In 1996 the Rubin family prosperous hardware business was sold and Alan Rubin used part of his proceeds from the sale to seriously launch a new cigar company - the new company was named Alec Bradley after Rubin's children. After failed initial schemes at producing cigars targeted to golf courses and flavoured after-dinner cigars, Rubin managed to carve out a tenuous niche selling budget-priced cigars to tobacconists. Many new innovative cigars were launched over the next 11 years until Alec Bradley achieved its major breakthrough with the introduction of a new full-bodied line called Tempus which was rated 94/100 by Cigar Aficionado. In 2011 the Alec Bradley Presendo won the 2011 No1 spot in cigar Aficionado Magazine sky-rocketing their brands into contention with other world renowned cigars.