Thursday, September 07 2006
What's a half-smoked Roi-Tan worth these days?
Plenty if it was smoked by Elvis Presley and personally given to a famed Presley memorabilia collector!
That's why a half-smoked, tipped Roi-Tan, complete with a photo of a young Presley smoking the cigar in 1972 evoked some wild bidding on eBay last week. The item drew 10 bids and finally sold for a stunning $456! Never underestimate the power of The King!
The seller was the famed Elvis memorabilia hound Robin Rosaaen, who received it from Presley during a visit in October 1972 to his home on Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills, California.
When Davidoffs were made only in Cuba and Oettinger Imex, owners of the Davidoff brand, wanted to earn a share of the vast U.S. cigar market, they introduced the Zino brand in 1978.
Made in Honduras, there were eventually three lines: Gold Label, Connoisseur and Mouton-Cadet, the latter in cooperation with the Rothschild family. Once the Davidoff brand moved to the Dominican Republic in 1990, the importance of the Zino brand faded and the original series was first overshadowed by the Zino Platinum Crown and Platinum Scepter series started in 2003 and finally eliminated early this year.
But Zino is hardly dead and the Zino Classic line quite similar in style to the original Gold Label line is now available. Made in the Dominican Republic, there are six sizes, five of which are numbered like the old Mouton-Cadet line.
Called the "Honduran Blend," the new Zino series featured Honduran-grown tobaccos from the Jamastran Valley, along with a little Dominican filler leaf and an Ecuadorian wrapper for a medium-to-full-bodied taste. Priced at $5.20 to $8.70 each before local tobacco taxes, it offers a reasonably-priced, premium smoke in the Davidoff style . . . but at a price that puts you on a first-name basis with Zino!
Altadis S.A. reported steady first-half earnings for 2006 while weathering a big decline in the cigarette sector due to changes in tax rates in its home market of Spain. This meant that cigars were the highest-margin item in the Altadis portfolio so far this year.
Cigar sales reached 450 million Euro (about $579 million), with 57% (about $330 million) from Altadis U.S.A. and 15% (about $86.8 million) from Altadis's 50% share of Habanos S.A. European sales of non- Havana cigars brought in $92.6 million (about 16%).
That's an increase in year-over-year sales for Altadis U.S.A. of 10.3%, led by its Dutch Masters and Backwoods machine-made cigars (featuring natural wrappers) and Romeo y Julieta handmade line in the premium division. Havana cigar sales increased 7.6% in dollar terms and worldwide Havana sales revenues were about $173.6 million.
Above all, cigars were very profitable. The profit margins for the entire Altadis cigar business improved to 31.6% and the division's operating profits were up to 142 million Euro ($182.7 million U.S.) for 2006, a jump of more than 30% from the first six months of 2005.
Overall, Altadis did fine with first-half revenues actually up 0.1% from 2005 at 6.15 billion Euro (about $7.92 billion U.S.) and sales were down just 0.6%. Net income before depreciation, amortization and income taxes (EBITDA) was solid at 550.4 million Euro ($708.2 million U.S.), down just 1%.
Short fillers: Fittipaldi cigars will now be distributed by the highly-respected Arango Cigar Company of Northbrook, Illinois, a boost for the four-blend line which was introduced in 1997 by legendary Brazilian racing car driver Emerson Fittipaldi . . . General Cigar's lounge area featuring nearly a dozen of its top brands was the popular feature of a special preview of two new Rolls-Royce designs held at the posh Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in late August. Even in anti-tobacco California, attendees made a beeline to the cigar table and smoked through more than 600 cigars in the first two hours of the event . . . find our latest tasting review, of current versions of old Cuban brands: La Perla Habana (and Black Pearl), La Flor de Ynclan and La Vencedora, in our News & Views archives.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company.
Copyright 2006; All rights reserved.
