Backstory: The Bentley Black is the first release of the Bentley AI Cigar Project — billed as the first complete use of artificial intelligence to craft a premium cigar. Bentley distributed a lengthy questionnaire to consumers; AI processed the responses to influence vitola choice, tobacco origins, flavor profile, and branding. Master blenders at the cigar's manufacturing facility translated the AI output into the final blend. The AI project was first announced in October 2024 and the resulting cigar debuted at the 2025 PCA Trade Show.

Backstory: Slots into the Bentley portfolio alongside the regular-production White Edition (mild, Connecticut-seed Ecuadorian wrapper) and Green Edition (medium-to-full, Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper). The Black is positioned as the boldest of the three — described by the company as having a bolder, deeper profile for smokers wanting something darker, more intense, pure character.

Release: Debuted at PCA 2025 (April 12–14, 2025, New Orleans) as a Limited Edition. Final size confirmed as a single Toro (6 x 52) vitola. Packaging was not finalized in time for the show, with full release details promised post-show. The PCA debut was also the broader U.S.-market coming-out for Bentley Tobacco USA — the new American distribution arm led by CEO/co-owner Jonathan Carney (former VP of La Flor Dominicana), in partnership with the Schuster family.

Tobacco: Produced at Joya de Nicaragua, the same factory that makes the existing Bentley White and Green Editions. Beneath the wrapper, Bentley's regular White and Green lines use entirely Nicaraguan binder and filler, so a Nicaragua-forward blend for the Black is consistent with the portfolio. Specific wrapper, binder, and filler tobaccos for the Black have not been publicly disclosed as of this research date.

Color: The cigar is marketed as darker and more intense than the Green Edition, suggesting a darker wrapper than the Green's Habano Rosado — likely in the Maduro or Colorado Maduro range, but not yet confirmed. Wrapper color enum left null pending confirmation.

Fun Fact: Promoted as the first cigar where the blend brief itself was generated by AI from aggregated consumer-survey data, rather than dictated by a single master blender's vision. The factory's blenders served as the human-in-the-loop, interpreting the AI's output into a smokable product.

Several core specs (wrapper composition, binder, filler, MSRP, exact shipping date, total production count, box configuration) are not yet publicly available. They should be filled in once Bentley publishes a finalized announcement or once the cigar is reviewed by a major outlet.