock Brothers.
The Mississippi State Ron Polk Signature Series honors the university’s baseball program and its iconic head coach, Ron Polk. The now-retired coach, widely referred to as the “Father of SEC Baseball,” compiled a laundry list of achievements in his career: 29 seasons leading Mississippi State, eight College World Series appearances with three teams (six with Mississippi State), two time National Coach of the Year and a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame. When you rack up such a resume, you deserve not just a cigar brand named in your honor, but an all-time nickname to go with it.
The new line will come in two sizes, Robusto (5 inches by 50 ring gauge) and Toro (6 by 52). The cigars are made in Danlí, Honduras at Fabrica San Judas Danlí. The blend centers around a Mexican San Andrés wrapper that covers binder and filler leaf from Honduras and Nicaragua. Both sizes will come packaged in decorative, pinstripe boxes, with 20 cigars per box. Each will come with a digital signature from Coach Polk and a custom baseball holder in the inside of the box.
College sports-focused cigars have been the brainchild of Bocock Brothers, a cigarmaker that operates in Houston and Honduras. The company has previously released multiple LSU-themed brands backed by the university, which honored the football and baseball teams. At the time, these officially-licensed cigars were hard to believe in a collegiate atmosphere that’s openly anti-tobacco across the country. But it seems the idea is catching on.
The official release for the cigars is set for Saturday, May 3, at Super Bulldog Weekend in Starkville, Mississippi (home to Mississippi State). Super Bulldog Weekend is effectively the spring version of homecoming weekend for the school, with baseball games all weekend long, the football team’s spring game and many other activities that bring tons of ers to Starkville each year. Bocock Brothers is the title sponsor of the Starkville Derby held Saturday, which is quite literally the country’s largest wiener dog race. The cigars will be featured alongside Coach Ron Polk, who will be in attendance g cigar boxes.
Bocock Brothers has also partnered with Spring Street Cigars to the launch weekend. The cigar retailer has a location in Starkville, as well as many more throughout the state of Mississippi. They’ll serve as the go-to location for those looking to purchase the cigars during the weekend of festivities.
After the launch weekend, the cigars will be available at the Bocock Brothers website and with their partner retailers, which are primarily located in states with a high density of Mississippi State alumni, such as Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. The Robusto is set to retail for $325 a box, or $16.25 each. The Toro will go for nearly the same, $335 a box, or $16.75 apiece.
Bocock Brothers has already teamed up with other colleges with projects in the works that could come this spring or sometime in the fall. As of now, the group includes the University of Florida, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Wake Forest and the University of Missouri.
