Ten Years, Two Wrappers: Bishops Blend Hits Its Decade With a Double-Leaf First

The limited annual release is the cigar industry's favorite trick. Take a blend, change the band, call it a new year, and watch collectors line up. The best annuals earn their repeat business through genuine evolution, and the worst coast on familiarity until the audience stops caring which year they are smoking. Bishops Blend, Black Label Trading Co.'s flagship limited release, has spent a decade staying on the right side of that line. The 2026 edition, shipping now to retailers, marks the tenth anniversary with a construction the line has never attempted: two wrappers on the same cigar.

The original Bishops Blend arrived in 2016 from Fabrica Oveja Negra in Esteli, Nicaragua, the factory co-founded by James Brown, the creator of Black Label Trading Co. The blend paired an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper with an Ecuadorian Habano binder and a filler of Pennsylvania Broadleaf, Connecticut Broadleaf, and Nicaraguan tobacco. It launched in two vitolas, a Robusto at 5 by 48 and a Corona Larga at 6.25 by 46, with 150 boxes of each. The cigar landed at number sixteen on the 2016 Consensus, the aggregate ranking compiled by halfwheel from critic scores across the industry. For a first release from a boutique operation, that was a statement.

What followed was a disciplined annual cadence. The 2017 edition kept the blend identical but doubled production to 300 boxes per size, responding to demand that had already outstripped supply. Subsequent years brought new vitolas, including a Lancero, and occasional blend refinements, but the core identity held: an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper carrying broadleaf filler into bold, earthy territory. The annual became one of the releases that boutique smokers tracked on a calendar, the kind that sells through allocation rather than sitting on shelves.

The tenth anniversary edition changes the formula in a way that is structural rather than cosmetic. The 2026 release layers Connecticut Broadleaf directly over the traditional Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper, creating a double-wrapper presentation where two wrapper leaves contribute flavor simultaneously. The filler also adds Connecticut Broadleaf alongside the existing Pennsylvania Broadleaf and Nicaraguan tobacco, with an Ecuadorian Habano binder holding the bunch together. Three vitolas ship: the Corona Larga at 6.25 by 46 for $13.50 in 20-count boxes, the Robusto at 5 by 48 for $13 in 20-count boxes, and the Lancero at 7 by 42 for $14 in 12-count boxes. All are rolling now at Fabrica Oveja Negra.

A double wrapper is not a gimmick that cigar companies reach for often. The construction demands that two leaves lay flat against each other without bunching, and the flavor contribution of each wrapper has to complement rather than fight the other. Connecticut Broadleaf is dark, sweet, and earthy. Ecuadorian Maduro is richer and oilier. Layering them asks the smoker to taste both at once, and asks the roller to execute a build that most lines never attempt. For a tenth anniversary, it is the right kind of statement: a real change to the cigar itself, not just the band.

James Brown said the updated blend was developed to honor the decade while preserving the character that made Bishops Blend one of the company's most sought-after releases. Whether the double wrapper earns a permanent place in future editions or remains a one-year milestone is a question the market will answer. What is certain is that a line which started with 300 boxes in two sizes from a small Nicaraguan factory has reached its tenth year as a release that retailers allocate and smokers chase. In a market crowded with annual editions that blur together, that kind of staying power is the real anniversary.