Heard in the Humidor: April 21-27, 2008

LOS ANGELES – There was a time when Mexico’s Te-Amo brand was one of the largest-selling cigars in the U.S. That time has passed, but not for a lack of effort by the Turrent family, now in its sixth generation in tobacco and still hard at work in the San Andres Valley.

Profiled in the trade journal Smokeshop, Alberto Turrent IV noted that the first Alberto Turrent came to Mexico from Spain back in 1880 to grow tobacco, but the region’s famous cigars didn’t show up for another 80 years.

Wrote story author William Kaliher: "Turrent IV took over the company in 1960 at a time when most Mexican tobacco was shipped to Europe. In 1964, he started exporting cigars, targeting the American market which was still adjusting to the loss of embargoed Cuban cigars. Turrent’s Te-Amo brand would go on to become a market-leading blockbuster." Among its other claims to fame, Te-Amo was the brand that helped to popularize the now-essential Toro format – originally called No. 19 – of six inches and 50-ring gauge.

Turrent is especially attentive to his tobacco farms, with about 1,500 acres being seeded annually and producing wrapper, binder and filler. "We have the same conditions as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua," he said, "but World War II finished most of the Mexican tobacco growers. Almost all of the tobacco had been shipped to Europe, but the war ended that export business. Most cigar factories folded and the owners turned to bananas for export to the United States. Only five or six families survived in the production of tobacco."

Today, the Nueva Matacapan Tabacos – that’s the factory name – produces up to six million cigars per year and sells worldwide, although U.S. premium imports have slid from a high of 25 million in 1997 to 1.7 million in 2007.

That hasn’t stopped Turrent and his team from introducing new blends, almost always created from exclusively Mexican-grown tobaccos. But in 2007, a totally new style of cigar was introduced, called the Te-Amo World Selection. There are three different blends: Dominicana, with a Connecticut Shade wrapper, Mexican binder and Mexican and Dominican filler; Honduras Blend, with a Mexican wrapper, Mexican binder and Mexican and Honduran filler; and Nicaragua Blend, with Mexican wrapper, binder and Mexican and Nicaraguan filler. It’s a new concept, and time will tell how well it will be accepted. But it shows a willingness to work outside the traditional boundaries of the Mexican cigar industry, and that has to be good for the future.

>> Cigars are indisputably part of the lives of many servicemen – and perhaps some servicewomen as well – serving the U.S. overseas. Altadis U.S.A. has launched a program to try to make sure they are well supplied. A new program called "Operation Cigars for Troops" is being started nationwide at retail tobacconists, with a planned 50,000 or more free cigars to be sent to American military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the company, "The effort works as follows: consumers purchase one or more of the ‘Operation Cigars for Troops’ four-packs specially designed for the event. They pay for three cigars and receive the fourth free. For each four-pack sold, Altadis U.S.A. sends a free cigar to the troops overseas." The brand and sizes included in the promotion are some of the most popular in the Altadis U.S.A. lineup: H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon Toro (6 inches by 54 ring), Montecristo White Rothchilde (5 x 52) and Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Belicoso (6 1/8 x 52).

>> Short fillers: The annual tobacco festival in Candon City, Philippines finished last week with the production and parade of a 100-meter long (about 331 feet) cigar! News reports indicated that the cigar was rolled by 10 women from the Bugnay Village. It was 3 1/3 inches in diameter – about 215 ring gauge – and weighed about 727 pounds! It cost 12,000 Philippine pesos to make, or about $289 U.S. and was brought through the town by 150 City Hall employees. It’s not a cigar in the traditional sense, since it’s not smokable, but it was quite a stunt to promote Candon City and its primary product, which is Virginia tobacco. "We just want something to highlight our city," said Candon Mayor Allen G. Singson. The 101-meter cigar follows up on the two 50-meter-long (165 foot) cigars made during the Festival in 2006, but no filing was made for a Guinness certification as a "world record." . . . Find our latest tasting review, of new blends from Jesus Fuego and Luis Falto, in our News & Views archives for April 18.

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Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2008; All rights reserved.

Rich Perelman

4/21/08

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