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WHO’S AFRAID OF THE DARK?

The phobia over dark wrappers

Los Angeles, September 29 – Some people are scared of the dark. Especially of dark cigars.

Looking at a thick-ring-gauge cigar with a dark, maduro wrapper sends most people into a panic with thoughts of burnt tongues and mutilated taste buds to follow. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Exhibit A is the C.A.O. Mx2, a Nicaraguan-made giant introduced in 2003, offering three sizes with ring gauges from 52 to 56 and lengths from five to seven inches. The blend interestingly features a dark Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper and a maduro binder, grown in Brazil and a four-nation filler blend. The unusual double maduro layers contribute to the brand’s fierce appearance.

Wrong!

The Mx2 is a medium-bodied blend which focuses on the sweetness of the maduro wrapper and binder. Beyond the initial sweet flavor is an almost buttery finish, well-measured and clearly secondary to the double-maduro layers. The flavor profile calms to a modest, toasty sweetness in mid-course.

It’s an enjoyable cigar, almost demure in its characteristics compared to its appearance. Its suave taste and easy draw completely belie its large size, near-black wrapper and the enormous, black-and-silver band.

The Series 55 and Bohemian lines from Victor Sinclair are the leading examples of absolutely jet-black, “oscuro” wrappers, but neither brand will bite you like, say, a Camacho Corojo Churchill on an empty stomach! They’ll cause more panic among people watching you smoke them than you’ll ever feel while enjoying these beauties.

So don’t be afraid of the dark when it comes to cigars. As the saying goes, “Black is beautiful.”

From Russia With Love:
The brilliant, Russian sterling silver cigar box produced in 1896 was sold yesterday on eBay, drawing a remarkable 21 bids and a final price of $3,000. Offered by a dealer in Jupiter, Florida, it was purchased by a British collector.

Pictured above, it weighs a little more than a pound and was engraved to look like a branded box of Havana cigars complete with Russian tax labels. A beauty.

From the Cubador:
There’s an interesting fuss going on in the U.S. Senate over trademarks and Cuba which could have some impact on cigars.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is taking up S. 2373, a bill which would apparently give the Bahamas-based Bacardi Rum folks the right to market a rum with the name “Havana Club” in the U.S. Its backers say it protects the owners of trademarks confiscated by the Castro government during its reign since 1959.

The issue has arisen because of a problem with U.S. trademark laws with the World Trade Organization, which is demanding that a U.S. law passed in 1999 be repealed to bring American statues into conformity with the organization’s rules. There is another bill in the Senate hopper, S. 2002, which is considered less offensive and would repeal the offending section.

But the head of the Cuban Interest Section in the U.S., Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, has taken the unusual step of opposing S. 2373 in a letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He notes that while the U.S. is not currently in compliance with WTO rules on this issue, Cuban courts have continued to protect more than 5,000 U.S.-held trademarks.

The clear inference, say experts quoted in the Washington, D.C.-based Congressional newspaper The Hill is that anything other than a repeal of the current offending section will likely result in an attack on U.S. marks on Cuba.

The result will be a considerable mess – and millions in legal fees – in Cuba whenever the U.S. trade embargo is lifted, for the trademark owners such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola to retrieve their ownership rights. Business groups are lobbying for a simple repeal of the offending laws and against passage of either S. 2373 or S. 2002.

As Cuba nationalized its cigar industry in 1960, it’s hard to imagine that cigar interests are at issue here. However, the overall issue of trademark protection will be a key issue at some time in the future when the embargo ends and the sale of Cuban tobacco products will be at the heart of future discussions which will also entail how and when American goods such as Levi’s and Maytag washing machines will be able to be sold in Cuba. Stay tuned.
~ Rich Perelman

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