November/December 2007

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Need a primer on Central America, “cigar central” for many fine cigar producers? This guide will bring you up to speed.

What is it about Central American cigars that set them apart from others?

• Carlos Toraño has insisted for years that “Central American tobacco is the best in the world,” says Aaron Guenther, director of marketing for Toraño Cigars. “It tends to be full of flavor with a lot of body, which makes an extremely tasteful combination,” Guenther adds.

• During his 11 years in the business, Jon Huber, chief marketing officer of CAO International, Inc. has “heard on more than one occasion and from more than one source” that the soil in certain parts of Nicaragua are “the closest thing to Cuban soil without actually being there,” he says.

• Janelle Rosenfeld, vice president of advertising and communications for Altadis USA offers that “Dominican cigars have been the staple for some time. However, in recent years we’ve seen some really great things come out of Honduras and Nicaragua as well.” She explains that most cigar factories in the three areas use a combination of tobacco. “For example, at our factory, La Flor de Copan, we manufacture the Saint Luis Rey Maduro, which mixes a top-notch Mexican San Andres Morron wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and a blend of Honduran, Nicaraguan and Peruvian filler tobaccos,” she says. “It’s a real international affair.”

FACTORING IN

The company’s Flor de Copan factory is located in the Honduran state of Copan in the North Eartens area of the country. It’s only about an hour away from the famous Mayan Ruinas de Copan, ancient Mayan ruins popular with tourists. “It’s really lovely country and the people are fantastic,” says Rosenfeld.

CAO has two factories in Central America; the largest one (CAO Fabrica de Tabacas) is located in Danli, Honduras, and its smaller (a.k.a. “stealth” factory, according to Huber) is in Esteli, Nicaragua. “They both function as more or less cooperative facilities, as they are shared with the Toraño family,” Huber explains. “The best way I can describe it is that you walk into one very large factory and half of it is branded ‘CAO’, where we have our own dedicated staff of rollers and buncheros, and then the other side of the facility is dedicated to Toraño and the other brands they manufacture.”

Meanwhile Guenther reports that all of Toraño’s cigars are produced at its three locations in Honduras and Nicaragua. The rolling facilities are located in Esteli, Nicaragua, and Danli, Honduras, while the tobacco curing and fermenting mostly takes place at a facility called Protolasa in Ocotal, Nicaragua.

Toraño is currently in the process of “building a much larger facility right at the entrance of Esteli, Nicaragua right now,” according to Guenther. “Our new factory will be suitable for visitors and have a state-of-the-art rolling and viewing area,” he continues. “It will be more than triple the size of our current Nicaragua operation. We expect the new facility to handle as many as 400 bunchers and rollers.”

General Cigar has facilities in Cofradia and Danli, Honduras. The company has owned the facilities on Cofradia for over a decade, “but it has been in existence for much longer than that,” says Bill Chilian, director of marketing.

The Puros Indios Cigar brand was the creation of Rolando Reyes Sr., who had a successful cigar business in Cuba that was expropriated by the communist government. He later went to the U.S. and started a small cigar production, according to Curry.

“He established the Puros Indios Cigar brand in 1995 and set up the factory in Danli, Honduras in an old motel, calling the factory ‘Fabrica Puros Aliados,’” explains Curry. In 2002, Reyes finished construction of a new factory south of Danli. “The new Puros Aliados/Puros Indios factory sits on a moderately sloped five-acre plot, below his farm and his home,” explains Curry. “He says he can now keep a closer eye on goings on at the factory, right from his kitchen window. The old factory was converted to a factory to manufacture cigar boxes out of cedar.”

Known as a stickler for quality, Reyes—or “Don Rolando” as he is known—claims to be the only factory owner who also retains the atmosphere of Cuban cigar factories of old by having a full-time lector to read the day’s news and other literature to the rollers as they work. Now 83, he continues nightly to inspect all cigars manufactured in his factory, according to Curry.

So what can tobacco outlet retailers relay about these Central American producers to their cigar customers? First, they can have an understanding of the process.

“I’d really like retailers to be in tune with what actually is involved in the process of making cigars and pass that on to their customers,” begins Huber. “There are still some people out there that don’t realize the half of the labor that’s involved in making just one single cigar—seed to shelf.

“If you’ve been fortunate enough to visit the farms, the barns, the factories—if you’ve had the privilege of shaking the weathered hands of the people that work tirelessly to create this product we ultimately see dressed in the gorgeous boxes and sexy bands—then you garner a whole new level of respect for this trade that borders upon religious,” Huber continues, obviously with a great deal of passion himself. “I think most people are familiar with the process of rolling a cigar, but there’s a whole myriad of steps ranging from prepping the soil to planting to transplanting to fermentation, curing, harvesting, processing—the list goes on—that most people don’t know about. When one truly knows the blood, sweat, and time that the process entails, they treat the product with a different level of respect and romance and not necessarily just as a commodity.”

Another pressing point—Central American cigars run the gamut in both taste profile and price point. “Our Central American production has a cigar for just about any and all of cigar customers,” maintains Chilian.

Therefore, retailers should be cautioned not to think in terms of “Dominican cigars are milder” nor “Nicaraguan cigars are stronger,” explains Guenther. “While it is true that the regions of a country have different characteristics, there are many different variables at play, including the type of seed of the tobacco, the country and regions where the tobacco is grown, how the tobacco is fermented and processed, and mostly, how the tobacco is blended,” he explains. “The Toraños are known for blending from many different regions; although all of our cigars are rolled in Honduras or Nicaragua, the tobacco may have come from all over the world.”

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Puros Indios Cigars hopes that retailers will be “more proactive in bringing to the attention of their customers the great quality, variety, and accessible prices of our brands,” says Curry. The way he sees it, “many cigars that are no better, and in most cases, not as good, are sold at higher prices based on their presentation and/or advertising. Therefore, the customers will be pleased and thankful to learn more about our brands and find the blend and vitola that is most pleasing to them.” Curry adds that of special note are the company’s premium cigars: Viejo, Cienfuegos, and Aliados Anniversary. •

Q: How does the Central American cigar experience differ from the American one?

A: “It’s not unusual to see our employees smoking at our factories or while they’re working. It’s very much a cultural love, whereas I see the American experience as that of a luxury lifestyle. You smoke a cigar in America because you have the wealth and the option to do so. You see Nicaraguans smoking cigars simply because they love to do so.

—Aaron Guenther, director of marketing, Toraño Cigars

The 5 Key Countries

There are five Central American countries (excluding Panama and Belize). Despite being close neighbors, they are surprisingly different in many ways, as outlined by John Curry, international sales manager for Central American cigar producer, Puros Indio Cigars:

Nicaragua is the biggest geographically but has a population of almost 6 million. It is rich in resources, but due to chronic political problems, it is the poorest country in Latin America. Nicaraguans drop the “s” in their version of spoken Spanish.

Guatemala has the largest population (about 14 million) in the region, but about one-half of the population is indigenous, speaking 28 different dialects. It has a history of politically inspired violence. However, democracy and respect for human rights are gaining widespread support.

Costa Rica is the most European of the five countries, with a population of over 4 million. It has, by far, the highest standard of living and a strong democratic tradition since 1948 with no army and a well-developed civil society.

Eco-tourism has become a big business in recent years. Ticos, as the Costa Ricans are called, speak a Spanish that exaggerates the pronunciation of the “s”.

El Salvador is the smallest country in land area and the only one of the five that has no Atlantic coast. In spite of large emigration in the past 27 years, mainly to the U.S., it still has a population of over 7 million. It is developing rapidly, uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, and received about $2 billion in family remittances yearly. Its earlier history of political violence and war has been replaced by democratic elections since 1984. However, gang (maras) violence is a serious problem.

Honduras has a population of about 7.4 million and has the second lowest per capita income in the region at $3,100. Democratic elections have been held since 1981. It is mainly an agricultural country—with not only exports of tobacco and cigars, but also coffee, bananas, and shrimp. Economic progress is being made with GDP growth rates recently of about 5 percent annually. It, too, has a serious problem with gang violence. •