Ruby Lancero

Backstory: The 1502 brand is named for the year Christopher Columbus first arrived on the coast of Nicaragua, paying tribute to the country's tobacco heritage. Global Premium Cigars was founded in 2012 by Enrique Sánchez Icaza and is headquartered in Estelí, Nicaragua. The portfolio is structured as a tier of gemstone-named blends — Emerald (mild), Ruby (medium), and Black Gold (full) — with Ruby positioned as the brand's middle-strength, evening-friendly offering.

Release: The Ruby Lancero vitola extension was announced in November 2013 as part of a brand-wide rollout adding lancero and corona sizes to all three core 1502 lines. It hit retailers in April 2014 as a regular production addition to the existing Ruby line.

Tobacco: Wrapper is an Ecuadorian Colorado-shade leaf grown in Ecuador. The binder and filler are all-Nicaraguan, drawing from the Jalapa and Estelí growing regions — Jalapa contributing sweetness and refinement, Estelí providing body and spice. The blend is rolled at Plasencia Cigars S.A. in Estelí.

Color: The wrapper presents as a smooth, slightly oily medium brown with a noticeable red/ruby hue that gives the line its name. The leaf is virtually seamless with minimal veins.

Fun Fact: The Lancero is presented as a box-pressed 7 × 38 — an unusual combination of the long, slender lancero silhouette with a square-pressed body. Some early production runs were finished with a partially closed foot, adding a perfecto-like opening detail.

Fun Fact: At launch the brand was distributed in the United States by House of Emilio, the boutique distributor responsible for introducing many small Nicaraguan and Honduran labels to U.S. tobacconists in the early 2010s.