Five Years in Cedar Before It Ever Reaches You
Why Atabey Is Worth Waiting Five Years For
Here's what's worth knowing today: this set is in stock on our shelf, and right now it's the only Atabey we have. Every other Atabey we carry is sold out, including the Atabey Ritos on its own. If you've been waiting for a way into this brand, this is currently the door.
That's not a sales line. It's just where our inventory sits, and it tells you something about how this brand moves.
AT A GLANCE
- Five Atabey Ritos, 6 1/8 × 55, each in its own protective tube.
- Plus a porcelain ashtray designed by Nelson Alfonso, in a presentation box.
- Five years of post-roll aging before these ever leave the factory.
- $270 for the complete set — in stock at Mardo.
- Medium-bodied. Built for refinement, not for strength.
Five Years Is an Absurd Amount of Patience
Let's put the aging in perspective, because it's the single thing that defines this brand. Most cigars get some rest after rolling. A few months is normal. A year is generous. Atabey Ritos cigars sit for five years after they're rolled before anyone can buy them.
Think about what that means as a business decision. Selected Tobacco pays for the tobacco, pays the rollers, and then waits half a decade before seeing a dollar back. Very few manufacturers are willing to tie up money and warehouse space like that, and it's the main reason Atabey sits in a category of its own.
Here's the detail most coverage leaves out. The aging doesn't just happen in a cedar room. The brand describes exposure to five different varieties of cedar — Cuban, Spanish, Lebanese, Brazilian and Mexican. Each wood carries its own aromatic character, so the cigars aren't simply resting, they're picking something up the whole time.
That's what extended aging buys you: time for the tobaccos to settle into each other, for the sharp edges to round off, and for the whole thing to read as balanced rather than loud. If the idea appeals to you, our guide on aging cigars at home explains the same principle at a smaller scale.
Who Nelson Alfonso Is, and Why the Ashtray Isn't a Throw-In
Atabey comes from Selected Tobacco, founded by Nelson Alfonso, with United Cigars handling distribution in the United States. The cigars are made at Tabacos de Costa Rica.
Alfonso's background matters here. He's the designer behind the branding of the Cohiba Behike, which tells you the man's instincts run toward presentation and detail as much as tobacco. So when the set includes a porcelain ashtray he personally designed, that's not packaging filler. It's arguably the piece he was most qualified to make.
The name has roots too. Atabey was the supreme goddess of the Taíno people, and it was the Taíno who first smoked an early form of what we now call a cigar while praying to her. Naming an ultra-premium brand after the origin of the ritual is a bigger swing than most brand names attempt.
Atabey Ritos Gift Set, 2nd Edition — the details
| Contents | Five Atabey Ritos in tubes · porcelain ashtray · presentation box |
|---|---|
| Size | 6 1/8 × 55 |
| Wrapper | Ecuadorian Shade-Grown |
| Binder | Dominican |
| Filler | Peruvian · Nicaraguan |
| Body | Medium |
| Aging | Five years post-roll, in cedar |
| Made at | Tabacos de Costa Rica |
| MSRP | $270 for the set |
What's in the Blend, and What the Brand Says It Tastes Like
An Ecuadorian Shade-Grown wrapper sits over a Dominican binder, with Peruvian and Nicaraguan fillers underneath. It lands medium-bodied, which is the point. Nothing about Atabey Ritos is trying to knock you over.
The published profile runs toward sweet cedar, vanilla cream, leather, delicate spices and a subtle dark fruit. That's the brand's description, not our tasting notes — we haven't smoked this set, and we're not going to borrow someone else's palate and present it as ours. When we light one, you'll get our own read.
Let's Do the Math on $270
This is the part nobody writes, so here it is. Our listing for a single Atabey Ritos is $45.50. Five of those on their own would run $227.50.
The set is $270. So the porcelain ashtray, the individual tubes and the presentation box come to roughly $42.50 on top of the cigars. For a hand-finished porcelain piece designed by the founder, in a box built to be given as a gift, that's a reasonable number — and it means you're not paying a huge premium for the packaging.
Worth saying plainly: $270 is not an everyday cigar purchase, and it isn't meant to be.
Mardo's take
- We've always had a tremendous appreciation for Selected Tobacco and Nelson Alfonso's dedication to craftsmanship, and the five-year aging is why. Almost nobody is willing to invest that kind of time before bringing a cigar to market. You're not just buying five cigars and an ashtray — you're buying the result of a decision someone made half a decade ago.
- Is it worth chasing? If you appreciate refinement, balance and attention to detail, yes. It's also one of the best cigar gifts we can point you at, because it arrives looking like an occasion. And the practical argument is simple: it's the only Atabey we have in stock right now, so the decision isn't really 'later.'
- If you're after power, look elsewhere — this is medium-bodied by design. And we'll give you our own tasting notes once we've actually smoked it, not before.
Get the Atabey Ritos Gift Set at Mardo
The complete set is listed and in stock at $270.
Atabey CigarsAtabey Ritos Gift SetShop the gift set
For context on where this sits, our other Atabey sets have run $240 for the Selected Tobacco Deluxe Edition Sampler with ashtray and $268 for the Atabey and Byron Tulip Ashtray Sampler. Both are sold out at the moment, which is the clearest thing we can tell you about how fast these move. We'll restock what we can — keep an eye on the Atabey collection, or browse the rest of what United Cigars brings in.
Half a decade of patience, in one box.
The Atabey Ritos Gift Set is $270 and in stock — currently the only Atabey on our shelf.
Browse AtabeyMardo Cigars sells premium tobacco products intended for adults 21 and older. Please enjoy responsibly.
Share
