Archive for the ‘Frank Seltzer’ Category

Pro Cigar and Birthday by Frank Seltzer

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

Hangover Helper

 

The week-long Pro Cigar 2013 is over.  Wow what a time it was.  I am not saying anything about the amount of alcohol served during this period but at Corporacion Cigar Export (the home of Augusto Reyes) they had a very special set up for the morning tour….and many people took advantage. (I am not saying who, but you know who you are….and the Bloody Marys were very good.)

While on the subject of Corporation Cigar Export, they do something unique here, the rollers are on salary rather than being paid per piece.  The company believes it gets better results from the rollers this way.

Debonaire

Also, next door is a retreat called Debonaire House much like the Drew Estate Cigar Safari, with the exception that it is much more upscale and intimate.  Some of the rooms are suites and the chef came from New Orleans.  What a nice place for lunch…and I can imagine dinner.

At MATASA in the afternoon, after the tour, Michael Herklots passed out three blends for a new Nat Sherman cigar that the Quesadas are working on.  Herklots used the time for a focus group on the blend, packaging and price for this limited edition, which should hit by the summer trade show.

The White Dinner at the monument in the center of Santiago, is always a special treat.  You overlook the whole city while having a fine dinner.  We were given another pack of cigars, the La Gloria Cubana Rabito as I mentioned before (although it was called Special Blend ADP6) and a Don Carlos Robusto.  We also got the 2012 Limited Edition from EPC and a Davidoff Master Edition.  (Some very nice cigars.)

One Cigar per Day

Friday brought a tour of La Aurora—the oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. Well this factory is not old in fact it is very modern, rather it is the company which began in 1903.  Often people want to take tours of cigar factories and La Aurora used to have a replica factory where it made Preferidos over at Centro Leon.  That factory is gone, and now, the company is opening up its factory to anyone. (If you want a tour, just call them  809-734-2563 and note the usual tour guide only smokes one cigar a day…but it is a 16 inch 1495. ) The biggest addition is a new company store where you can actually purchase La Aurora products and accessories.  The tour of the facility includes everything from the highest end hand rolled cigars to less expensive machine mades (Tatiana flavored cigars some of Altria’s Black and Milds are being made here).

La Aurora is the dominant cigar seller in the Dominican Republic and one of its top sellers it the Principe which is a value brand.

This year also marks another milestone for La Aurora.  3 years ago, the company released the La Aurora 107 to mark that anniversary, and this year, I think I like this better. The company had Dominican rum maker Barcelo come up with a very special 8 year old rum just for La Aurora…the La Aurora 110 Rum.  This rum has the touch of sweetness you expect from Barcelo, but more overtones of vanilla, chocolate and even a bit of orange.  The president of Barcelo—Jose Alberto Garcia- showed us a little trick to drinking this special rum.  Add 3 whole coffee beans and then let the rum warm up for a few minutes.  The coffee beans do not affect the taste per se, instead they add to the aroma and add a hint of coffee to the aftertaste.  It was very unusual and delightful.  The company is only making 3,000 bottles a year—those of us attending the La Aurora tour were presented with one. (If you visit the La Aurora tour gift shop, you can buy one, provided they have not sold out…only 15 bottles a month will be sold.)

Yuri Guillen at Centro Espana

 

The festival wrapped up Friday night with its Gala Dinner and party at the Centro Espana.  Dinner was terrific and the gala raised nearly $70,000 for Voluntariado de Jesús con los Niños –a non-profit organization to help sick children– and the Sociedad San Vicente de Paul — a retirement home for low income seniors.    Can’t wait until next year.

Happy Birthday Rocky

 

Today is Rocky Patel’s birthday. (Mine is tomorrow)  Today Rocky is marking his 51st year and to celebrate, he is coming out with a new cigar the ..well the name is Roman Numerals for 2/26 which would look like IIXXVI.  According to the birthday boy himself,

“ We decided to make a cigar for my 51st birthday and the box is a gorgeous lacquered box all white with simple black lettering and roman numerals which spell out 2/26/61.  It is a pretty full-bodied cigar made out of our Nicaraguan factory and it has a broadleaf wrapper and it has Nicaraguan fillers and one leaf from Jamastran and I consider the cigar medium to full very rich.  Price is 12.50 and should come out around March 15. “

Rocky also says they are working on a fuller bodied Xen from his brother Nish which will be out a little later.

 

Pro Cigar Continues (New Cigars and New Digs) by Frank Seltzer

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013

Yesterday’s post was actually written before we arrived in Santiago…I admit I was cheating but with the Internet here you never know.  On the flight from Miami on Sunday, I spoke with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo who confirmed he was making a new cigar for Crowned Heads.  This is the Nashville-based company co-founded by Jon Huber formerly with CAO.  The cigar will be the J.D.Howard Reserve, who is better known by his alias of Jesse James.  According to Greg Mottola at Cigar Aficionado, Huber says Howard used to live in Nashville and he was intrigued.  The new cigar will come in 5 sizes but the price and boxes and bands have yet to be finalized.  The cigar should be ready for the industry trade show this summer.

Food and Beer in Santiago

So upon arrival in Santiago we met with Manolo Quesada who took us to a new beer bar (VinoBeber) which served an amazing selection, and had a nice outdoor smoking area.  The beer that impressed us the most was the Dogfish Head Miles Davis Bitches Brew (made at a small brewery in Milton, Delaware).  Released in 2010 to mark the 40th anniversary of Davis’s landmark album Bitches Brew,  it is an Imperial Stout mixed with a Honey Beer.  Amazing flavors as it warms up.  Who would have thought you come to Santiago to get a small han- crafted American beer. We also discovered a new restaurant not far from the hotel called La Comai (not sure of the spelling) but they served a full pound of Mofongo with fantastic Chicharrones for about 6 bucks…and it is probably the best Mofongo I have ever had.

On Monday, Manolo took us to his new factory in Licey.  I say new because they moved in a year ago, and since I was forced to cancel last year’s trip.

The factory has plenty of room now, compared to the original MATASA factory in the free trade zone.  I will officially tour the place later this week and will report more about it then.  On Tuesday night, about 60 people who spent the first couple of days at Casa de Campo in La Romana for the official start of the festival made the 5 hour bus ride to Santiago. A total of 250 people are signed up for the festival. At La Romana the participants spent a day golfing, or on the beach on Monday and then Tuesday morning they toured Tabacalera de Garcia—home to Altadis USA.

Fonseca Cubano Exclusivo

At Pro Cigar, a few of the factories often introduce new cigars and this year is no exception.  The Quesadas are unveiling their new Fonseca Cubano Exclusivo.  For years, the Fonseca brand has been on the mild end of the cigar spectrum.  The primary exception was the Cubana Limitada which had much more strength for the advanced smoker’s palate.  This new Fonseca is a middle ground for the brand.

While in the mild to medium range, it presents a fuller flavor so it is approachable for the novice while delivering a lot of taste for the more serious smoker.  Using Dominican HVA (Havana Vuelta Arriba) wrapper over a Dominican binder and Connecticut broadleaf, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers.  The cigar will ship next month in four sizes, Robusto (5.5” x 52), Corona Gorda (6 x 46), Belicoso (6.5” x 52) and Gordo (6.5”x 60).  The prices have yet to be determined.

New Digs

Litto Gomez

For Litto Gomez at La Flor Dominicana one of the newest members of Pro Cigar, his mind has not been on the festival.  Instead Litto has been working on a major expansion of his factory in Tamboril.  About 3 months ago, he was able to acquire the land next door to the factory and in that short period he was able to clear the land and construct new buildings giving him a lot more space.  Now, La Flor Dominicana has room for its tobacco storage (although not all of the tobacco is here some remains in a warehouse).  Litto has been concerned not only with the physical aspects of the construction, but also the aesthetics.  The results are beautiful.

His new expanded factory also has much more room for the rollers who now are producing about 3 million cigars a year.  Litto says once the construction is totally complete, he will focus on new cigars for this year…but he admits that his big push will come NEXT year when La Flor Dominicana turns 20.

Pro Cigar Underway by Frank Seltzer

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

 

Pro Cigar 2013

Well the big cigar party in the Dominican Republic is underway.  It began over the weekend in La Romana where participants came in to begin the week long smoke event and today will tour Tabacalera de Garcia—Altadis USA’s huge factory that makes Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo and others.

The annual festival, now in its 6th year, is a chance for cigar smokers to visit the factories, fields and generally hang out with some of your favorite cigar makers.

Pro Cigar is the Dominican group that represents all the major cigar manufacturers on the island. It works to promote the Dominican Republic as Cigar Country making the finest cigars in the world, as well as working on issues that would affect the business. I say all because just a week ago it was announced that Litto Gomez and Ernesto Perez Carrillo have joined the organization.

This means that the trade group represents Altadis USA with its above named brands and factory, General Cigar (maker of Macanudo, Cohiba and La Gloria Cubana among others), La Aurora (maker of La Aurora, Leon Jimenes and Guillermo Leon), MATASA (maker of the Quesada lines and Fonseca), Tabadom Holdings (maker of Davidoff, Zino and Avo), Tabacalera  A. Fuente y Cia (Fuente, Opus X),Tabaquisa (Juan Clemente), Corporacion Cigar Export ( Augusto Reyes) and now La Flor Dominicana and EPC Cigars.

The fun in Santiago kicks off tonight and then continues to build until the big gala dinner on Friday.  We’ll bring you further reports on this.

Diplomatic Help

No doubt Pro Cigar was a big factor in letters that were sent to the FDA, State Department and White House from the ambassadors of the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua warning about the damage to their respective economies should the FDA begin to regulate cigars.

The letter says

“If history is any precedent, some of the regulations that could be imposed by the agency would prove disastrous to the centuries old cigar industry that provides more than 350,000 jobs among our three nations, and represents millions of dollars in export revenue. No regulatory measure should threaten such jobs, and hence raise the specter of political and economic consequences within our region.”

Whether anyone at the FDA can read is another matter.

FDA Will Rule

It was the present delivered to anti tobacco advocates right before Christmas…the administration’s Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan…it covered everything from workplace safety to you got it tobacco regulation.  On December 21, the FDA indicated it would issue rules by April subjecting additional tobacco products to its control.  According to Troutman Sanders law firm:

What is clear is that while the FDA has not issued a specific proposal to regulate cigars, pipe tobacco, electronic cigarettes or other tobacco products, it has indicated it intends to take some action. This proposed rule seems to lay the foundation for the FDA to take that action. What is also clear, is that the Obama Administration continues to place tobacco regulation as one of its priorities for the next four years.

And that could be a major problem for cigar makers.  Even Roll Call agrees that something is coming up soon.  But of course moronic democrats like California’s Henry Waxman are pushing the FDA hard on tobacco…including cigars because, you know, it is for the children.

 “I’m pleased to see the FDA has begun to enforce the law. I continue to call on them to take forceful action to protect the public health with the authority given to them,” Waxman said in a statement. “We need to take action to stop tobacco companies from exploiting loopholes and continuing to addict youth.”

Yeah like banning flavoring in tobacco except the most popular one…menthol cuz the President smokes that.  Right.  Hypocrite.

New Bill

IPCPR announced that on Friday the 15th, a new bill was introduced in Congress to protect premium cigars. There were 12 co-sponsors initially this time…

Reps. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Kathy Castor (D-FL) introduced H.R. 792, the ‘‘Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2013.” This legislation is a crucial step forward in protecting the premium cigar retail industry from undue regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aiming “[t]o amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify the Food and Drug Administration’s jurisdiction over certain tobacco products, and to protect jobs and small businesses involved in the sale, manufacturing and distribution of traditional and premium cigars”.

We had a lot of co-sponsors last time (221) but need more to get it through.  As Rocky Patel told me last weekend in Hawaii, after spending the week in Washington, because of some language changes, “I think we are going to get a lot of momentum.  We have not lost one congressman as sponsor from the last session and we are going to pick more up.  We are making a real push this year and want to get about 300 sponsors,  At that point we can attach to bill to a vehicle that will move through Congress.”

Let your voice be heard! Contact your legislator here and urge them to support H.R. 792!

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