Cuban manufacturers rely on test smokers, called catadores, to perform quality control. We spoke with Gerardo Álamo Gómez, usually responsible for machines and electronics at Partagás and one of twelve Partagás test smokers, and we were able to take part in a tasting session.
Keep Smiling, No Matter What!
Simon Chase is not sure about it – for one reason or another it has fallen to him to conduct the auction of humidors at the Gala Dinner on the last night of the Festival del Habano in Havana for 13 out of the last 14 years. If all goes well, by the time you read this article it will be 14 out of the last 15 years.
Estelí – The Cigar City
A thriving tobacco industry transformed the former Nicaraguan farming town of Estelí into a Mecca for cigar smokers.
Tabacalera Incorporada – The Filipino Tabacalera
With the recent launch of the Gran Reserva and a new USA distribution deal, the Philippines’ oldest cigar manufacturer, Tabacalera Incorporada, is intent on returning to global prominence.
Fake Cigars and Fake Wines
Don’t you hate it? The guys next to you are smoking fake Cohibas and it’s so obvious. Yet, some people smoke them. A large part of them knows damned well they are smoking fakes, but it’s the same thing with fake wines: they don’t want to pay the price for the real deal.
Leading Women of the Cigar World
Looking at cigars from more than one angle is important to us. We want to fully explore this industry, its changes, and how it is changing the world. Since the creation of cigars, women and men have worked in tobacco side by side. In this article we are featuring stories of some of the women leading the cigar industry today.
José “Pepin” Garcia: Born in a Factory
Pepin Garcia has become one of the most recognizable people in the global cigar business in just seven short years. His, and indeed his family’s, story is an exemplar of the American Dream
15 Years of Maya Selva
Worldwide she is one of the few women who have successfully produced handmade cigars in this male domain and holds her own as a woman: the French-Honduran Maya Selva is celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of her company.
The Discovery of Yamasá
t has been exactly 20 years since Davidoff moved cigar production to the Dominican Republic. To mark the anniversary, the world’s largest family-owned cigar business is launching a completely new line: Puro d’Oro.
Rocky Patel: The Next Level
Rocky Patel started making cigars during the cigar boom of the nineteennineties. In the last fifteen years he has transformed from a lawyer who loved cigars to a true man of tobacco with several classic cigars to a true man of tobacco with several classic cigars in his portfolio.
Carlos Diez takes over the family business
Since Carlos Diez took over the management of the family business, Puros Indios, towards the end of 2007, a great deal has changed, but then again, perhaps not really so much …
A Brand on its Way Around the World: Oliva Cigars
The fourth generation of this tobacco business has set its sights on establishing the family name as a global cigar brand. And so far, it’s been a success. Representatives from over 15 countries attended its first international sales meeting.
