VO 1920
A massive expansion of federal power that proved some laws were simply unenforceable against the will of the people.
The fourth extension in the Intemperance family, referencing the Volstead Act that put Prohibition into law on January 17, 1920. The regular production vitolas are named after Prohibition Era figures: bootleggers, speakeasy operators and law enforcement. The blend features a dark Ecuador Sumatra/Cameroon/Habano Hybrid wrapper, a Mexican San Andrés binder and a filler blend that contains a ligero from Condega, corojo secos from Jalapa and the Dominican Republic and a criollo viso from Pueblo Nuevo.
| Vitola | Description |
|---|---|
| Izzy Einstein Petite Corona, 4 x 46 | A 5'5" Austrian immigrant who made 4,932 prohibition arrests with a 95% conviction rate. Fired for being "too vaudevillian." |
| Belle Livingstone Short Robusto, 4½ x 52 | The "world's most dangerous woman" and operator of New York's most notorious speakeasy. Indicted three times. |
| Blind Pig Petite Gordo, 4½ x 60 | Period slang for a low-end speakeasy. The bottom of the prohibition economy, where the cost of bad liquor was paid in lives. |
| Bill McCoy Short Perfecto, 5 x 50 | A rumrunner who refused to dilute his cargo. The English language gained "the real McCoy" from his insistence on unadulterated product. |
| George Remus Robusto Extra, 5 x 56 | A Cincinnati lawyer who bought a federally bonded distillery and became the King of the Bootleggers. Convicted, paroled, and tried again for shooting his wife. |
| Fiorello La Guardia Gran Toro, 6 x 54 | A New York congressman before he was its mayor. Called the Volstead Act unenforceable from the day it passed. |
Limited Editions
| Vitola | Description |
|---|---|
| Senator Volstead Robusto, 5 x 50 | Andrew Volstead of Minnesota, sponsor of the act that bears his name. Lost his seat in 1922 over it. |
| Noble Experiment Gran Robusto Prensado, 5 x 56P | Herbert Hoover's phrase for prohibition. Used here without irony, the way it was used at the time. |
| Revenuer Gran Corona, 5¾ x 46 | Period slang for a federal liquor agent. The hated face of enforcement. |
| Gran Perfecto Gran Perfecto, 5 5/8 x 60 | The figurado tapered at both ends, the most demanding shape in any roller's repertoire. The portfolio's recurring LE expression of each blend's outer limits. |
| Judas Hole Lonsdale, 6¼ x 44 | The peephole in a speakeasy door. The mechanism by which the regulation was evaded for thirteen years. |