MUCHO COROJO MEANS MADURO CAMACHOS

Plus: “Cigars Under the Stars” fund-raiser against California Proposition 86 to be held on Thursday

Los Angeles, July 10 – “The quality and colors are like never before.”

That’s the assessment from Christian Eiroa, President of Camacho Cigars of the 2004 (harvest year) crop of Corojo tobacco grown on the company’s farms in Honduras. “My father, Julio, has called this crop his best Corojo harvest so far.”

Because of the richness of the crop, Camacho will now offer its Camacho Corojo and El Legend-Ario cigars with Honduran-grown maduro wrappers instead of using Mexican-grown wrappers on its Diploma (5 inches by 50 ring) or Monarca (also 5 x 50) sizes. In fact, all of the Camacho Corojo sizes will be offered with maduro wrappers instead of on just two sizes.

The El Legend-Ario series debuted last year and will now be offered with maduro wrappers in addition to the Honduran-grown wrappers offered so far. In fact, Camacho may be the only manufacturer offering maduro wrappers not grown in Connecticut (Broadleaf), Mexico (Morron) or Brazil (usually Mata Fina).

Camacho grows tobacco on about 1,000 acres at Tabacos Ranchos Jamastran in Honduras, but harvests about 600 acres annually, gathering about one million pounds of tobacco. The creation of maduro wrappers – maduro means “mature” or “ripe” in Spanish – is often achieved by leaving the plants on the stalk longer, or by curing them longer. Camacho does both.

“For the Maduros, we use the fourth and fifth priming,” noted Camacho marketing director Angel Diaz. “The tobacco stays out in the field a couple of extra days.

“Then they ferment an extra 90 days, give or take. The tobacco itself determined the amount of time for fermentation. It is not uncommon for it to extend itself to 90 days.”

The result is now only a very dark wrapper, but one which can have extraordinary sweetness. It will be interesting to see how the blend of the well-known but powerful and peppery Camacho Corojo is matched with a maduro wrapper.

Save Our Smokeshops!
The second “Cigars Under the Stars” dinner and the kick-off of the “No on 86" campaign against the California Tobacco Tax Act of 2006 will be held on Thursday evening, July 13.

Both consumers and the trade will be welcome at the event, to be held at the Astor Classics Event Center in Anaheim, California. The admission price of $125 includes a complete dinner, plenty of cigars, entertainment and a briefing on Proposition 86, which could end up shutting down dozens of California tobacconists if passes in November.

The guest of honor will be Manuel Quesada, founder of MATASA. Organized by the California Association of Retail Tobacconists, please call (408) 573-1105 for information and tickets.

”To be or not to be?”
Shakespeare is back.

Once a well-known cigar line, Shakespeare faded from view during the 1990s, but is now being revived by General Cigar Company and Cigars by Santa Clara, the wholesale side of J-R Cigars.

In its current revival, the line is a mild-bodied, bundled brand, made in the giant General Cigar Dominicana factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. It features a Connecticut-grown natural or Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper around Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves and is available for $1.00-$1.50 a cigar on the J-R website.

As J-R’s Lew Rothman points out, “These are real vintage cigars (the cigar bands have been aged for 10 years!).” There are six sizes: Corona (5 1/2 x 54), Lonsdale (6 1/2 x 43), Oxford (6 x 49), Palma (6 7/8 x 39), Panetela (6 x 32) and Stratford (7 1/2 x 49).

General holds the trademark for Shakespeare, which was apparently created way back in 1872. The original trademark was filed for by the old Tampa, Florida firm of Sanchez & Haya in 1924, later part of Gradiaz, Annis & Co., which became part of General Cigar. Its current trademark ownership dates from 1965.

The brand is not at all related to the recently-formed Shakespeare’s Cigar Company, which according to its website was “was created in January of 2002, and incorporated in February of 2003, by Robert ‘Shakey’ Shakespeare and his son, Scott Shakespeare, to represent a new beginning for a father and his son. ‘I saw my dad diminishing in some of his physical abilities . . . I saw him getting old, and I didn’t want him to get old from boredom, or any physical inactivity that could be avoided. My dad’s mind is still sharp as a tack. Shakey’s favorite pastime for decades has been his passion for smoking quality premium cigars.’” The company operates primarily on the Internet and sells two lines of branded Shakespeare cigars.

From the House of Sherman:
Reminiscent of the national introduction of the Toraño house line now known as Casa Toraño line in 2004, the Cameroon-wrapped style of Nat Sherman cigars is also now available on a national basis.

Distributed by Cigars by Santa Clara, which took over the Nat Sherman Host and Metropolitan lines last year, the Nat Sherman Cameroon line has been, according to Rothman, “sold in the Nat Sherman store [on Fifth Avenue in New York] and in duty-free shops for over 10 years.” The line is made in the Dominican Republic and features a Cameroon wrapper, with Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler leaves. It’s medium in body and offered in three sizes in cans of ten: the 5th Avenue No. 1 (5 1/2 x 38), the 5th Avenue No. 4 (5 x 50) and 5th Avenue No. 5 (6 1/4 x 43).
~ Rich Perelman