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UNDER THE
WRAPPER
Informed information about Cuban Cigars
October 2002 Issue #13
wrapper@ajaxcigars.com
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Welcome to Issue #13 of
UNDER THE WRAPPER
Archived copies of the newsletters are available on the web
site but do not contain the product discunts that are available
to e-mail subscribers. You may subscribe to our newsletter
here
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IN THIS ISSUE
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=> Welcome
=> Feature Article - The El Laguito Factory
=> Quotable Quotes
=> Industry News - New Brand GUANTANAMERA
=> Spotlight - Our Newsletter Special
=> Reader Feedback Invited
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information
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WELCOME
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Thank you all for the feedback I requested in the last newsletter.
I received a great deal of requests to do cigar reviews and
I've been
giving it a lot of thought. I could do them myself or have,
you the
reader, submit reviews of Cubans that you have smoked. I really
would
like to receive reviews from you and would gladly publish
them. So send
them in please.
I've read a lot of cigar reviews in my time as I'm sure you
have,
and quite frankly, I don't care for some of them. Some of
the major
magazines have one writer who does all the reviews, and an
opinion of one
forms no consensus. Some like to use real flowery language
to describe the
taste. eg "The flavor reminds of Norwegian Butter Chocolate"
Well, doesn't
that just tell you everything you need to know!
So here's what
we're going to do.
Each month I'm going to select four of you, my loyal readers.
You will each receive the same genuine Cuban Cigar with the
band removed. This is so you won't be influenced by any
commercial reviews or preconceived ideas.
You will rate the cigar from 1 to 5 (1 being poor 5 being
ambrosia) in each of the following categories:
- Appearance
- Construction
- Burn
- Draw
- Aroma
- Strength the
ratings here will be (1 mild - 5 strong)
- Taste
- Overall
- Recommended
the ratings - here will be Yes or No
- Comments not
necessary but appreciated
I can understand
that some of you will not be interested in the
project. Therefore, in order to qualify as a rater you will
need to send
us an email to info@ajaxcigars.com
I will need your name and address, for
mailing, and your agreement to publish your ratings and your
name. Raters
will only be selected only from the emailed list. You have
a week before
the first cigars are sent, so, if your interested crank out
an email.
Become an Ajax Rater now!
Enjoy the issue.
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FEATURE ARTICLES - The El Laguito Factory
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By Jay Amberg
Framed by towering
royal palms, an undulating, well-manicured lawn
and trimmed hedges, the imposing Italianate style mansion
called
"El Laguito" is Cuba's most exclusive cigar factory.
It's here Cuba's most
expensive commercial cigar brands, the Cohiba and Trinidad
are
manufactured. Easily identified by its red tiled roof, pastel
yellow
exterior and sweeping marble stairway, the factory is located
in the Havana
suburb of Miramar, a neighborhood populated with embassies
and protocol
houses managed by the Cuban government.
Before its gentle conversion to a cigar factory in 1967, the
mansion was the home of the former Marquez (prince) of Pinar
del Rio.
Inside El Laguito more than 100 workers, mostly women, produce
Cuba's most
expensive cigars, the Cohiba and Trinidad brands. Ask anyone
in Havana
connected with Cuba's cigar industry and they will tell you
that El Laguito
is a cigar factory unlike any other in Cuba. A 25 minute ride
from the
traffic and noise of Havana Vieja (old Havana) where the H.
Upmann,
Partagas, Romeo y Julieta and La Corona factories are located,
besides its
more suburban location, El Laguito also has the distinction
of being managed
by a woman, Emilla Tamayo. El Laguito isn't the only major
Cuban cigar factory
run by a woman, Hilda Baro is the director at Partagas, Cuba's
oldest factory,
founded in 1845, and while Partagas may have its history,
El Laguito's
isolation, uniformed employees and limited production make
this Cuba's most
exclusive cigar enclave.
Quality Employees
Joining Tamayo
in her office is Osmar Hernandez, El Laguito's manager of
technology and Normita Fernandez, the factory's manager of
quality control.
The pair escorted five of us through the factory. Since El
Laguito isn't
open to the public, tours of the factory must be arranged
in advance
through Habanos SA, Cuba's global marketer and distributor
for its cigars.
I was able to join the small group who had permission to enter
the
premises.
"This is Cuban history, right here before you,"
said Tamayo.
"It's the Cohiba brand that has made my factory famous
and it's a legacy
we must protect by making the best cigars possible."
She credits her
factory's notoriety among Cuban cigars smokers to workers
like Luis Camejo
Docal, a color sorter, who with his trained eye takes every
Cohiba and
Trinidad manufactured at El Laguito and groups them in batches
so that
each box will have cigars of uniform color. "Luis has
worked at El Laguito
since 1967, but he's been color-sorting cigars for 50 years,"
Tamayo said.
"He has an eye like no other." As Tamayo refers
to Cuban history she
proudly recounts the lengthy Genesis of Cohiba, Cuba's first
post-revolution cigar brand. She talks about the quality of
the tobacco
leaf used at the factory and how she personally prefers the
old Corojo
cigar wrapper leaf to some of the newer, less disease-resistant
hybrid
tobaccos that Cuba has experimented with. The discussion about
wrapper
leaf raises an interesting question because Avelino Lara,
the first
manager at El Laguito who was later replaced by Tamayo, said
the wrapper
leaf used for Cohiba came from outside Havana, in Ariguanabo,
and not
from the original El Corojo farm in Pinar del Rio Province
in the
Vuelta Abajo. Tamayo will not discuss Lara's assertions opting
instead
to reaffirm her belief that Corojo is better suited to Cohiba
and
Trinidad than Habana 2000.
Cohiba Uniforms
As she speaks,
Tamayo, who occupies a office on the second of the
building, relaxes in a reclining chair behind a simple wooden
desk.
Smoking a Cuban cigarette, Tamayo turns in her chair and looks
at her
guests and says, "So what do you think of these uniforms?
You've never
seen anything like this at any other factory in Cuba have
you?"
Hernandez was wearing a yellow shirt with black trim and black
slacks.
Fernandez wore a blouse with same color scheme and a jet-back
skirt.
The colors matched those of Cohiba brand. "This is just
another way
of letting the workers know that El Laguito is a special place,"
Tamayo said. "We started with the uniforms two years
ago, to coincide with
a visit from King Juan Carlos of Spain." Tamayo said
the king was in Cuba
for the Ibero-American Summit, hosted by Cuban President Fidel
Castro, and
because the king is a cigar aficionado too, he requested a
tour of El
Laguito. Spain and El Laguito have much in common because
it was in Madrid
in 1982, during the soccer World Cup, that Cuba first offered
the Cohiba
brand for sale to the public. Until it's introduction in Spain,
President
Castro dispensed the highly prized Cohiba to high-ranking
diplomats and
heads of state. The Cohiba was eventually replaced by the
Trinidad as
Cuba's official protocol cigar. In 1998, Habanos SA made the
Trinidad
available, first to cigar aficionados in Canada and Mexico,
and a year
later the brand went global. "The Cohiba and Trinidad
have made El Laguito
famous with both the Cuban people and discerning cigar smokers
around the
world," Tamayo said. "In this factory we get the
best-of-the-best
(cigar tobacco leaf) from only the finest farms." As
is the usual Cuban
custom, as Tamayo talks about her factory she serves small
thimbles of
strong, black coffee and distributes some unbanded Trinidad
cigars that
are fresh from one of the rolling galleries on the floor below.
"Give
these Trinidad's about 36 hours before you smoke them,"
she cautions.
"They're too damp now, let them rest a bit and they'll
be fine."
Consolidating
Production
While El Laguito
may be the home of the Cohiba, the current factory is
too small to produce all 11 sizes that make up the brand.
Originally,
Cohiba was made up of four vitolas (sizes) the Lancero (Laguito
No. 1),
Coronas Especiales (Laguito No.2), Panatela (Laguito No. 3)
and
Exquisito. The Cohiba Robusto and Esplendido came next, followed
by the
Linea 1492, a group of five cigars called the Cohiba Siglo
series that
are the Siglo I; Siglo II; Siglo III; Siglo IV and Siglo V.
These cigars
were manufactured to commemorate the five centuries, or siglos
in Spanish,
since Columbus discovered tobacco in the New World. While
all these
cigars bear the Cohiba brand, only the four original vitolas
have ever
been produced at El Laguito. Today, all 11 sizes are manufactured
at
other factories like Partagas, H. Upmann and La Corona. "Ideally,
I'd
like to have all the Cohiba's made here and I'm working towards
that goal,"
Tamayo said. "It may take a while, but the plan is to
make all Cohiba's in
El Laguito." Tamayo said two factors prevent her from
pulling all the
Cohiba production into El Laguito, a lack of space and not
enough skilled
rollers. "We can't alter this magnificent building, its
architecture is of
historical importance to Cuban history so we would not want
to change it,"
Tamayo said. "There are plans to add more rolling galleries
on the
property." Tamayo said that besides the Cohiba vitolas
and the Trinidad
brand, Habanos SA, Cuba's global marketer and distributor
for its cigars,
will ask her to produce special products like the Cohiba Grand
Corona.
The factory has produced the Cohiba Gran Corona only a few
times. The
first occasion was for a special cigar dinner in Paris, but
most recently
the Cohiba Gran Corona was served at 2nd International Festival
of Habano
in March 2000 and the 3rd International Festival of Habano
in February
2001. Cohiba Gran Coronas were also manufactured for inclusion
in the
limited edition Cohiba 35th Aniversario humidors that went
on sale in
Havana in March 2002. The release of the Cohiba humidors,
a true collectors
item, coincided with the celebration of the 4th International
Festival of
Habano. "We can roll large cigars here, but we don't
have enough qualified
rollers right now to sustain production for cigars like the
Cohiba Robusto
and Esplendido," she said. "That will change as
the factory expands, at
least that is the plan." Workers who apprentice at El
Laguito are hand
picked to attend the six to nine month on premises cigar manufacturing
school. Family members who work at El Laguito also recommend
apprentices
to the factory. "We like to have family members working
here because I
think it helps productivity and boosts morale," Tamayo
said. Tamayo said
as the manager her most important task is making sure the
factory meets
its production goals and that the quality of the cigars produced
are as
close to perfect as humanly possible. Before leaving, I asked
Tamayo if
she had any regrets about being the manager of Cuba's most
prestigious
cigar factory? "No regrets," she said. "A wish
is a better word and that
would be that the President (Fidel Castro) pay us a visit
to see the
quality of our cigars."
By the way, when asked if she had a favorite Cohiba, Tamayo
pulled a Cohiba Exquisito out of her desk, held it aloft and
just smiled.
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QUOTABLE QUOTES & CIGAR STORIES
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"After a
truly good meal, an outstanding cigar is still the
most satisfying after-dinner activity that doesn't involve
two human beings."
Brad Shaw, Radio Announcer
"Cigar smoking
knows no politics. It's about the pursuit of
pleasure, taste, and aroma."
Anonymous
"To smoke
is human; to smoke cigars is divine."
Unknown
"The best
cigar in the world is the one you prefer to smoke
on special occasions, enabling you to relax and enjoy that
which gives you maximum pleasure."
Zino Davidoff
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INDUSTRY NEWS- New Brand - GUANTANAMERA
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Habanos s.a. presents the world launching of a new cigar brand.
"GUANTANAMERA".
Its name comes from a song titled "Guajira Guantanamera",
created
in 1928 by Cuban signer and songwriter Joseíto Fernández
and gained
fame during the 1940s. Later in the 1960's the song was spread
world-wide thanks to a version that incorporated stanzas from
Jose
Marti's Versos Sencillos.
The new brand differs from the traditional Habanos both in
its product
design and its commercialization: theses cigars are manufactures
in a
modern facility belonging to the Cuban tobacco industry (ICT),
using
blends of leaves from Vuelta Arriba, the second most important
tobacco-growing region in Cuba.
"Guantanameras" mild flavored cigars.
With an original presentation, rigid packs and packs of 5
and 10 units,
the new brand comes in four vitolas:
PURITOS - This is the smallest size 4 x 29 which is why cigars
of this
vitola are called "little pure ones". It joins the
family of small
-sized cigars which Habanos s.a., began to introduce in its
portfolio of vitolas last year.
COMPAY - This is the next larger vitola 5 x 40. Its name is
typical
Cuban expression used informally in eastern Cuba to mean friend
or pal .
DECIMOS - This vitola is 5 1/4 x 38. It is named for the ten-line
verse
form in which the song Guajira Guantanamera -the source of
inspiration for the name of this brand- was written.
CRISTALES - This is the largest vitola 6 x 41. It comes in
a protective
transparent tube and is the perfect gift for a good friend.
It is
also presented in boxes of 25's.
The new cigars are cellophaned thus allowing a better preservation.
Tips
are already cut to facilitate lighting.
As a new product, "Guantanameras" are sure to be
given a warm welcome
in those market segments where the Cuban cigars have been
not present so
far.
After its launching in Dortmund (Germany) on September 14th,
"Guantanameras"
will continue be introduced in other markets as well as Canada,
Mexico and
Havana.
NOTE
The brand is now available in Canada. It's a 100% machine
made product and
has been designed as an entry level product for those new
to Cubans or
for the budget minded consumer. Prices range from about $2
- $4 per stick.
Check our site for availability www.ajaxcigars.com
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READER FEEDBACK INVITED:
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Please Email your comments, gripes, suggestions etc.
to: wrapper@ajaxcigars.com
Your interaction will help make the newsletter work.
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HOW TO BE A GUEST COLUMNIST INSTRUCTIONS
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Are you a frustrated author? Do you have something
interesting to share with your fellow Cuban Cigar lovers?
Drop us an Email and get your name in lights.
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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
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Copyright 2001 Ajax Cigars
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However, we ask that you keep it intact and forward it in
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