Cigarticles
RTDA MEETS FOR 75th Time, Part 3
Cigar Weekly contributing reporter Frank Seltzer (Mowee) was able to attend some of the business meetings and other sessions that ran concurrently during the show. He reports:
"First of all the show attendance was way down. We heard that only around 500 people attended this year. However most who were there were enthusiastic. The bulk of the talk was about SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) legislation and the enormous taxes that would result from its passage. At the welcome breakfast that was the main topic of concern.
This is the LAST 'RTDA' convention. Next year it will be called 'IPCPR' (International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers). Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? I guess IP BLOOD was taken. Perhaps the new logo will be someone performing CPR on a cigar smoker.
The manufacturers were not in their booths very much as meetings were constantly going on. There was a move to try to separate handmade cigars from the machine made cigars to somehow create an exemption from the proposed taxes. Several manufacturers thought that was the best way to carve out an exemption for their cigars. Lew Rothman told them in a meeting Sunday night that the split was a really dumb idea. Monday, after more meetings with the manufacturers it was apparent that Lew and Christian Eiroa (among others) held the prevalent opinion.
Some of the makers let their egos get in the way of solid business practice. I was not an attendant of the meetings, so I am relying on the word of people who did attend them. I can say in talking with Christian, he felt it would be very dumb to forego Swisher and Swedish Match's experience, cash and lawyers for the sake of trying to carve out the premium exemption.
RTDA has hired a PR firm to help in the efforts against SCHIP. They've hired an Atlanta based firm which did work for Coca-Cola. I would have preferred a DC firm with crisis communication experience. Also spoke to the RTDA - sorry IPCPR - lobbyist. He agrees the time now is for EVERYONE to get involved against SCHIP from the grass roots up. Start with City Councils. Get political. Make donations to candidates who support our rights. Work your way up to Senators (which means go through county officials, state representatives and senators before Congress) -not just concerning SCHIP, but smoking restrictions as well.
That is the long-term approach. Retailers will be asking for e-mails of support in the meantime. There was some discussion of needing an NRA-like organization for smokers. I think the idea is good, however we need to expand it to include all personal liberties....Smokers, Trans Fats, you name it ...
There were some organizational meetings at the state level. For example, here in Texas about 40 retailers and manufacturers' representatives (all with the exceptions of Altadis, General, Rocky Patel, CAO, and La Flor Dominicana) met to set up a state committee to help lobby against smoking bans and to work on the SCHIP legislation, which isn't going to go away anytime soon.
Bottom line: You cannot sit on the sidelines anymore. You will either be part of the problem or part of the solution."
Taking the lead on this issue is Xikar, the cutlery company admired for their innovative cigar cutters. Andy O'Dwyer spoke to us for a moment telling us about their new cigar, and the program that accompanies it. The cigar line is called "Defiance."
This year's Defiance is definitely only Phase 1. It's rolled by Jesus Fuego who previously worked for Nestor Plasencia and more recently Rocky Patel. The Defiance is Xikar's way of "putting their money where their mouth is" as 5% of all proceeds from sales will go to statewide coalitions in the state where the cigar is sold. That state coalition will hopefully begin to work politically in that state to fight smoking bans and tobacco taxes. Xikar is tying this to a centralized website for all their retailers in order to keep track of what's going into each state's coalition's coffers and keep up-to-date with the effort. It is hoped that Phase 2 will incorporate other brands of cigars, with Padron being mentioned as a contributor for next year. Defiance is presented with a double band (a large Defiance band and a smaller band with the brand of cigar, this year's version, and one bearing the Xikar brand). These are rolled in Nicaragua in 4 sizes. Andy O'Dwyer stated that "this can't just be marketing, it has to be a concerted, sustained effort."
Day two turned out to be better than day one. Mad Dawg (Doug McGuire) was waiting for us and others to arrive when we walked into the door near the Puros Indios exhibit where we were quickly joined by 1RedDawg (Jeff Hogan).
By the time Castanza and I arrived, Doug had already been over to meet Pete Johnson of Tatuaje (who had some time to breathe before we got there). He had a moment for us later on as well as time for a photo. Mad Dawg has already related their discussion in a separate post:
I had....uh....expressed some reservations concerning the decision to produce "Regional Releases" in the Tatuaje line. After reading some intriguing speculation as to the reasons behind that decision, I decided to go directly to the source for the answer.
So first thing out of the gate at RTDA yesterday morning, I found my way back to the Tatuaje booth and had a chat with Pete Johnson. For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to have met Pete, he is as easy-going and approachable in person as he is intense and passionate about his cigars. We sat down and I asked him "So Pete, tell me: why regional releases?" He responded, with a slight smile, "Well, it was basically a joke." We spoke for a few minutes about his impressions of the cigar market in general, and of the particular importance of innovation, of giving the cigar smokers of the world new things to try. His two new cigars would have been no different had they been called something else, but it seems he wanted to have a little fun with them and, I don't know, spoof a recent trend by Habanos SA?
Whatever the case, the results are (not surprisingly) outstanding. I smoked a West Coast release at the show (REVIEW) and was very seriously impressed. Pete was gracious enough to give me an East Coast release to try, and I'll post a review when I've had a chance to smoke it on a fresh palate. I have no doubt it will be excellent.
Pete, if you see this, THANKS! And keep up the great work.
MadDawg, TommyBB and Pete Johnson
Right across from Tatuaje was El Rey de Los Habanos and Don Pepín Garcia. I got to talk to Oquel Guerra from the Sales & Marketing who told me about their new line: a limited edition cigar called "El Centurión by Don Pepín Garcia". This year's offering will be unique, as they made only 50,000 cigars in three sizes.
These are called
- Guerreros 5 x 50 Robustos
- Gladiadores 6 " x 52 Toros
- Emperadores 5 " x 52 Belicosos.
The leaves used to construct this cigar were aged for three years using two Nicaraguan varietals, Criollo 98 and Corojo 99. Each year's edition will be 'one-off,' not to be duplicated. Speaking to Don Pepín after, he told us that he "tried to get the flavor of this cigar as close to the Cohiba Edición Limitado made in 2000, the year before he left Cuba. Next year's cigar will be like a Montecristo with an oscuro wrapper."
Don Jose "Pepin" Garcia
There will be another new addition to the Don Pepín Garcia line with a light color band on it to set off the wrapper. I was asked not to say what it is by Oquel Guerra. I can tell you it is quite good, full flavored with just the slightest sweet touch to it.
The 601 Serie brand, from United Tobacco has added another line, according to representative Patrick Vivalo. The new 601 has a green band. This cigar is a Nicaraguan puro with an Oscuro Habano wrapper, and it's made in Estelí, Honduras. Each 601, he said, "has its own character, and the sales of the green [band], especially, is improving each month." Like Pepín's other lines, they're "not making very many, but everything is full-bodied." Don Pepin is rolling these for Eric Espinoza of United Tobacco. The 2007 601 Edición Limitada is a special blend and size manufactured only once a year in very limited quantities and sold only at the RTDA show. This year's edition is the Presidente size, 7 " x 52 (a size unavailable in any other 601 vitola) packaged in a commemorative ceramic humijar. The 601 Green "is by far the fullest and strongest of the 601 Serie." The humijar is priced at an MSRP of $336
Humijar
The rest of the Green Serie are as follows, all available in boxes of 20, except where noted:
- Corona 5 x 42 in a box of 40
- Tronco 5 x 52
- La Fuerza 5 " x 54
- Trabuco 6 " x 58
- La Punta (perfecto) 5 " x 48 x 52
United Tobacco also has a new line called the K24. It's manufactured in Honduras by Rocky Patel for United Tobacco, exclusively. This blend has been in development for over a year. Although it's made in Honduras, it's a Nicaraguan puro featuring the growingly popular Nicaraguan Jalapa Habano Wrapper. It's also billed as a "Very Full Bodied" cigar. It will come in four sizes, available in boxes of 20:
- #5 5 x 52
- #6 Torpedo 6 x 52
- #8 6 x 54
- #9 7 x 52
We rolled into the Perdomo exhibit where we were greeted momentarily by Mr. Nick Perdomo who then handed us off to Daniel Colon, their Director of Marketing and Arthur Kemper their Director of Sales. Their new cigar is something that Nick Perdomo believes his cigar and presentation would resemble "if a cigar could be made in Cuba, this is how they'd design it." The Perdomo Habano is a new line that comes in five sizes, presented in a hand-stained, slide-lid box that allows the lid to sit open almost as if it had hinges. The tobacco comes from each of his three different farms (around Estelí, Condega, and the Jalapa Valley), and is blended to be perceived by most smokers as either medium to medium/full-bodied. The wrappers are Corojo or triple-fermented Nicaraguan maduro. "For us, every store, so far, has written this item" said Arthur Kemper. The sizes are:
- Robusto 5 x 52
- Toro 5 " x 54
- Torpedo 6 " x 54
- Gordo 6 x 60
- Presidente 7 x 56
These should retail between $5 and $7 per cigar.
Perdomo Habano
The art work on this is amazing, if I do say so.
Perdomo Habano art piece
"The artwork was given to Nick by a collector he's friends with; it's an old Cuban design from the late 1800s which we copied. Nick loves the art and the brand was designed around the artwork which his friend gave to him three years ago."
Moderators with Arthur Kemper and Daniel Colon
Thomas Bender (TommyBB) is a moderator and contributing editor of Cigar Weekly. He hails from Greater New Orleans where he resides with his family and contributes his share of the air pollution of the area with cigar smoke as well as running his mouth online more than any human being should. He enjoys gathering with friends and family to partake of good cigars, good food and camaraderie when not coaching youth sports, or playing Church music. He's also been known to wear a good hat from time to time.