LeRoy Neiman 2025 Collector’s Edition Begins Shipping

For the third consecutive year, J.C. Newman and the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation have teamed up for a special cigar that raises money for art education in Tampa’s schools.

The LeRoy Neiman 2025 Collector’s Edition is a 6 1/2 x 52 torpedo that uses a habano-seed wrapper from an undisclosed country over a Florida Sun Grown binder and fillers from undisclosed countries in Latin America. The cigars are rolled at J.C. Newman’s El Reloj factory in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood.

Each cigar has an MSRP of $22 and production is limited to 750 boxes of 20 cigars. J.C. Newman says that it donates all of the profits from this release to benefit art programs in Tampa public schools.

Like with past releases, one of LeRoy Neiman’s paintings has been chosen for the theme of this release. This year, that piece is titled “Jazz Hands.” Drew Newman of J.C. Newman said that the company chose the piece because the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show—the cigar industry’s most important trade show—took place in New Orleans this past April. Neiman, the famed expressionist painter, was known to paint with a cigar in his mouth.

“Jazz was always fuel for LeRoy Neiman’s creativity,” said Tara Zabor, executive director of the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, in a press release. “LeRoy spent many nights in clubs drawing live performances and hobnobbing with the greats like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He had a passion for the improvisation unique to the genre which he mimicked in his own painting practice. Down the hall from his New York City studio, you could frequently hear jazz standards belting out of the speaker while the aromas of a freshly lit cigar wafted throughout the space. In Jazz Horns, one can sense we are in the midst of peak harmonization in the brass section or in full swing amid the musicians, where LeRoy felt right at home.”

The inside portion of the lid, known as the vista, features an authentic lithograph of “Jazz Horns,” and the artwork is also featured on a paper wrap covering each cigar. Each box comes with a certificate of authenticity from the foundation.

As with previous releases, the inside bottom of the box features a print of Neiman’s paint-splattered New York City studio floor. Pictured above is the first release.

All of the packaging was printed by Vrijdag Premium Printing in Holland.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.