Island Jim

Island Jim is a boutique cigar brand created through the unique collaboration between Jim Robinson, a Pittsburgh-based cigar shop owner known as 'Island Jim,' and renowned Honduran cigar maker Oscar Valladares. The brand is known for its distinctive #2 pencil-shaped cigars with shaggy feet and highly decorative bands, offering a medium to medium-full bodied smoking experience with complex flavor profiles. Island Jim cigars are very serious cigars for very serious cigar connoisseurs, featuring innovative dual-wrapper construction that provides different flavor experiences depending on where the cigar is cut.

Background

Oscar Valladares and his uniquely packaged cigars first entered the American cigar smoker's consciousness when Jim Robinson of Leaf & Bean in Pittsburgh started importing the Leaf & Bean by Oscar as his house cigar in 2013. In early 2012, Jim Robinson called Oscar to give him a heads up about visiting Danlí with Rocky Patel, and Oscar told him he had started his own small factory. Jim took one look at that leaf-covered cigar and knew that he'd struck gold, buying 30 boxes of the 2012 and effectively becoming the first retailer to carry an Oscar Valladares product in the U.S. When Oscar told Island Jim his dream was to open his own factory, Jim wanted Oscar's first cigar to be Leaf & Bean's house cigar, ordering 5,000 pieces of Leaf by Oscar, with the first 1,000 selling out in a week. The Island Jim brand was created as a tribute to this pivotal relationship that launched Oscar's cigar empire.

History

The Island Jim #2 debuted at the 2014 IPCPR trade show, emerging from the successful partnership between Jim Robinson and Oscar Valladares that began with the Leaf by Oscar house cigar in 2013. Jim Robinson is a retailer known for the Leaf & Bean Strip in Pittsburgh, Pa., and has created the Leaf by Oscar as a house cigar that has since found its way into nearly 1,000 retail shops. Island Jim and his 'Leaf by Oscar' brand have been tearing up the industry over the last few years, with Jim starting off running the Leaf & Bean cigar shop in Pittsburgh and going on to create one of the fastest-selling boutiques on the market. The brand represents the evolution of a small Pittsburgh cigar shop owner's vision into a internationally recognized boutique cigar line.

Reputation

Leaf by Oscar is no doubt one of the leading up-and-coming cigar brands of recent years, with Island Jim sure to be a significant player in their portfolio and doubtless becoming the favorite smoke of many who are daring enough to give it a try. Reviewers consistently praise Island Jim as a 'go to' cigar when wanting to treat oneself, with customers noting the wonderful flavors and lots of smoke production. Industry critics have called it 'a dynamite cigar', though some question whether the inventive construction justifies the $10 price point, noting it must be rolled by very experienced rollers and represents a small boutique brand where nothing is cheap. The brand has earned respect for its innovative approach and consistently high-quality construction.