People consider cigars an affordable luxury,” says Cigar Aficionado’s Executive Editor Gordon Mott.At roughly $10 apiece, a good smoke can be more competitively priced than similar luxury items such as fine wines and chocolates.
According to a recent survey by Cigar Aficionado, the average cigar user smokes three to four a week, generally while relaxing around the house. “That tells us that cigar smoking has been incorporated into people’s routines,” notes Mott.
From being almost obscure objects of pleasure for the enjoyment of few connoisseurs, cigars became a fixture in mainstream America around 1996, when movie celebrities and regular Joes alike embraced habano smoking as the chic thing to do. Many even went to such lengths as venturing into cigar events in embargo-forbidden Havana and war-ravaged Latin countries such as Nicaragua.
The Caribbean, though, has always been a connoisseur’s favorite shopping grounds for three good reasons: the superb quality of its tobacco, its first-rate workmanship and its excellent marketing.
But history has also played a large part in building the region’s reputation as a cigar haven.
Had it not been for the conquistadors’ love of cigars, Cuba’s primitive tobacco industry of the 16th century wouldn’t have been turned into the colossus it is these days. By the same token, the cigar-crazed Brits who controlled colonial Jamaica most of the last century take the credit for making the island a formidable rival to neighboring Cuba. Finally, the Dominican Republic wouldn’t be the cigar powerhouse it is today, were it not for the tobacco rolling maestros who settled there after revolutionary Cuba became unpalatable to them.
These days careful planning has replaced revolutionary improvisation. Major cigar manufacturers plan at least one year in advance for the launch of new products. “I travel down to the Dominican Republic every October to discuss next year’s blends with our experts there,” says General Cigar’s Gardener.
It’s the only way manufacturers can get enough time to test the new product and turn it into a winner. “Making successful cigars is a matter of tradition and patience: we need to taste hundreds of different combinations before we get it right,” he says.
The stogie’s current good fortunes have drawn the attention of manufacturers to the business potential of related products, especially those seen as the perfect partners of premium cigars: fine liquors.
Altadis U.S.A., the country’s largest maker of premium cigars, has just launched Ron Montecristo, a 25-year-old Guatemalan rum that’s being marketed as the best complement to Montecristo and other fine cigars. There’s also Bahamas-distilled Cohiba Rum, which is selling well on its own and with Cohiba cigars, according to its distributors.
Many industry observers think it won’t be long before other fine drinks are launched bearing the brand names of known cigar makers.
“It’s a trend that is growing fast on the success of premium cigars,” says Cigar Aficionado’s Mott.As a matter of fact, the trend has also helped re-ignite the time-honored debate about which liquors go best with fine cigars. There are two main camps in this dispute: those favoring the earthy flavors of aged rum as the undisputed companions of stogies, and those who prefer the subtler fire of cognac. A third, but rare, group supports the contemporary tastes of single malt whisky and bourbon as the cigar’s best partners.
“It’s an ongoing debate and I don’t think it’s going to be resolved any time soon, cause it really boils down to personal preferences,” says Janelle Rosenfeld, Altadis’ Director of Marketing.
There’s one, quite popular, way to settle the argument, though: get a bottle of each type of liquor, several fine cigars and throw a tasting competition. “Most of the times, the issue doesn’t get resolved but it’s a lot of fun,” she says.
The truth of the matter is genuine cigar lovers don’t care what they mix it with. “I just love a good cup of hot chocolate with my stogie,” confesses a cigar industry executive who asked not to be named.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be too surprising to find your favorite coffee or cocoa in your local supermarket, sitting on the same shelf as a new, and promising, brand bearing the name of your favorite cigar.
