 Lew's News by Lew Rothman Industry News Czar, Smoke Magazine Online A continuously updated news column on “what's happening in the Cigar Industry”. As news happens (or, as rumor has it, is about to happen), you'll read it here first. UPDATED: June 6, 2000
Don Juan Francisco Bermejo Passes Away
Last night, Don Juan Francisco Bermejo, one of the true pioneers of the
cigar industry passed away in his sleep after several years of poor
health. And that is what this story is about - a legendary hero. Juan was
a quiet, hard working man who in his lifetime encountered adversity and
ill fortune in Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and the
Dominican Republic, that would have destroyed a lesser man. Nevertheless,
at the time of his death, he had become Nicaragua's largest producer of
hand made cigars, and the industry's largest employer. Despite the many
innovative and widespread changes he brought to the making of handmade
cigars, he has never been the recipient of the credit to which he was
due. In fact, his name has rarely appeared in print other than in
Nicaragua itself.
Juan Francisco Bermejo, was a disciple of the legendary Angel Oliva, the
founder of Nicaragua Cigar, the former partner of Carlos Fuente and Simon
Camacho, the creator of the modern system of hand making cigars, and one
of the true pioneers of the post-embargo cigar industry.
Don Juan, as most people called him, was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba in
1929 and left school in his early childhood to work at the El Tiempo
Cigar Factory where he learned both the art of processing tobaccos and
the now defunct process of creating hand made cigars using the "entubar"
process1. In 1947, at the age of 18 he decided to open his own cigar
factory in El Cayuco, Cuba, founding the El Rosia Cigar company.
Bermejo operated this factory for the next ten years while also
developing a sideline business of brokering tobacco, a sideline which was
to greatly surpass his cigar making venture in both volume and
profitability. From 1947 to 1960 Bermejo supplied Vuelta Abajo filler
tobaccos to the Cuban Factories of Bauza, El Galileo, El Surco, and
others, and short filler to the Toranos for scrap cigars.
Then things started to fall apart in Cuba as the Castro regime began to
encroach more and more on free enterprise. Bermejo saw the handwriting on
the wall in 1960 as friends, relatives, and other people in the tobacco
industry who had seen their homes, farms and factories seized, started to
arrive at his apartment in Havana seeking to hide from the Castro regime
until they could make arrangements to flee the island. After several bad
scares Bermejo himself began to make plans to leave his beloved homeland,
but first he devised a plan to get some precious Cuban Seed out of the
country so that he could start life anew somewhere else.
If you are smoking any legal cigar today that contains Cuban Seed Tobacco
(that is tobacco whose seed is of Cuban origin, but grown in a country
other than Cuba), then you are smoking a product that would not have been
possible were it not for Juan Bermejo. In 1961, Bermejo managed to get 8
pounds of Cuban Seed out of the country through the Honduran Embassy.
Then, joining his partner Jorge Bueso, a test crop was planted in the
fall of 1961 on a farm in Copan, Honduras, that had formerly grown
cigarette tobacco for British American Tobacco.
Bermejo endured unspeakable living conditions as Honduras was a
completely undeveloped nation at the time. In Honduras in 1961, 60% of
the children died before reaching the age of 12, everyone carried guns,
and a life could be taken for as little as one or two hundred dollars
with the body never found. Life was unbearable, but the test crop of 10
acres of shade tobacco for candela, and 15 acres of sungrown tobacco was
a success.
Bermejo then needed to build barns to hang the tobacco crop. So he asked
around and got the name of a builder to do the construction of the
massive barns he would need. Several days later the contractor arrived
with twelve helpers. They were all barefoot, each carrying a small burlap
bag containing their equipment: an axe and a small sledge hammer ! In 90
days these men built 3 massive barns. One to firecure light green candela
wrappers and two for natural sungrown tobaccos.
The first tobacco buyers to see this tobacco crop had to be coaxed by
Angel Oliva into making the difficult journey from America to this remote
area in the rugged hills of Honduras. The two brave souls that
accompanied Mr. Oliva were John Gorman and Luis Pedreida, who were in
charge of buying leaf tobacco for the American Tobacco Co., owners of the
La Corona, Henry Clay, Cabanas, Antonio y Cleopatra, and Roi Tan cigar
brands.
History is full of amazing coincidences, but perhaps none is more amazing
than what occurred with this initial test tobacco crop.
On the very day that small group of tobacco men stood in the wilds of
Honduras, completely cut off from news of the outside world, examining
the results of Bermejo's test crop, the Cuban Embargo was declared !!
Little did the four men realize that the tobacco in their hands and the
Cuban Seed in Bermejo's possession would become the entire foundation for
the manufacturing of premium cigars for the next 40 years, and the most
significant event in the entire history of the post-embargo cigar
industry !!
Bermejo planted the first commercial crops of Cuban Seed tobacco ever
grown in Central America. Financed by the Oliva family, cuban seed
tobacco was planted at Jaral and Yaragueta and Copan on a farm called
Santa Luz where Bermejo lived in a house that was previously used as a
dog pen.
When the crop was nearing maturity Angel Oliva brought the first American
manufacturer to see the results of Bermejo's work. This was Frank Llaneza
of Villazon, whom Mr. Oliva had known from Cuba. Mr. Oliva had told Frank
that these tobaccos were the answer to the Cuban Embargo. They were heavy
bodied, strong, resilient, and an equal to the Cuban tobaccos in every
respect. Frank, a lifelong tobacco man, could not resist the temptation
of being the first manufacturer to get his hands on these tobaccos and
after a perilous, and almost fatal trip to Bermejo's operation, he
contracted to buy the crop, which resulted in the actual birth of the
premium cigar industry outside Cuba.
With that first successful sale, Angel Oliva commissioned Bermejo to find
more farms, and Juan founded La Meca on the Rio Jagua, La Entrada, and
other farms, all financed by the Olivas and supervised by Bermejo.
In 1964, Bermejo sold his stock in the leaf tobacco company to the Oliva
family and moved to Miami, where he set up an import-export company
selling equipment for tobacco growing in Honduras.
Then in 1966 he returned to Central American and started a farm called
Pasa Leon in Nicaragua to grow cuban seed tobacco. At the same time, in
partnership with Simon Camacho, another ex-patriate Cuban, he started
Nicaragua Cigar, the company which would become Nicaragua's largest
factory producing brands such as Joya de Nicaragua, El Caudillo, Maria
Mancini, Count Christopher, Medal of Honor, Jericho, Camacho, Fifty Club
and Rosalones. The factory received all its raw materials from Bermejo's
Pasa Leon Farm and another farm he started in Jalapa, Nicaragua called
Por Venir (the future). It was at Nicaragua Cigar that Bermejo installed
a new system for making hand made cigars. Prior to this time an
individual cigarmaker made both the bunch of the cigar and applied the
wrapper. Bermejo changed this system so that workers either exclusively
made bunches or applied wrappers. This increased both production and
quality dramatically, as cigarmakers now became specialists at either
making solidly filled bunches or tightly stretched wrappers. Today, the
system Bermejo devised over 30 years ago is the standard of the industry
and is utilized throughout the world.
Bermejo's production at Nicaragua Cigar increased every year until he
sold his stock in the factory to Anastasio Somoza, the President of
Nicaragua in 1976.
Then, in 1976, Bermejo and Carlos Fuente went into a 50/50 partnership
and started the Don Victor Cigar Company in Esteli, Nicaragua. They
produced four brands: Don Victor, Fuente, Domino, and Montesino. It was
here that Carlos Fuente Jr. (Carlito) learned the cigar making craft.
Then in 1978 the factory caught fire and burned. So Bermejo and Fuente
built a second factory which was burned in the revolution that shook
Nicaragua in 1979. Then, unbelievably, they built a third factory, this
time in the town of Somoto in Nicaragua. As luck would have it, even
though this factory was not burned, both Carlos and Juan were forced to
leave the country when the Sandinistas took control. Carlos went to the
Dominican Republic, where he has become a legend, and Juan went to El
Paraiso in Honduras where he built another factory. In El Paraiso he
produced the Bermejo cigar which he sold through the company he still
owned in Miami. Unfortunately, one misfortune after another struck this
factory and finally he decided to abandon cigar manufacturing forever and
all time, and return to farming. So, in 1980 he sold the factory's
equipment and labels to Frank Llaneza's Honduras American Tobacco Co.
But Bermejo was no where near finished with his run of bad luck, and his
perseverance is a monumental credit to the character of this man.
In 1981 Bermejo went to the Dominican Republic, and with financing
supplied by the Oliva family he started a new farm called La Isabella
which was located in the exact spot Columbus is said to have landed in
1492. That spot it turns out, was a lot luckier for Columbus than it was
for Bermejo. His entire crop was wiped out by Blue Mold, a disease which
affects tobacco when it is subjected to cool, wet weather. Bermejo
returned to Miami and was forced to sell his property in Little Havana to
feed his family. For a lesser man it would have been the end of the line,
but not for Bermejo. He did odd jobs for the next two years to earn a few
extra dollars, and then came another call from the Olivas. The American
Tobacco Company needed Candela Wrapper, and the Oliva Family offered to
finance Bermejo if he would go to Panama to grow the wrapper. Bermejo
leaped at the chance to get back in the industry and started a farm
called Don Pepe in the valley of Chiriqui on the border between Panama
and Costa Rica.
But cruel fate struck again. The American Tobacco Co. was apparently
planning to divest itself of it's Cigar Division and reneged on buying
the crop. The Olivas informed American that this would ruin Bermejo, but
it was to no avail - he just couldn't seem to get a break. Fortunately
men like Bermejo make many friends along the way. Frank Llaneza came to
the rescue and bought the crop, baling Bermejo out of a jam that would
have left him destitute.
A lesser man would have called it quits long before this, but Bermejo had
the will and the tenacity of a bulldog. In 1985 he picked himself up and
moved to Costa Rica where he started another farm, and a factory to
utilize the tobacco he would grow there. But he didn't grow any tobacco !
The Blue Mold found him again and wiped out his entire crop.
In 1986, at the age of 57 he returned to Miami. He was broke and jobless,
but not hopeless. He got himself a job selling insurance and then of all
things, selling cemetery lots. The irony of it all was that here was one
of the true pioneers of the cigar industry, a man who knew the business
from the tobacco seedling to the finished cigar, a man who invented the
modern method of cigar manufacturing, a man whose peer group included
people like Frank Llaneza, Angel Oliva, and Carlos Fuente, and he
couldn't find a home for his skills. 1986 became 1987, and 1987 became
1988 and nothing came his way until 1995 when the boom in premium cigars
was approaching its zenith and retailers shelves throughout the nation
were virtually depleted of inventory.
Finally an offer came Bermejo's way.
A major U.S. cigar distributor would supply all the financing needed to
establish a major manufacturing facility in Nicaragua if Bermejo would
consider moving back to Nicaragua where three of his factories had been
burned, where his farms and home had been expropriated, and where he had
been forced to leave penniless?
His answer was an unqualified yes. He wanted to get back in the cigar
business more than anything else in the world.
In April 1995, N.A.T.S.A. (Nicaraguan American Tobacco) was established.
In the course of just a few weeks, Bermejo purchased a building in which
to locate the new factory, and hired his two factory foremen from the
years in which he had owned Nicaragua Cigar. By August 1995 he had leased
an additional 12,000 square foot building that adjoined the original
factory. That same month he shipped the first cigars from that factory
packed under the name La Trinidad, a nearby town where many of his
workers lived.
By the beginning of 1996 he was shipping two more brands, Rosa Cuba and
Villar Y Villar. Then in the Spring of 1996, by which time his cigar
makers had the skills he believed were necessary to produce a First
Quality cigar, he began to ship the Jose Marti brand, one of the very few
cigars produced anywhere in the world entirely by hand.
Today, barely four years from it's birth, Bermejo's NATSA factory under
the direction of his son Triki, has become the singularly largest factory
in Nicaragua and the largest employer. Barely a month ago the Managua
newspaper did a story about working conditions in the cigar factories
throughout Nicaragua and singled out Bermejo as an example to all other
employers in providing workers with medical care, dental care, and
nursery care.
Don Juan will be sorely missed, not just by his immediate family, but by
his extended family of friends and co-workers. He was a wonderful guy
that always had a million friends, and a simple answer for even the most
perplexing problem.
Funeral services will be held in Miami, Florida.
Other news...
Well, it's official. Lane Limited, the authorized distributor of:
Dunhill Dominican, Dunhill Honduran, Dunhill Dutch, Dunhill Montecruz, Royal Jamaica, Onyx, Signet, Legion, Crown Achievement, Schimmelpenninck, Schimmelpenninch VSOP, Corps Diplomatique,
Perfecto Garcia, Medal of Honor, and Tresado, is exiting the cigar distribution business.
For the time being, Lane will continue to distribute Dunhill
Dominican and the regular Schimmelpenninck line.
Consolidated Cigar will pick up the distribution of Dunhill
Montecruz, Royal Jamaica, and Onyx. This move will catapult these brands into far greater distribution than ever before, since Consolidated has 231 sales reps as opposed to the handful employed by Lane.
From a point of longevity, Royal Jamaica is one of the oldest hand made
cigars sold in this country. It is also perhaps the most unique in taste, due to the use of a
boiled root extract with which the Royal Jamaican filler tobaccos are cased.
The Dunhill Montecruz, although nowhere near as old as the Royal Jamaica brand, was the singularly largest selling premium brand in the nation throughout the 1970's.
The strength of this brand was so tremendous during this period, that when the brand was moved from the Canary Islands to the Dominican Republic around 1980, the Dominican Republic immediately inherited a reputation for making quality cigars. Truthfully, before the relocation of Montecruz to La Romana in the DR, no one even knew that cigars were made in that country.
Onyx, a brand invented during "the cigar boom years" is an all Maduro
brand and one of the very few survivors of the new cigars created during the hectic days of cigar hysteria in the mid 90's.
Now that Consolidated will be selling these products directly to
retailers, instead of through a middle man (Lane Ltd.) the price of these brands to the eventual consumer will be sharply reduced as there is one less entity making a profit before the final retail sale.
Danli, Honduras - June 5, 2000
Ecuador and Nicaragua -
Cigar Manufacturers, Retailers, and consumers: if you have newsworthy items
of interest to the cigar smoking community: E-Mail them to: lew@smokemag.com
During the cigar boom years anyone who could conceivably gather up enough
cigars of any description could market them and make money doing so.
Today, however, it's another story. It takes a good product, a good sales
team, some creativity, and a whole lot of effort to be successful in the
cigar business right now.
As of the end of March 2,000, imports of premium hand made cigars into
the United States were off by a staggering 22.9 % according to the Cigar
Association of America. What's worse, is that this decline is based on
1999 imports which themselves were way, way, way below the imports of
1998.
Therefore, any sane person with a least a scrap of intelligence would
assume that the people who depend upon the sale of cigars for a living
would be doing evvrything within their power to promote their
products.... but alas, this is not the case.
Here's something you're just not gonna believe:
At the end of every Lew's News piece there is a statement in VERY bold
writing. It says that any manufacturer, importer, or distributor who has
any news of any sort should E-Mail that news to me for inclusion in this
web site column... for which there is absolutely No Charge.... it's free!
Well, I have been doing Lew's News for over a year now and I have NEVER,
EVER, recieved one E-Mail from any cigar manufacturer, importer, or
distributor. Can you believe it?
Lane Ltd.,(now an operating unit of Brown and Williamson, due to the
recent merger of Rothmans and British American Tobacco) the exclusive
distributor of Dunhill Dominican, Dunhill Honduran, Dunhill Montecruz,
Dunhill Dutch, Schimmelpenninck, Royal Jamaica, Onyx, Perfecto Garcia, Mi
Cubano, Legion, Medal of Honor, Signet, Corps Diplomatique, and Tresado
is exiting the Cigar business. Effective immediately they will cease
distribution of all cigars except Dunhill Dominican and Schimmelpenninck.
Their exit from the cigar distribution business is perhaps the most
striking evidence of the change in fortune which has struck the premium
cigar industry. Other than the rash of consolidations that have resulted
from the competition between the giant European tobacco consortiums into
the global cigar market, Lane Ltd. is the first major player to leave the
industry voluntarily.
While the future distribution rights to all of these brands is yet to be
determined, it is assumed that Consolidated Cigar (the manufacturer of
the bulk of Lane's cigar brands) would be the likely distributor.
Villazon's hot new potato: La Escepcion: a run of 150,000 of the most
beautiful cigars that ever graced the American Market. Coming to a store near you by April.
Padron Anny counterfeits: these have been spotted here and there, mostly
on internet auction sites.... but counterfeits are like roaches, where there's one there's a
million. If your a Padron smoker, be careful and just buy 'em from a tobacconist you know.
Consolidated cigar's new heavier bodied square pressed cigars are finally
ready for market. Packaging should commence in late March, and the cigars should make their
debut by May 1st..... precisely one year later than originally projected!
Nestor Plasencia has re-lauched the Plasencia brand. Originally a very
fine super premium cigar with an excellent Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper, it is now drastically reduced in price, but retains the same high quality manufacturing standards. This brand will face an uphill battle for consumer acceptance because it has "been around" once before. However ( and you can say I told you so if I'm wrong) at the new MSRP of these cigars, I think it's gonna be a winner.
Ashton VSG: is it a real cigar or a phantom? Everybody has been talking
about this brand but nobody seems to know where to buy any.
Mayorga: if this isn't the hottest brand on the planet right now, then
what is? The Maduro version, with its Costa Rican wrapper and bargain basement retail price is flying off the shelves.
The next big rage: you can say you heard it here first: VARIETY.
Manufacturers are rolling out Sampler boxes of every brand, mixed samplers of different wrapper shades, and even samplers of mixed brands. The leader of the pack is Consolidated with H.Upmann, Don Diego, Henry Clay and Cabanas samplers... there's even a sampler coming that has all 4 brands in one package. The icing on the cake though is a series of Menendez y Garcia Samplers containing as many as 10 different brands in one package. These include such super premiums as Montecristo, Montecristo H2000, H.Upmann and H.Upmann Chairman's Reserve.
Thought the supply of no-name Don Nobody brands were gone? Think again. Now some of the
Don Somebody's are starting to bail out as the cigar industry becomes more and more competitive. Look for some of the previously "exclusive" boutique brands to start hitting the
skids as the giant cigar manufacturers of the industry continue to reassert their dominance.
Villazon's hot new potato: La Escepcion: a run of 150,000 of the most
beautiful cigars that ever graced the American Market. Coming to a store near you by April.
Padron Anny counterfeits: these have been spotted here and there, mostly
on internet auction sites.... but counterfeits are like roaches, where there's one there's a
million. If your a Padron smoker, be careful and just buy 'em from a tobacconist you know.
Consolidated cigar's new heavier bodied square pressed cigars are finally
ready for market. Packaging should commence in late March, and the cigars should make their
debut by May 1st..... precisely one year later than originally projected!
Nestor Plasencia has re-lauched the Plasencia brand. Originally a very
fine super premium cigar with an excellent Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper, it is now drastically reduced in price, but retains the same high quality manufacturing standards. This brand will face an uphill battle for consumer acceptance because it has "been around" once before. However ( and you can say I told you so if I'm wrong) at the new MSRP of these cigars, I think it's gonna be a winner.
Ashton VSG: is it a real cigar or a phantom? Everybody has been talking
about this brand but nobody seems to know where to buy any.
Mayorga: if this isn't the hottest brand on the planet right now, then
what is? The Maduro version, with its Costa Rican wrapper and bargain basement retail price is flying off the shelves.
The next big rage: you can say you heard it here first: VARIETY.
Manufacturers are rolling out Sampler boxes of every brand, mixed samplers of different wrapper shades, and even samplers of mixed brands. The leader of the pack is Consolidated with H.Upmann, Don Diego, Henry Clay and Cabanas samplers... there's even a sampler coming that has all 4 brands in one package. The icing on the cake though is a series of Menendez y Garcia Samplers containing as many as 10 different brands in one package. These include such super premiums as Montecristo, Montecristo H2000, H.Upmann and H.Upmann Chairman's Reserve.
Thought the supply of no-name Don Nobody brands were gone? Think again. Now some of the
Don Somebody's are starting to bail out as the cigar industry becomes more and more competitive. Look for some of the previously "exclusive" boutique brands to start hitting the
skids as the giant cigar manufacturers of the industry continue to reassert their dominance.
Normally I like to stick to facts here in Lew's News, but just this once let me hazzard an educated guess:
I know both Padron brothers: Orlando & Estello. Orlando owns and operates Padron, and Estello runs Villazon's Cofradia cigar plant. The reason they both make fantastic cigars is that they are just about the two stubbornest people on earth. You can't tell these two guys anything, and
they are also both very suspicious of people's intentions at all times.
Therefore, knowing the Padron genetic makeup, I'm going out on the limb and guessing that if Swedish Match was going to acquire Padron, and if their first visit to Padron was just 3 months ago, that a deal to buy the company could not have been consumated in such a short period of time.
Bottom line (and again, it's just a guess)... if a deal for Padron is in the works, it hasn't happenned yet.
In the past two years European conglomerates have now gobbled up Consolidated
Cigar, General Cigar's Domestic Division, Hava Tampa Phillies, Hollco Rohr,
El Credito, several smaller companies, and now General Cigar's Premium Division.
This leaves Holt's and 800-JR-CIGAR as the last surviving Publicly traded
cigar companies.
In other news:
Ramon Cifuentes, the legendary Ex-Patriate Cuban cigar master has died at the
age of 91 at his home in Barcelona, Spain. Ramon came to this country with
essentially the clothes on his back and found work with General Cigar in their
Connecticut tobacco growing operation. In 1974 he sold the Partagas brand to General in
return for a royalty on each cigar sold, and also took control of their cigar making
operation. He, along with Frank Llaneza, Benjamin Menendez, Carlos Fuente,
and Juan Bermejo, was one of the last of the legendary figures in the cigar
industry.
In the interim, Swedish Match acquired both El Credito (maker of La Gloria Cubana and La Gloria Cubana Selecion D'Oro), and the Domestic cigar division of General Cigar (maker of Garcia Vega).
Now, rumors abound that Swedish Match is seeking to acquire both Padron and General Cigar's Premium Division (Macanudo, Partagas, Punch, Cohiba, Bolivar, Rey del Mundo, Temple Hall, etc.)
Given the unique nature of the business of manufacturing and marketing Premium cigars and the fragmented system by which they are distributed, the larger these companies get, the greater the economies of scale they will enjoy in placing their products in the hands of the eventual consumer.
Big Launches during 1999:
ALTADIS, the global tobacco group formed by the merger of SEITA and TABACALERA de ESPANA has reached an agreement to purchase 50% of Cuba's Corporacion Habanos. This blockbuster deal gives ALTADIS, already the world's largest cigar maker, an absolute stranglehold on the worldwide distribution of Cuba's famous Havana cigars.
What does this mean to the American cigar consumer should the Cuban Embargo end?
Well, just from pure logical deduction, it would seem that ALTADIS in resupplying the American Market would make every effort to manufacture only those brands within its control. Therefore, brands like Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Cabanas, H.Upmann, and La Corona would reach American retailers initially. However, brands whose U.S. rights are owned by others or whose ownership are in dispute might never be shipped to the United States.
It is obvious that the re-opening of the U.S. market, the re-supply of U.S. smokeshops, and the initial buying frenzy of U.S. consumers would make the supply of genuine Havanas critically short for years to come. Therefore, it is also logical to assume that ALTADIS would have no reason to produce Cuban brands it does not control in the U.S.A. during a period of time in which it was unable to supply an adequate number of cigars to meet the initial demand for its own proprietary cigars.
The bottom line: if (and this is a great big if) the embargo should end, U.S. consumers seeking brands like Partagas, El Rey del Mundo, Cohiba, Belinda, La Gloria Cubana, and others will have to purchase these brands from abroad until such time as ALTADIS and HABANOS reach some sort of supply agreement with the owners and claimants to the remaining U.S. controlled trademarks.
Frankly the only newsworthy item to appear in last two weeks has been the granting of a “Zona Franca” or Free Trade Zone to the NATSA Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. It is the first cigar factory to receive such status in the country and a sure sign that the Nicaraguan Government is becoming more aggressive in it’s efforts to make the nation more economically viable.
Since there’s no other news, let’s explore Nicaragua’s expanding presence in the cigar industry.
The leading exporter of Premium cigars is the Dominican Republic with Honduras a distant second. In third place however is Nicaragua. Incredibly, just three years ago this country was a distant 5th by comparison to Mexico and Jamaica. Now it surpasses both Jamaica and Mexico combined.
Nicaragua’s most famous export?
Nicaragua’s largest factory?
Nicaragua’s No.2 factory?
Cigars are not the real story in Nicaragua, Tobacco leaf is. Heavy bodied Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, ligero in particular, form the nucleus of many of today’s best known brands, including those from Villazon, Consolidated, Fuente, MATASA and others. It is these tobaccos that are responsible for putting the “punch” in Punch and other full bodied cigars like Rey del Mundo, Padron, La Rosa Especiale and a score of others. Nicaraguan Havana Seed wrappers, especially Habana2000TM and the many imitators of Habana2000TM, are gaining favor with the majority of the manufacturers for their rust red colors, impressive size, and tensile strength. It is difficult to conceive producing the many square pressed cigars now gaining popularity with the cigar smoking public had Habana2000TM not made it’s debut just two short years ago. This highly elastic yet rugged wrapper is one of the few that can withstand the handling necessary in the fabrication of these “cuadrado” style habanos.
Given the abundance of skilled labor as well as high quality wrapper and filler tobaccos, I would not be surprised to see Nicaragua become the largest producer of premium hand made cigars in the next decade… all the pieces are in place, and all that is needed is political stability to ensure its future...
Today's Rumor:
Padron has stopped shipping its Millennium cigars for reasons unknown as yet.
Tabacalera de Espana and S.E.I.T.A. of France have formally announced merger
plans. This will create the world's 4th largest tobacco company, and by far
the world's largest cigar company.
In the United States the following brands will be owned by the newly formed
company:
Industry Rumors:
Swedish Match, recent purchaser of General Cigar's Machine made division
(White Owl, Garcia Vega, Robert Burns and William Penn), now courting both
General Cigar Premium Division and Padron Cigars.
Whether there is any substance to these rumors is anyone's guess, but you can
always be sure that where there's smoke there's cigars. In this case, top
flight brands like Macanudo, Partagas, Bolivar, El Rey del Mundo, Belinda,
Flor de Cano, Padron, etc.
New Stuff:
Bock y Ca. - a square pressed hand made from La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Sensational "cuadrado" style zesty cigars at a great price. The return of
Bock y Ca. Also marks the return of the Bock Panetela which was a 10 million
plus seller in the 1950's. To put that in perspective, today only the entire
Macanudo, Fuente, and H.Upmann brands which feature more than 100 styles,
shapes, and wrapper colors combined sell as many cigars as the Bock Panetela
alone sold before the embargo.
Padron's Millennium Series began hitting stores this month. These cigars are
individually numbered and packed in dynamite chests of 100 cigars each.
Average retail is $25 a pop, but even at that lofty price they're hard to
come by. Is any cigar worth $25?. Frankly, I've got more of a problem with
kid's sneakers costing over $100.00.
Alvarez Lopez y Ca. - Robert Gore, longtime maker of Royal Jamaica, takes a
very bold step in creating the first full bodied "habana" style cigar made in
Jamaica in almost a century. The A.Lopez cigar combines true Jamaican Filler
tobaccos grown immediately next to the May Pen, Jamaica Factory, with heavy
bodied Nicaraguan and Dominican Ligeros and a Nicaraguan grown Habana2000TM
wrapper. The last time cigars of this nature were made in Jamaica was during
the late 1890's when Cubans fleeing political turmoil fled the island to
Jamaica and Key West. This is truly an exciting event which may change the
entire perception of Jamaican cigars for years to come. Availability starts
in mid-November with pricing similar to other premium Jamaican brands.
Mayorga - a re-launch of an extremely full bodied Nicaraguan made by Nestor
Plasencia in his Segovia, Nicaragua plant. The brand features a Jalapa grown
Havana Seed wrapper in a medium dark natural shade, and an almost jet black
Costa Rican grown maduro. The entire line is packed in vault-like raw Spanish
cedar boxes and is rigidly square pressed - so much so that I had difficulty
removing the first cigar from a sample box sent to me by Martin Mayorga.
La Escepcion - one of the many Cuban labels controlled by Villazon and Co.
(a division of General Cigar) will launch sometime next winter in a limited
production of 3 sizes (50,000) per cigar. The La Escepcion Monterreys (the
only size which I have seen) have a really silky Ecuador Sumatara wrapper
grown by the famous Oliva Family and featured on such standout products as
Fuente, Montesino, and El Rey del Mundo.
Macanudo Maduros - recently switched from a Mexican Maduro to Connecticut
Broadleaf is receiving almost universal approval by consumers over the former
wrapper. Cigar tastings are being held by General Cigar in numerous stores
nationwide.
H.Upmann 2000 Anniversary chests - a limited edition of 2,000 boxes are
completely sold out nationwide as consumers snatched up this beautiful
humidor chest as soon as they arrived in retail shops.
Romeo y Julieta 125th Anniversary Cabinets - A truly awesome presentation to
mark the new millennium and the 125th year of production. At $250.00 retail
this cabinet should be a tremendous hit for the holiday season. Twenty Five 7
inch by 52 ring cigars with special ring bands packed in a hand painted
humidor chest. This is another limited production item which may require a
little hunting from store to store to obtain. Additionally, the pressure to
ship this product prior to the holiday season has been creating some fairly
severe shortages of the other larger ring gauge Romeos.
Pipe Smokers: The distributorship of Peterson pipes has passed from
Hollco-Rohr to Ashton Distributors. This should create some temporary buying
opportunities for lovers of this famous pipe as the former distributor is
unloading its' existing inventory to retailers at significant savings.
In the last two years Tabacalera S.A., formerly the State owned Spanish
Tobacco Monopoly, has
spent a reported $375,000,000 acquiring HavaTampa Phillies, $26,000,000
acquiring several factories
operated by Nestor Plasencia, over $60,000,000 acquiring Hollco-Rohr (the
U.S. owner of the Romeo y
Julieta trademark, and an undisclosed number of millions acquiring Tabacalera
Nacional Dominicana, an
ultra modern cigar manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic.
Should the two companies merge, and recent speculation has that merger
coming to fruition very
shortly, the combined company will have annual sales in excess of 10 Billion
dollars. The bulk of the sales
involve three powerhouse brands of European cigarettes, Ducados, Gitanes, and
Gauloise. To the cigar
smoker, it means that a single company will control Montecristo, H.Upmann,
Romeo y Julieta, La Corona,
Bock y Ca., Santa Damiana, Cabanas, Henry Clay, Flamenco, and a slew of other
major handmade cigar
brands. Additionally, it would unite two of the largest makers of machine
made cigars with brands such as
AyC, Dutch Masters, El Producto, Backwoods, Phillies, HavaTampa, Muriel, and
others.
There are continued "whispers" about Swedish Match, recent acquirer of El
Credito and the La
Gloria Cubana brand, being on the prowl for another major acquisition before
years end.
Cigars by Santa Clara will commence national distribution of a new line
of MAYORGA cigars,
manufactured by Nestor Plasencia in Esteli, Nicaragua. This is a rigidly
square pressed heavy bodied cigar.
They are packed in solid cedar cabinets of 20 and feature rust red Nicaraguan
EMS wrappers, and dark
Costa Rican Maduros. Prices range from $2.75 to $4.00 per cigar.
Alvarez Lopez, a new line of fuller bodied Jamaicans will finally hit the
American Market in
November. The A.Lopez is made by Jamaica Tobacco Company's Robert Gore of
Royal Jamaican fame,
and is the first Cuban style cigar to be made on the island since the early
1900's. The new line is priced
from $3.75 to $5.25 per cigar.
La Flor de Copan launches a long overdue Honduran version of La Corona in
early November.
Due to lengthy packaging delays which have necessitated storing the cigars
for over 6 months, Director
Osmund Maduro maintains these cigars will be some of the best ever exported
from the country. "They are
rock solid, and the Ecuador Connnecticut wrappers are beautiful". The La
Corona brand is one of the
World's most recognized labels, and is a name which has become so synonymous
with the word cigar that
Websters Dictionary defines Corona: a cigar, and Cigar: a corona.
HERFIN' U.S.A.
A herf is an event where a bunch of cigar lovers get together to shmooze, booze, and do some really serious cigar smokin'. Most HERFS are composed of people who have met one another through Internet Bulletin Boards such as www.cigargroup.com, www.cigarfamily.com, www.jrcigars.com, www.smokemag.com, or newsgroups such as alt.smokers.cigars. You don't have to be a regular on the Web to attend a Herf. Everybody's welcome and everyone is very gracious about making sure that first timer's are made to feel comfortable. Most Herfs involve one or more "Web Junkies" organizing the Herf and perhaps having a Bar-B-Q over at their house. Then the participants attempt to "mooch" as many cigars as they can from local merchants for raffles, gratis smokes, etc. at the Herf. I've gone to a number of these Herfs with one group in particular that call themselves the VI (Village Idiots), but don't let the name fool you. This is a group of very nice, and very intelligent people who answer to odd Internet "handles" such as Stinky, Cameroon, Nick at Night, ERDC, etc. Herfs are happennin' all over the country all the time, and if you haven't attended one then you definitely should. You can find information about upcoming Herfs all over the U.S.A. by signing onto www.cigargroup.com.
New stores announced:
Nicaragua:
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