Day 1 at La Zona Palooza 2026: Espinosa Cigars Opens the Festival in South Florida
We spent Thursday, November 12, at La Zona Palooza 2026, the three-day festival Espinosa Cigars hosts at its South Florida headquarters. The listing on TheCigarEvents.com bills this year’s gathering as Espinosa’s 10th-anniversary celebration, running November 12 through 14. For The Cigar Guys, it was also a first. This was Alex Gonzalez’s first La Zona Palooza, and Jared Burrows of The Cigar Guys was there alongside him.
The posted Day 1 rundown called for registration and snacks at 12:00 p.m., remarks at 2:00 p.m., dinner in the evening, and a midnight close. We arrived promptly at 12:50 p.m., just in time to hear some opening remarks from Erik Espinosa. That early welcome set the tone for a long day built around cigars, food, and the people who follow this brand closely.
A Welcome Bag and a Warehouse Shop
Walking in, we were greeted with a bag of Espinosa cigars: the Knuckle Sandwich Avant Garde, Laranja Hybrid, Espinosa Habano, Knuckle Sandwich Puro, and the 601 Habano. It was a generous start, and it offered a useful snapshot of the company’s range.
The Espinosa Habano, according to Espinosa’s own site, is the blend that started the line after the company set out on its own — an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. Knuckle Sandwich is Espinosa’s collaboration with Guy Fieri, a partnership we have written about before; both the Avant Garde and the all-Nicaraguan Puro were in the bag. Laranja Hybrid is a newer regular-production cigar in Espinosa’s Laranja family. The 601 Habano comes from the long-running 601 Red Habano line, which Espinosa wraps in Ecuadorian Habano over Nicaraguan binder and filler.
Every so often, they open the warehouse shop so consumers can purchase product direct. That is one of the practical pleasures of a day at headquarters: great deals, the newest releases, and some product you might not be able to find at a local shop.
Staying in the Game
Around 2:00 p.m., the rules of the weekend were explained — how guests can stay “in the game” and be invited back next year. The TheCigarEvents.com listing describes La Zona Palooza as invite-only, and what we heard on Day 1 fit that. Espinosa fans who regularly share posts on social media tagging @espinosacigars and #LZP26 are noted for winning prizes during the three-day festival and for being invited back the following year.
Erik also held a small ceremony honoring fans who posted about Espinosa Cigars every day in 2026, including one person who has been doing it for almost seven years straight. It was a reminder that this event is built around the people who show up for the brand all year, not only for a long weekend in South Florida.
Food, Friends, and Fellow Media
The venue offered food and drinks for guests, swag opportunities, and plenty of room to settle in. Guests mingled with friends and met new people. Other media companies were also present on Day 1, including Cigar Dojo and Cigar Press. William Cooper of Cigar Coop was there as well.
You can find events in your area like this, and many others, on TheCigarEvents.com. See the La Zona Palooza 2026 listing, and the same free national calendar we wrote about earlier this week.
Dinner, Cigars, and Closing Remarks
Dinner was served around 6:00 p.m.: rice, chicken, pork, rolls, plantains, and salad. It was delicious. We smoked a 601 Habano from the welcome bag, plus two cigars we brought ourselves — an Espinosa Crema, the company’s Ecuadorian Connecticut-wrapped core line, and a 601 Maduro 20th Anniversary.
The night ended with closing remarks from Erik Espinosa, some of his big retail supporters who attended, and media personnel, including Alex Gonzalez from The Cigar Guys. Alex shared his experience of his first La Zona Palooza — Day 1 — and a brief history of The Cigar Guys.
After that, the DJ closed it down with hours of great music. The mingling and networking continued, and the dominoes went on all night.
The Cigar Guys’ Take
Day 1 only opened a three-day festival, but it already felt like more than a tasting. Erik set the tone early, the welcome bag and warehouse shop made the company’s catalog easy to explore, and the afternoon made clear how much of the weekend is about staying connected — through a hashtag, a prize, or a small ceremony for the fans who never miss a day. We left the first night with good food, a few cigars, new conversations, and music still going. We will have more as the weekend continues.
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