Saturday, December 31 2011
By Gary Korb
2011 was certainly a year to remember, not only for politics and the economy, but for cigars and the cigar industry. Since this is our last feature article of the year, I thought we'd take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the year's highlights covering new cigars, events and trends.
The Toraño Family Cigar Company launched their Single Region Cigars Tour on January 19. The tour featured their Single Region-Serie Jalapa selection and was co-sponsored by PT's Coffee Roasting Co.
Famous Smoke Shop announced the winners of the ProCigar Festival 2011 raffle. I also attended the event, which takes place annually in Santiago, The Dominican Republic. It was my first ProCigar Festival and one of the more memorable events I attended this year.
Habanos S.A. announced the release of the "Julieta" (by Romeo y Julieta), a 4 ¾-inch long, 33
ring gauge petit cigar, made especially for women in honor of the company's numerous female workers.
Sal Fontana of
La Fontana cigars, one of the cigar industry's most beloved personalities died at age 86 on February 3, 2011. Sal was a regular at Famous Smoke Shop's annual Cigar Expo, and upon hearing the news, Famous president Arthur Zaretsky said, "Sal was a good friend, and I will miss him dearly."
Also in February,
former
CAO Cigars Special Events Marketing Director,
Jon Huber, announced he will be releasing his own line of premium cigars under the name
Crowned Heads.
Team La Gloria Cubana® designated Friday, March 25, 2011 as Serie N
® Day, which also marked the first-ever national virtual cigar tasting. Using Skype, the virtual tasting of their new
La Gloria Serie N cigars was broadcast from the El Credito Cigar Factory in Miami’s Little
Havana district.
Punch Cigars released the "10
th Anniversary Edition" of their popular
Punch Rare Corojo cigars in March. The cigar featured a proprietary Connecticut-grown Corojo
wrapper. The company called the new
vitola "a spicy no-nonsense
blend at a reasonable price."
The Zino Platinum Crown and Scepter series introduced the
Zino Platinum Z-Class Series. "Inspired by motion," the line was created to accompany a fast-paced affluent lifestyle, embodying ambition and opulence. The cigars are medium-to-full in body with a creamy, yet spicy character.
On Memorial Day
Alec Bradley Cigars released their
American Classic Blend selection. The cigars have a smooth, sweet and complex character that echoes the old-school feel of the early 20th century Tampa-style cigars.
Sam Leccia, who gained worldwide recognition with his
Oliva Nub cigars, announced the formation of his own company, The
Sam Leccia Cigar Co. Its first release was called "Sam's Debut," a full-flavored cigar blended with a "twist" of Nicaraguan, Honduran, Ecuadorian and Santo Domingo tobaccos. A June press release stated that The Torano Family Cigar Company would be the exclusive distributor for Sam's new enterprise.
Speaking of the Toraño Family Cigar Co., they debuted their new
Loyal cigars selection and Vault cigars at the 2011 IPCPR Show in Las Vegas. Vault cigars are made from blends found in the family’s cigar "blend book" started by Carlos Toraño, Sr. in 1982. The 30-year-old book has a record of every blend concept the Toraño family has ever worked on.
Tabacalera Perdomo launched their
Perdomo Exhibición cigars at the 2011 IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas. Called "a true testament of Tabacalera Perdomo's dedication to the art of blending factory aged tobaccos into world class premium
handmade cigars," the line is produced using only 4, 5 and 6-year barrel-aged tobaccos rolled in three different wrappers: Connecticut,
Sun-Grown and
Maduro.
General Cigar debuted the
CAO OSA Sol cigars. The line is the first new CAO cigar released since General took over distribution of the CAO catalog. The cigars get their name from the lush Olancho San Agustin wrappers from a proprietary 2008 crop.
Drew Estate released their new
Liga Undercrown cigars. The cigars were born on the company's factory floor by the best of their Liga Privada torcedors following a request that they smoke less of the cigars they were crafting. Though the core blend is similar to the original Liga Privadas, the smoke is less robust, offering an earthy, creamy, spicy character with a deliciously sweet black tobacco
finish.
Davidoff released their new
"White Edition" 2011 Belicoso Supremo cigars. Only 8,000 individually numbered boxes were distributed worldwide. The tobaccos were aged for more than five years and are rolled in savory Dominican Criollo wrappers with a Peruvian Corojo
binder.
In September, Alec Bradley Cigars released their "edgy"
Black Market cigars. Rolled in dark-cured Jalapa-grown Nicaraguan wrappers, the smoke is medium-bodied, full-flavored and complex. "We've always enjoyed making cigars that were edgy," said Alan Rubin. Two months later, ABC released their "most ambitious" cigar,
Fine & Rare. Made in limited edition in one size only, a 6 x 52
Toro, the company released only 1,111 boxes on 11-11-11. Made at Raices Cubanas, the blend consists of 10 different tobaccos!
"Cueto" (a/k/a the famous Cuban cigar roller, Jose Castelar Cairo), received his 5th Guinness World Record certificate for rolling an 81.8-meter long cigar. Though he achieved this feat during Cuba's 31st International Tourism Fair in May, the Guinness award was presented to him on Nov. 24.
Davidoff of Geneva and the Orange Bowl Committee announced a new 3-year agreement with
Camacho Cigars as a "Corporate Sponsor" of the Orange Bowl Festival. The contract included the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Discover Orange Bowls and 2013 Discover BCS National Championship. However, in a sudden turn of events, health organizations asked the NCAA and the Orange Bowl to drop Camacho Cigars as a sponsor of the event and cancel the company's three-year deal with the Bowl Committee. The reason behind the protest was that the NCAA would look like it was endorsing smoking, when athletes are supposed to be seen as role models.
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Other Trends, Odds & Ends
One of the most noticeable trends this year was a plethora of 6" x 60 cigars. A number of major manufacturers added this Gran Toro shape to a variety of lines. Alec Bradley added the GS57 to their Family Blend selection, as well as the Double T (6" x 62!) to their Prensado line. Torano Family introduced the BFC 6x60 to their Exodus 1959 50 Years selection. Among others were the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real "Magnum," while E.P.C. Cigars said they were planning on adding a 60 ring vitola to their E
lencos series.
A couple of neat new cigar cutters were introduced last year. Xikar debuted their new VX V-cutter. Like all of their cigar cutters, it's solidly made and is designed with a unique beveled blade that's ultra-sharp.
The Shuriken cigar cutter is more of a novelty, but it does the job. Modeled after the Shuriken Star used in martial arts, inside are 6 razor sharp blades set in a star p
attern. By pushing in the head of your cigar, the blades cut slits around the perimeter of the cigar's cap. The more pressure you apply, the deeper the cut. One nice advantage is it can cut cigars up to a 60 ring.
Fighting The Good Fight
Perhaps the story that got the most attention was the effort led by Glynn Loope of Cigar Rights of America, the IPCPR, and a band of leading cigar manufacturers and 
retailers who have been pushing to prevent the FDA from regulating premium handmade cigars. Two bills have been introduced. H.R. 1639 and S. 1461, the "Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act." This bi-partisan legislation would decree that premium/traditional cigars should be off limits to FDA regulation and, "to clarify the Food & Drug Administration's jurisdiction" in the "sale, manufacturing and distribution of traditional and premium cigars." With the help of cigar smokers across the country, as of this writing over 135,256 petitions have been sent to Congress. This will continue to be the biggest challenge for the industry going into 2012. Being an election year, it should prove even more interesting.
If you think I omitted anything important, please add it by leaving a comment.
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