Sunday, March 22 2009
"Let's just say the
wrapper is going to be a
Sumatra from Rocky's special stash."
That's about all the information available from Sam Phillips, the director of marketing for Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, about the fourth Rocky Patel seasonal cigar, the Spring Collection, due out in six to eight weeks.
"We're looking at a little over 4,000 boxes (of 20) in three different sizes," Phillips noted. "It's medium-bodied and well balanced." The sizes will be a robusto (probably 5 inches by 52 ring), a toro (6 x 52) and torpedo (6 x 52), with something more than 80,000 cigars produced in total.
Although a limited-production program, the seasonal cigars – which started with the "Summer Collection" in 2008 – "have exceeded all expectations" according to Phillips. "The Summer and Autumn Collections were very nice and sold well," he said, "but the Winter Collection was just explosive.
"People just fell in love with; it was a serious powerhouse and it was gone real fast." A maduro wrapper was promised for the Winter Collection, but the finished cigar actually featured a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, combined with Nicaraguan-grown binder and filler leaves.
Could it become a part of the regular Rocky Patel line, as the ultra-popular Avo 75 limited-edition was turned into the standard-production Avo Signature Series? "You never know," said Phillips. "With Rocky, the wheels are always turning."
>> "Who would have thought the Castro brothers would outlive the Soviet Union and eight U.S. presidencies, and be able to hijack a culture and people for five decades?"
That's Charlie Torano, president of the fourth-generation Torano family's premium tobacco and cigar business, Torano Cigars. He and his father, Carlos, Jr. are at the start of a 35-city tour of major smokeshops nationwide to introduce their newest bland, Exodus 50 Years.
"We created our Exodus line of premium cigars to remind smokers of the hardship inflicted by Cuba's Marxist communist regime, especially its exile of the world-renowned tobacco and cigar families, including ours," noted Charlie. "As expatriated Cubans, we have triumphed both as a people and as creators of a new cigar industry in the different countries where we all settled. That triumph is worth celebrating and we do so in our new cigar for 2009 . . .Exodus 50 Years."
There are some lucky smokers who have already tried the new Exodus 50, although they may not have realized it at the time. The recently-introduced "Exodus Selección Exclusiva" five-cigar sampler includes two unique shapes each of the Exodus 1959 and Exodus 1959 Silver brands, but also a magnificent 7 1/4-inch by 57-ring Salomon that actually features the new Exodus 50 Years blend. It is banded exactly as the factory sent it to the Toranos, as one of the numerous sample blends, wearing a plain white band, hand-written with the coded designation of its brand and blend – Exodus Liga 3-H.
The Torano's "Our Roots Run Deep Tour" began on Sunday, March 23rd at Cigar Haven, in Fishers, Indiana. It will continue into the summer with more details available on the Torano Web site. Charlie Torano noted that "My father and I are covering separate venues, criss-crossing almost the entire 48 states, visiting Torano retailers we recognize as loyal supporters.
"We intend to break out of what have become hum-drum smokeshop events. The theme will be the Cuban life, and we'll provide Cuban music, along with authentic Cuban food and libations. Zaya Gran Reserva 12-year-old estate rum will be featured, an added bonus for lovers of fine aged rum and Cuba Libres. My father and I will be very active in the marketplace, looking for 'one-on-one' time with retailers and smokers, telling our story through our cigars . . . the Exodus 50 Years being the latest."
To accompany the new Exodus 50 Years blend, new accessories will also debut, including Torano-designed travel cigar cases, ashtrays, and apparel, which smokers will receive as gifts with purchases. In addition, Felipe Sosa, a veteran of ten years of rolling experience with the Toranos, will be making cigars that we blended exclusively for the Tour, and that won't be found anywhere else.
>> On a tour of the Tabacalera de Garcia factory just before the 2008 ProCigar Festival, a welcome sight was a series of rollers hard at work making not-yet-introduced perfectos.
The blend was the increasingly popular Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real brand and two perfecto-shaped cigars were introduced in the summer of 2008: the short 4 1/2-inch by 46-ring Love Story and the heftier 5 3/4-inch by 52-ring Figurado. Both were an instant hit with smokers.
That was good news for Altadis U.S.A., and it wasn't long before these new shapes were nominated to be made in the Romeo y Julieta 1875 blend, reported to be the no. 2-selling brand in the United States. They went on sale in February 1.
They expand an already-wide line of Romeo y Julieta 1875 shapes from 16 to 18, but are the first perfectos. There are now seven straight-sided Romeo 1875 shapes in cigars, six more straight-sided shapes in tubes (glass or aluminum) and three torpedoes (two in tubes), plus the two new perfectos. Both are offered in boxes of 25.
- 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.
