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| ANCIENT BRAND REVIVED IN CHICAGO |
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Page 1 of 2  Plus: Imperial Tobacco shaves 2,440 jobs in Altadis integrationLos Angeles, June 23 – In 1861, while the Civil War was starting in South Carolina and Virginia, Chicago tobacconist Edward Hoffman introduced a new cigar called Hoffman House that quickly become a popular choice among city smokers. It became easy to spot, too, thanks to its reproduction of French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s racy 1873 painting “Nymphs and Satyr” on the inside lid of the box starting in the late 1870s. The popularity of the cigars helped to make the painting one of the most famous in the U.S. and was widely reproduced. Like so many regional brands, it was sold to a larger manufacturer in 1898 and was popular into the 1920s. But it, too, eventually died like so many regional brands. At the end, even Bouguereau’s nymphs had to wear clothes to correspond to the morale of the times. However, Chicago tobacconist Chuck Levi had the idea to revive the brand and after several years of planning and a lengthy trademark fight, Hoffman House is once again in production. Made by Altadis U.S.A. at its Tabacalera de Garcia factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic, Hoffman House is back in its original box – of which Levi had samples – and has a rich and complex flavor thanks to its blend of an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper, Dominican binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and Peru. It’s offered in four popular sizes: Churchill (7 inches by 50 ring), Lonsdale (6 5/8 x 44), Robusto (5 x 50) and Short Perfecto (4 1/4 x 46). All sizes are offered in boxes of 20 and the retail price varies from $6.75 to $7.95 each before local sales and tobacco taxes. It’s literally a revival of what was a celebrated cigar brand in America and Levi’s E. Hoffman Co. distribution firm also brings back the name of the original distributor, pictured on today’s home page. But Levi didn’t stop there. He also brought back Hoffman’s Spilman Mixture, a pipe tobacco blend also offered by Hoffman at least as early as 1907. It was advertised as a pipe tobacco that could be enjoyed “without a bite or a regret” and has a complex English blend of Virginia, Latakia, Turkish and cubed Burley tobaccos that has not been offered in 70-plus years. It’s offered in a seven-ounce can that’s also true to the original. |
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Did you know?
“"A woman is only a woman, but a cigar is a smoke" ~ Rudyard Kipling
