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| LA PERLA'S SEVEN-YEAR PARTY! |
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Page 1 of 2  Plus: A tribute to the Torano who first planted Piloto CubanoLos Angeles, July 7 – The city of Havana, Cuba was founded in 1515, six years after being sighted by Spanish explorer Sebastian de Ocampo. No one knows this better than Doug Wood, founder of the La Perla Habana cigar line. And he’s doing something about it. With the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association convention & Trade show beginning next Monday, he’s introducing a new cigar called Andiamo. “Andiamo captures the spotlight as the inaugural release in our new line of seven annual releases, named ‘Serie 500,’ which honors perhaps the most significant events in the cigar world,” he said in a statement. “Andiamo celebrates the 1509 discovery by European explorers, of what became the city of Havana in 1515. The remaining six cigars will be released each year over the time span between the two dates. The parade of releases will culminate in a new La Perla Habana in 2015, the 500-year anniversary of the official establishment of Havana as a city. It derived its name from ‘savannah,’ a flat grassland in tropical regions. Thus was born what would become the world capital of cigar making.” Only sketchy details are available on the Andiamo cigar itself. It will be offered in three shapes only: Robusto (4 3/4 inches by 52 ring gauge), Toro (6 x 50) and Torpedo (6 1/4 x 52); all will be presented in chests of 50 with retail pricing in the $6.50-7.50 range. The cigar will be offered only to select retail shops and is not planned for sale over the Internet or by mail-order. “This cigar should help build traffic in stores,” said Wood, “not only for our products, but for others as well.” Wood will also introduce a new edition of the Black Pearl line, the Perla. It’s the most full-bodied in the line, which also includes the Cobre, Rojo and Morado blends., all made in Nicaragua. The new blend features a white band and is “blended to capture the flavor and aroma of the Havanas of the 1940s and 1950s.” There will be four sizes: Robusto (4 3/4 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), Torpedo (6 1/4 x 52) and A (8 1/2 x 52), all offered in white-washed cedar boxes of 20. Retail pricing will be between $8-9 each, not including local sales and tobacco taxes. Torano’s newest Tribute The Carlos Torano Tribute cigar debuted in 2003, designed as a special, limited-production blend that would change annually. A second edition appeared in 2004 and then . . . nothing . . . until now. The third Tribute blend will also debut at the IPCPR show in Las Vegas next week, also a limited-production project of just 1,200 boxes each of three different sizes: Robusto (5 x 50), Churchill (7 x 47) and Torpedo (6 1/8 x 52). “Only 1,000 to 1,200 boxes of each of the three shapes were offered [in 2003],” said Torano Cigars president Charlie Torano, “and they sold out rapidly, as did the 2004 release of a new blend. |
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Did you know?
“A shape designated as "898" usually refers to its packing, in three layers of 8, 9 and 8 cigars.
