Monday, October 29 2007
How many times have you read about a cigar, or seen a
box labeled "Reserve" or "Private Reserve" or even "Limited Edition" and thought, "who are they kidding?"
C.A.O. has a slightly different idea, however, in announcing a special program of humidors containing 105 C.A.O. Gold Maduro cigars recently introduced to the market. The company has been running a continuing tasting at its Nashville headquarters and created a special, humidified room called the Escaparate, meaning "showcase" in Spanish.
It uses the room to test new cigars with visitors and experiment with different blends. The initial test program started in 2004 included 11 "Concept Series" blends and the Escaparate has grown to about 400,000 prototype cigars in storage. Of the original experimental group, the Gold Maduro did so well with visitors that C.A.O. decided to release it as a regular-production line earlier this year.
Thus, it doesn't need the Gold Maduro test cigars in the test chamber any more and 200 humidors containing 105 Gold Maduro cigars each (21,000 total) are being sold through retailers beginning in November. Each humidor will have a mix of the six shapes in the line: Corona (5 1/2 x 42), Robusto (5 x 50), Corona Gorda (6 1/2 x 50), Churchill (7 x 48), Torpedo (6 1/4 x 52) and Double Corona (7 1/2 x 54).
>> European Union regulators approved the Imperial Tobacco acquisition of Altadis, S.A., with some conditions, on October 18. The deal is currently valued at $22.3 billion, but E.U. officials said that because the combined companies would have too high a market shade in some categories in a few countries, some changes will be required. Imperial agreed to sell some brands to alleviate these issues, identified as roll-your-own tobacco sold in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain; pipe tobacco sold in Finland and France and cigars sold in Greece.
The next approval needed for the transaction to move forward must come from the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), the Spanish securities oversight agency and this is expected fairly soon.
>> Although you may never have heard of the Paul Bugge Cigar Academy, German cigar retailers have. In the new issue of the European Cigar-Cult Journal, Norbert Holdke and son Daniel set up the Academy "which is supplying a maximum of information to the tobacconist, trains the personnel and also supports events," according to Daniel.
"Furthermore, we are trying to set up direct contact between the specialized trade and producers. For example, subsequent to the Inter-Tabac, Garo Bouldoukian will be accompanying us on numerous visits all over Germany. This is how consumers also learn to know the faces and the stories behind the products."
And this is how American boutique brands like Garo, Cusano, the flavored Heaven line, the popular Padilla and Oliveros brands are being introduced to German smokers. Already, Garo has made significant strides in Europe as a well-made, full-flavored and much less expensive alternative to Havana cigars.
Reporter Colin Ganley noted that a survey of cigar-smoking countries in Europe favored U.S. brands such as Arturo Fuente, Ashton and, of course, Davidoff, with fairly wide availability with smaller brands such as C.A.O. increasing in availability. He notes a new push by Rocky Patel Premium Cigars "entering the Chinese, Hong Kong and South Korean markets in the next three months," as well as expansion plans for Asia for the hot Oliva lines.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Reprinted by permission. "Heard in the Humidor" is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2007; All rights reserved.
