Mission Zero
Looking to smoke a premium cigar blend that is about as close as it gets to the original version that was offered to guests and dignitaries visiting the White House in the 1970s? Well, now is your chance to add the Joya de Nicaragua Clásico Original Green Room Selection LE to your humidor collection.
Offered in a previously unreleased 6″ x 54 diadema double figurado format, this smoke takes Joya's extremely popular Clásico tobacco blend and gives it a limited production run of just 2,400 sticks. Out of these, only 1,400 are being shipped to select retailers in the United States, with Klaro being one of them. Competitively priced at just under $14 a pop, Klaro is currently offering this stellar premium cigar blend in single-stick and 5-pack formats, with entire 20-count box purchases being an option as well.
Now, as for the blend itself, one can expect to find the Clásico concoction of a shade-grown Connecticut-seed wrapper out of Ecuador on the outside, and then all Nicaraguan binder and long-filler leaves within. Apparently, this is the same A-grade wrapper that cloaks the exterior of the utterly sublime Numero Uno L’Attache that we stock as well, all but with a dissimilar internal mixture of Nicaraguan internals.
- Wrapper
- Ecuadorian Connecticut
- Binder
- Nicaragua
- Filler
- Nicaragua
- Origin
- Nicaragua
"A cigar has the unique ability to bring people together and make everyone equal for a moment. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what title you hold. Every smoker eventually creates his own Green Room, whether it’s a quiet porch, a favorite chair, a local cigar shop, or a gathering with friends, a place where the ritual of a cigar becomes a moment of connection."—Juan Ignacio Martínez, executive president of Joya de Nicaragua.
How Joya de Nicaragua Got Into the White House
For those of you who may be wondering how Joya de Nicaragua became the official cigar of the White House, well, that has everything to do with Fidel Castro. Offering a Cuban cigar to White House guests is like passing out bacon double-cheeseburgers at a PETA rally. That shit just ain't gonna fly.
So instead of offering Cuban blends, which surely had been the norm prior to Castro coming to power, a mixed selection of non-Cuban blends was made available for smoking in the Green Room. A cozy parlor on the first floor that had seen multiple renovations over the years and was often considered the preferred "smoking lounge" of standing presidents.
As the story goes, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the former president of Nicaragua, was visiting with former classmate and current U.S. president at the time, Richard Nixon, when he was offered a cigar while seated in the Green Room. While skimming the contents of the humidor, Somoza was shocked to find that the box was filled with blends from the Nicaraguan Cigar Company. A move that was clearly meant to pander to Nixon's former schoolmate, all made possible by a cigar manufacturer that would later become known as Joya de Nicaragua.
While both Tricky Dick and Somoza left office amidst a tumultuous state of affairs, this initial meeting sparked an international interest in Nicaraguan tobacco that would continue for the next 60 years. Today, Joya de Nicaragua continues to be heralded as the OG of Nicaraguan cigar-making, and still blends the Clásico Original line in the same style as that which was once popular at the White House during the Nixon administration. Out of these options, the limited edition Green Room Selection seen here remains the closest interpretation of the original blend that money can buy, thus making it one of the more highly sought-after limited releases of 2026.
- Wrapper
- Ecuadorian Connecticut
- Binder
- Nicaragua
- Filler
- Nicaragua
- Origin
- Nicaragua
The Joya de Nicaragua Clásico Original Green Room Selection Diadema pays tribute to one of the most historic chapters in Joya de Nicaragua's story. Inspired by the Clásico's connection to the White House during the 1970s, when Joya de Nicaragua cigars were offered to guests in the White House Green Room, this limited-edition release brings the brand's classic profile to an elegant 6" × 54 Diadema format. Its Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper and Nicaraguan core deliver a smooth, approachable smoke with notes of cream, cedar, light wood, gentle sweetness, and subtle pepper.
With only 1,200 boxes of 20 produced worldwide—and just 700 boxes allocated to the U.S. market—the Green Room Selection is both a flavorful everyday-style cigar and a collectible limited release. The Diadema is one of the oldest formats still hand-rolled at Joya de Nicaragua's Estelí factory, offering a refined smoking experience that develops gradually while maintaining its mild, creamy character.
