Posted on: August 27, 2020 By: Cigar Journal Oliva Cigars will be printing a QR-code on each of its Serie V Melanio cigar boxes. Anyone who scans such a code will find detailed background information about that particular cigar, as CEO Cory Bappert explains. “For example, we pinpoint the factory where the cigar was rolled and what tobacco was used for it. And we also identify the Bonchero and the Rolero. The Bonchero handles the first step before the cigar gets rolled, while the Rolero makes sure that the wrapper is rolled around the cigar.” Videos of their factories are also…
Author: MylesK
Posted on: AUGUST 24, 2020 By: CHARLIE MINATO Along with roughly a dozen cigars going on “hiatus,” Tatuaje has announced three new vitolas for its L’Atelier Selection Spéciale line. Later this fall, the company will add the three original LAT sizes to the Selection Spéciale brand: L’Atelier LAT52 Selection Spéciale (4 3/4 x 52) L’Atelier LAT54 Selection Spéciale (5 5/8 x 54) L’Atelier LAT56 Selection Spéciale (6 1/2 x 56) Read more…
Posted on Jul 27, 2020 By David Savona The cigar world was long dominated by the robusto, the short, plump size that has been the most popular for roughly the past quarter century. But there’s a new king in the cigar world, and it’s the toro. In our latest Cigar Insider survey of cigar shops across the United States, a commanding 51.7 percent of retailers named the toro (also known as a corona gorda) as their best-selling size, compared to a mere 24.1 percent for the robusto. In last year’s survey, robustos ranked No. 1. As toros are essentially slightly longer, slightly fatter robustos, consumers…
Posted on: June 17, 2020 By: MacDonald Dzirutwe A newly established Zimbabwean company has started making cigars for export, aiming to take on established players while developing a culture of cigar smoking at home. Mosi-Oa-Tunya, the local name for Victoria Falls which means “the smoke that thunders”, is the first firm to make cigars in the southern African nation whose economic troubles have been compounded by the new coronavius pandemic. After living and working in the United States for 15 years, Shep Mafundikwa returned home last year to set up Mosi-Oa-Tunya. Since March, an all-women staff has been undergoing on-the-job…
Posted on: June 5, 2020 By CA Editors Many of the world’s handmade cigar factories were forced to shut down during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. Today, most have reopened their doors, and cigars are once again flowing into distribution channels. The factories aren’t the same as they were before, however, and many have instituted changes to keep their workers safe as the virus continues to be felt around the globe, having claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. To find out what’s going on around the cigar-producing world, we spoke to a host of cigarmakers, covering factories from Santiago to Estelí,…
Posted on: May 21, 2020 By Gregory Mottola When businesses re-open in Montreal, cigar lovers are going to have one less place to buy their Cubans. The La Casa del Habano, located on Sherbrooke Street West, will be selling its last smoke on May 31. In business for nearly 25 years, the 2,000-square-foot Casa opened its doors in 1996, providing the city of Montreal with almost every Cuban cigar brand, major and minor (save for Punch, which is not for sale legally in Canada due to a trademark issue). Although Canada is one of the most expensive markets in the…
Posted on APRIL 27, 2020 By CHARLIE MINATO Imperial Brands, plc has announced that it has a deal in place to sell its premium cigar assets for €1.225 billion ($1.33 billion) in two stages. Little is known about the buyers—Gemstone Investment Holding Ltd and Allied Cigar Corporation S.L., two companies that appear to be holding companies created for this deal—but it is expected that the current management teams will remain in their positions. Imperial hasn’t explained why the deal needs to happen in two separate transactions, but the buyer is believed to be one group. Gemstone Investment Holding Ltd will buy…
Posted on: MARCH 31, 2020 By: CHARLIE MINATO As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, the number of Nicaraguan cigar factories suspending full operations continues to grow, and as of midday on Tuesday, the number of closures has reached double digits. Note: This article was originally published on March 27, the list of closures continues to be updated but the rest of the article remains as it was written originally. Factories including Tabacalera Aragon S.A. and Mombacho Cigars’ Casa Favilli began announcing closures last week. On Monday, Drew Estate, the country’s largest factory, announced that it would be implementing an extended closure due to…
Posted on: March 17, 2020 By: Gregory Mottola With now 12 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, Honduras isn’t taking any chances. On Tuesday, March 17, it imposed a seven-day shutdown on nonessential business, and that includes cigar factories. The shutdown means a halt to production for the third-leading exporter of premium cigars to the United States, a nation that ships 60 to 70 million handmade cigars a year to the U.S. Honduras also ordered all borders (air, land and sea) to be closed for a week. “In Honduras, the government ordered all companies to close for seven days,” said Nestor Andrés…
Mar 23, 2020 By Peter Kornbluh Cuba will close its borders to international tourism and non-resident visitors for at least a month, Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel announced on March 20. Cuban residents and foreigners who live on the island will still be allowed to enter Cuba, but would have to undergo a 14-day quarantine period in special facilities upon arrival. The new border-control regulations go into effect tomorrow, on March 24. In addition, some 60,000 tourists already on the island would be leaving in the coming days, Cuban authorities said. “This should enable us to stop [importing virus] cases and…