Heard in the Humidor: August 17-21, 2009

The European Cigar-Cult Journal's annual Cigar Trophy awards are among the highest accolades that any cigar maker can receive, and were presented for only the second time outside Europe on August 10 following the second of four days of the 77th International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association convention and trade show.

Double winners included the Padron family, honored for the Best Value brand from Nicaragua in 2008, the original Padron series, and for the Best Individual Cigar from Nicaragua, the Padron 1926 Series No. 9 Maduro. Jorge Padron, on behalf of the entire family, accepted the trophies by tying the award to the years of effort that made it possible:

"My father started this company 45 years with $600 with the idea of producing cigars that would fulfill the needs of the immigrants that were coming from Cuba," he explained. "He always said that they would miss their homeland, but they wouldn't miss their cigars. And it's a beautiful thing to be standing here amongst all of you today 45 years later receiving this award."

The other double winner was the Fuente family, honored for the Best Dominican Brand for the Arturo Fuente Hemingway Series, and for the best individual cigar from the Dominican Republic for 2008, the Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario Double Robusto, produced for distribution by Keith Park's Prometheus International as part of the Fuente Aged Selection.

But there were also other winners of the younger generation of cigar makers, including Rocky Patel, whose meteoric rise among the cigar elite dates back only to the mid-1990s. "I humbly stand here among some of the greatest cigar manufacturers, many families who've been doing this for years and years, a traditional business that they have learned," he said, adding "And I admire them because they have added so much and I have learned so much from them. You all inspire me, and this is what makes me go, to dream to be like you."

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Rolando Reyes, Sr., who brought the Cuba Aliados and Puros Indios brands to life as brilliantly-made and wonderfully-affordable cigars from Honduras. His grandson, Carlos Diez, accepted the award, telling the audience "My grandfather could not be here today. He called me a few days ago, and as a testament to how much he loves his factory, how much he loves his cigars, the passion that he has, he called and said, 'Carlos, I cannot be at the [IPCPR] this year because of what's going on here in Honduras (with the political turmoil).'

"He said, 'They took my factory from me in Cuba; they won't take it away from me in Honduras, without a fight.' I think that shows how much he loves it."

Of course, the event wouldn't be complete without a limited-edition cigar and Altadis U.S.A. provided Jose Seijas's second-ever all-Dominican blend, the Santa Damiana Seleccion 15 Anniversary, adorned with a special second band to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Journal, to all attendees.

>> One of the most charming stories of the IPCPR show is the planned re-appearance of the La Palina brand, an old Clear Havana brand made in Tampa that was popular in the northeast United States in the early 20th Century.

It turns out that the brand was created by Sam Paley of the Congress Cigar Company and the La Palina (which means, in Spanish, "the female Paley") brand label featured a stylized picture of his wife, Goldie. Their son, William S. Paley, began using the new medium of radio to advertise the brand in 1927 and eventually acquired a 16-station chain that young William eventually turned into the broadcast giant known today as CBS.

William S. Paley's son, William C. Paley, is an enormous fan of the Graycliff Grand Cru line and after buying all of the rights to the La Palina name, asked Enrico Garzaroli to make the brand for him. It's the first time Garzaroli has made a brand to be sold nationally by others.

Said William C. Paley, "it's a labor of love, taking our family back to its roots in cigars." He expects the line to begin with two sizes, to be offered in the spring of 2010. One wonders whether today's CBS will recognize its own beginnings by covering this story next spring.

>> There were about 300 exhibitors at this year's IPCPR show, including dozens of cigar companies marketing brands from about a half-dozen countries. One of them is Crown David, founded by Yan Levy in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Although he has made a regional impact in prior years with his Dominican-made brands such as Cuban Stock, Joya de Havana and Exquisito, the whisper is that he has engineered a seemingly impossible feat: to grow Cuban-seed tobaccos in actual Cuban soil . . . in the Dominican Republic!

Levy won't confirm the concept or any of the details, but acknowledges that he is proud of the results of his efforts to create very unique tobaccos for three lines called Cuban Stock Royal Selection (five sizes), Cuban Stock Extra (four sizes) and Chubby's (four sizes). All are made from strictly Dominican-grown tobaccos on a specific farm.

We'll have a tasting report on these cigars soon, but the scent and feel of the cigars we saw from these lines is enticing and different. One measure of Levy's success with this effort is that attending retailers have bought nearly all of the first production run of 750,000 cigars in the three lines combined.

>> When Alejandro Cuenca debuted the Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970 in 2002, it was instantly a hit, thanks to its powerful blend of full-bodied Nicaraguan tobaccos. Now he's followed up with an even more punishing blend.

Characterized by Drew Estates president Steve Saka as a "nicotine I.V. drip," the new Joya de Nicaragua Antano Dark Corojo is not just heavy, but boasts a 75% ligero leaf content. Saka explained that the cigar begins smoothly, then builds to a crescendo of powerful taste that will make you sit down to finish it. The description of the blend notes that "this puro builds in strength to leave even the most jaded smoker satisfied and spent.

This is a cigar for the experienced connoisseur who not only appreciates, but craves unadulterated boldness in their cigars."

This new powerhouse, which comes with a footer band that reads "Doble Fuerte" – in English, "double power" – comes in five larger sizes up to 60 ring gauge and from 4 1/2 to six inches in length.

Not to be completely outdone, Drew Estates also introduced the Liga Privada T52 Stalk-Cut Habano series, designed by Saka using rare, stalk-cut (rather than leaf-harvested) tobaccos from Connecticut. This powerful leaf was combined with six other individual tobaccos from Brazil (a Mata Fina binder), Honduras and Nicaragua for a full-bodied taste that has plenty of black pepper and spice in the flavor.

Saka's Liga Privada No.9 blend, which started out as a personal cigar from the Drew Estate, added a stunning limited-edition shape for 2009, the Flying Pig! This old shape, picked by Saka from a photograph of an 1895 cigar salesman's size-selection case, is a fat perfecto that looks like a short sausage of four inches and 60 ring gauge, with tiny bow-ties at each end. It's a shape likely not seen in production since the 1930s, and only 2,000 boxes of 12 (24,000 total) have been produced. For those who can find it, it carries a retail price of $12 each and promises to be a unique smoking experience.

>> "Here's my answer to SCHIP," said Gurkha creator Kaizad Hansotia with a smile. "Check out the new Triad . . . $100 a stick." He isn't kidding.

The new Gurkha Triad, made in Honduras, is one of the most highly-priced cigars ever placed on the U.S. market at $50 each (retail) for the Triad Natural (a 7-inch by 52-ring double corona) and $100 each for the Triad Platinum (also 7 x 52).

The blend for both is the same: a Nicaraguan-grown wrapper and binder and an unusual filler selection of Nicaraguan and Zimbabwean tobaccos. Both styles come in stunning carved boxes of 20 cigars each that retail for $1,000 or $2,000 each. And Hansotia confirmed that sales to retailers had been brisk at the show.

(It should be noted, however, that Hansotia also introduced three lines – Gurkha Havana Legend, Gurkha Monogram and Gurkha Nautilus – that will sell for around $5 per cigar at retail, the most accessible Gurkhas yet. Those lines will be distributed by Phillips & King (west) and Harold Levinson Associates (east) rather than Hansotia's Beach Cigar Group.)

At the other end of the spectrum are the two largest cigar sellers in the U.S., General Cigar and Altadis U.S.A. Both introduced new brands aimed at allowing smokers to continue to afford quality cigars at accessible prices:

> General Cigar introduced its designated "SCHIP-buster" in Brioso, a value-priced line of four sizes produced in the Dominican Republic. It's an all-long-filler handmade cigar of medium-bodied heft that retails from $2.99 for the 5 1/2-inch by 44-ring Corona up to just $3.75 for the 6-inch by 60-ring Gigante!

It's offered in bundles of 20 and features a Honduran-grown (Jamastran) wrapper, Connecticut-grown Habano binder and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Nicaragua. It will begin appearing in stores in trays featuring all four shapes in late October. It's worth noting that General immediately announced that it would not allow Brioso to be sold through Internet or mail-order retailers, but only at retail tobacconists.

> Altadis U.S.A. has its own new, value brand in Casa de Garcia, a play on the name of the Tabacalera de Garcia in La Romana, Dominican Republic. It offers three series of today's popular combinations of wrappers and sizes:

Connecticut Shade, Sumatra and a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro, each surrounding a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Dominican and Honduran filler tobaccos. There are four sizes in each wrapper line, ranging from Coronas at 5 1/2 inches and 44 ring, up to a 6 1/2-inch by 50-ring Churchill and all are offered in bundles of 20. The price . . . is a stunner, with a suggested retail of $1.50 each!

>> For nearly two decades, when you thought of the J.C. Newman Cigar Company, you thought of the exquisite handmade cigars it sold from the Tabacalera A. Fuente, including the Cuesta-Rey, Diamond Crown and La Unica lines. But as the first decade of the 21st Century closes, the company is emerging as a stronger and stronger seller of quality, accessibly-priced cigars from Nicaragua.

First came the low-priced, mixed-fill Quorum in 2002, which has turned out to be one of the hottest sellers on the U.S. market. Then came El Baton – an old J.C. Newman brand – earlier this year, offered in three fat sizes from 54-60 ring and sporting an all-Nicaraguan blend, including a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper and retail pricing from $5.75 to $6.75 per cigar.

At the IPCPR, J.C. Newman debuted Brick House, a brand originally made by J.C. Newman himself beginning in 1937 and named for his family's brick home. Originally a Clear Havana cigar, Brick House is still a puro, but this time of all-Nicaraguan tobacco. There are four traditional sizes – Corona Larga, Robusto, Toro and Churchill – and quite reasonable pricing of $4.75 to $5.75 per cigar, with all sizes offered in boxes of 25.

The 125th birthday of the Cuesta-Rey line was celebrated at the IPCPR, but it's clear that the J.C. Newman future is now in both Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Is the next step for J.C. Newman to own a Nicaraguan factory?

-  Rich Perelman in Los Angeles

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Reprinted by permission. "Heard in the Humidor" is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2009; All rights reserved.