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TORANO GETS DECADENT!

Plus: General Cigar settles suit over sales of counterfeit Cohibas

Los Angeles, October 11 – Although elementary school teachers might not agree, there are occasions when two plus two equals . . . five!

That’s the concept of the Carlos Torano Reserva Decadencia, finally shipping after more than three years of planning, production and aging. It’s a marriage of the Torano’s much-respected Reserva Selecta cigar with the famed Decadencia Chocolate Port produced by Wilson Creek Winery of Temecula, California.

“I thought winemakers were perfectionists,” said Wilson Creek marketing manager Mick Wilson, “until I saw the Toranos working through test after test to get Reserva Decadencia just right. And they did.

“The challenge marrying alcohol with tobacco, once solved, creates a cigar that mellows with age far better than most cigars.”

Both the Toranos and the winery were careful not to simply create another flavored cigar. Instead, said Torano Cigars President Charlie Torano (pictured above with his father, Carlos Torano), “the cigar is blended with just a hint of the port wine, which in turn receives ‘just a pinch’ of natural chocolate, to enhance the wine’s innate chocolate undertones.”

The production process is quite labor intensive, starting with aged tobaccos of three to five years old (including a Connecticut Shade wrapper) that are blended into Reserva Selecta cigars of either the Churchill (7 1/4 inches by 48 ring) or Robusto (5 inches by 50 ring) size. The finished cigars are then aged in the same French oak barrels that are used to age the Decadencia Chocolate Port, imbuing the essence of the wine into the cigars.

Enthusiasts who want to try these cigars need not worry about any spillover of the flavor in their humidors, however. The Torano Reserva Decadencia is offered only in boxes of 20 inside sealed glass tubes that keep the cigars ready until the right moment. Only 60,000 cigars were produced in the first production cycle and will have retail prices of $10 (Robusto) or $12 (Churchill) each.

The cigar will be formally launched at the Wilson Creek Winery at a special program on November 4.

General Cigar gets settlement from alleged sellers of fake Cohibas:
(Updated to quote General Cigar’s announcement directly.)
As part of an aggressive push to protect its hard-won Cohiba trademark rights in the U.S., General Cigar announced a settlement of a trademark suit filed in Federal court against alleged sellers of counterfeit Cohiba cigars.

According to an announcement from General Cigar:

“The suit was filed in May 2006 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia against defendants Southern Smoke LLC, Corner Cigars Distributing Inc., Big Dog Cigars LLC, Seminole Cigar Factory and others.

“In resolving the lawsuit, the defendants acknowledged that the ‘yellow band’ Cohiba cigars at issue constituted infringement of General Cigar’s Cohiba trademark of cigars in the United States. In addition, the defendants agreed to deliver to General Cigar for destruction approximately 10,000 yellow band Cohiba cigars. The defendants also agreed to cooperate with General Cigar in its ongoing efforts to identify sources engaged in infringement of Cohiba cigars in the United States. Finally, the defendants consented to entry of a permanent injunction against the sale, marketing, distribution of other use of the Cohiba name in the United States on goods not manufactured by General Cigar and will pay General Cigar a cash settlement of an undisclosed amount. In the lawsuit, General Cigar alleged that the defendants infringed the company’s Cohiba trademark in violation of federal and state law by selling and distributing cigars bearing the Cohiba name that were not manufacturer by General Cigar. The infringing cigars were sometimes referred to as ‘yellow band Cohiba’ cigars and, like General Cigar’s Cohiba cigars, were manufactured in the Dominican Republic.”

General Cigar and Altadis U.S.A. have been highly active in investigations and actions to protect especially their trademarks in currently-produced Cuban brands for which they hold registrations for the U.S. market including Gispert, H. Upmann, Juan Lopez, Montecristo, Por Larranaga, Romeo y Julieta, Saint Luis Rey and Trinidad for Altadis and Bolivar, Cohiba, Hoyo de Monterrey, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas, Punch, Ramon Allones, Sancho Panza and others for General.

New Gurkhas now shipping:
The ever-inventive Kaizad Hansotia of Gurkha fame presented several new blends and some striking box designs at this year’s Retail Tobacco Dealers of America show in Houston and two – the Status and the G5 Avenger – are now shipping to retailers.

The Status is similar in style to the well-known Gurkha Grand Reserve, but without any Cognac flavoring. The blend is medium-bodied and features a Connecticut Shade wrapper and Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves. Offered in boxes of 30 with each cigar inside stunning frosted crystal tubes, two sizes are available: Churchill (7 x 50) and Torpedo (6 1/2 x 52) with retail prices of $380 and $390, respectively.

The G5 Avenger (whose name sounds like a Navy jet) is full-bodied, using all-Nicaraguan tobaccos. Hansotia calls it the “father” of the popular Gurkha G3 blend and like the G3, is more popularly priced than several of the higher-end Gurkha styles. The G5 Avenger is also offered in two sizes – Toro (6 x 50) and Torpedo (6 x 52) – in elegant boxes of 20 that are priced at $186 and $190 per box, respectively.

From the Kinkster:
Former Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman had a nice visit with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on October 7 to discuss the 2008 Presidential campaign and his own political future. And as usual, Friedman was fired up.

Asked about another run in Texas, he didn’t say no, but noted “I really think education, health care and the death penalty in Texas are being – y’know, the big issues – politicians are letting them slip through their fingers.

“What they’re doing, is criminalizing trivia like ‘Kinky can’t smoke a cigar.’” Especially when he has his own line of cigars to sell!
~ Rich Perelman

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