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  More Than a Cigar
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  Catching It All
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  The Ultimate Cigar Aficionado
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Cigar News

Published in: December 1, 1994

Published Winter 1994

Anti-Cuban Cigar Campaign

If you have been buying Cuban cigars from an American tobacconist, get ready for him to be put out of business. Consolidated Cigar Corp. which owns the trademark rights on Montecristo, H. Upmann, Por Larrañaga, La Corona, Santa Damiana and Henry Clay brands, is preparing a campaign to search out and "follow all available recourse" against any U.S. vendors who import or sell Cuban cigars with those trademarks.

Here is an excerpt from a letter sent to tobacco retailers and published in the tobacco trade journals:

"Over the years, Consolidated Cigar has made a significant investment in promoting these trademarks. That investment has, since its inception, been threatened by illicit trade in Cuban-made cigars sold under some of these brands, most notably Montecristo. Significantly, such illicit trade is in violation of Consolidated Cigar's rights under U.S. trademark law. Until now, except in the most flagrant cases, Consolidated Cigar has pursued violations of its trademark rights by gentle persuasion.

At this time, however, the cumulative level of such illicit trade dictates that Consolidated Cigar take more active steps to protect its trademark rights. This might force us into some unpleasant and unwanted conflicts with valued customers. We certainly do not want this to happen, but we must take action to protect Consolidated Cigar's rights and those of our partners and investors."

New Factories

The huge upturn in demand for premium, handrolled cigars is having the expected effect: two new factories.

Arturo Fuente in Santiago, Dominican Republic, is about ready to start up a new factory in the duty-free zone there. The new facility will have the largest rolling gallery in any of the Fuente factories and should boost their annual production capabilities to 25 million cigars or more. They expect to produce more than 20 million in 1994.

Nestor Plasencia, who makes Bering cigars and many other brands in Danlí, Honduras, is developing a new factory in Ocotal in northern Nicaragua. The factory is near an agricultural zone where Plasencia has been growing tobacco.

New Honduran Cigars

First there was Encanto from the Tabacos Santa Rosa in Copan, Honduras. Now, U.S. Tobacco International, currently the manufacturers of Don Tomas, is going to launch a new cigar in January called the Astral. A superpremium cigar with a price range of $7 to $10, it will be distributed in the United States and around the world.

Crop Reports

The 1994 Connecticut-shade-wrapper crop, according to industry sources, was a winner this year. The leaves were large and the weather was uniformly favorable to a big crop of high quality. That's good news for every manufacturer who is caught in the bind of high demand and low supplies of quality tobacco leaf.

A Cubatabaco official says that a recent heavy tropical storm that dropped a large quantity of rain on tobacco-seed beds in the Vuelta Abajo growing region did no long-term damage. The official said there was more than enough time to recover from whatever minor problems had been caused by the downpour before the growing season started in the fall. The official also said that the state-owned tobacco organization has plenty of fertilizer and tarpulin to use in the upcoming season. He said that he expects an excellent crop.