Camacho Party, A Win or Two and Some Scary Happenings by Frank Seltzer
Camacho Launch Party
It was a hot and steamy night, but that didn’t stop Camacho from holding their national re-launch of their cigars outside in Dallas last Thursday hosted by Matt Booth of Room 101 and Mike Ditka.
According to Dylan Austin, Camacho’s marketing guy, the company started the process about 18 months ago as it looked to the brand globally. As Austin puts it, “We looked at the D-N-A of the brand to see what the brand stood for and if we were still hitting the mark. We hired a great firm out of Connecticut to help rebuild it. totally re-design the packaging while the factory we worked on tweaking the blends.”
A lot of the feedback came from smokers and retailers who felt the Corojo was not as strong as it used to be. Aystin says the cigar is the same, just other blends have gotten stronger. The new Corojo uses a 5th priming wrapper that
was used only on the Diploma and the filler has three primings instead of the old blend with two which Austin says “gives it more complexity and the overall intensity
Camacho Corojo New Look
has been dialed up.” He compares the new Corojo to the best years of the old blend. The Triple Maduro and Connecticut just have new boxes and bands the blends were not changed, but the price of the Triple Maduro will be dropping about 30%. The Diploma was completely overhauled and it was always about big and bold. Since the new Corojo has a lot of that flavor, Camacho ramped up the Diploma by adding a Ecuador Habano wrapper and had three different fillers – two ligeros, Honduran and a Dominican Navarrete and Criollo filler. The new Criollo line is the old Havana blend line with a new name and it uses some Dominican Piloto Cubano filler.
Camacho dropped the 10th anniversary line, the SLR and the Coyolar. The reason for dropping the Coyloar was that the company sold the farm, which supplied the tobacco.
She enjoys a cigar
About 400 people attended the party, and it was complete with booze, food and some smokin’ hot models, who actually DID smoke cigars.which featured Mike Ditka prominently. Da Coach not only has his own cigar line from Camacho, the newest of which is the Throwback—a limited edition cigar which Ditka says has a lot of strength and he likes it. Ditka also had his wines for sampling and some of his beef. Da Coach is a busy guy. O’d show you a picture of Ditka, but she is better looking.
The new Camachos will debut at next month’s trtade show and wil start showing up in stores in August.
A Smoking Ban Reversal
The town council of Casper, Wyoming, voted last week to change its smoking ban and sometime this week, it will be legal to once again light up in bars and private clubs.
“Most people in this town will not even notice the changes,” said Councilman Keith Goodenough, who voted in favor of the change.
Goodenough and fellow council members who supported weakening the ordinance said the ban affected only a few bars and private clubs in Casper. A number of those businesses requested the council reconsider the public smoking ban after experiencing competition from establishments in neighboring communities.
Nice to see some cities getting it. But the fight is not over because the anti’s are trying for a referendum to force the total ban back. They have the $$ so I am certain they will get the signatures they need.
100+ Supporters
Meanwhile, the Cigar Rights of America continues to gather support for the bills to keep the F-D-A out of cigar humidors. The addition of two more Senators to SB 772 brings the total on that bill to 10 co-sponsors. One of the pick-ups is Dean Heller from Nevada. Dion Giolito, owner of Illusione and FUMARE in Reno says:
“We are very pleased to have Senator Heller join the entire delegation from the State of Nevada in the U.S. House in a voice of unison telling the FDA that they should not regulate premium cigars. Without this legislation, FDA regulations would threaten the livelihood of thousands of cigar shop owners and employees throughout America, jeopardizing the very existence of this industry as we know it.”
Heller is the Junior Senator from Nevada, the Senior Senator is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who controls the agenda. Over on the House side, the legislation has 102 co-sponsors for HB 792. More work needs to be done and you need to let your Congressmen and Senators know you want the F-D-A away from cigars.
Previews of the Possible Future
IF the F-D-A gets to regulate cigars, you can bet this will happen here. First in Australia, now in Ireland the health officials are decreeing that all cigars come in plain packaging with gruesome photos and health warnings on them. Why? For the children of course.
Minister for Health James Reilly claims the move, so far only witnessed in Australia, is necessary to staunch the lure of smoking to teens, who are thought to start smoking younger in Ireland than most European countries. But Ireland’s few luxury tobacco shops say that when Montecristos and the like are shorn of their gold leafed boxes their market will be extinguished forever.
In Australia, some cigar shops are moving offshore to avoid the draconian packaging rules. Many are fighting it legally going to the World Trade Organization.
David McGrane, managing director of the 132 year-old James Fox cigar shop on Dublin’s Grafton Street, asserts that the sweeping reach of the Irish government’s new initiative is quite clouded as to the realities of the specialized cigar trade. “Cigars do not appeal to young people by their appearance, taste or pricing structure. Our typical customer is over 30, would buy one or two cigars at a time for special occasions, and doesn’t smoke cigarettes,” he told the Sunday (UK) Times on June 16.
This could happen here…and worse. Join the fight with the CRA.
