An e-mail from Habanos s.a: New Cigars


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Habanos s.a. will launch a new line within the Cohiba brand dressed with Cuban Maduro Wrapper in 2007.

*** The Cuban Maduro Wrapper to be used in this new line of Cohiba is five years aged

*** Brands chosen for the 2007 Limited Editions are the following: Trinidad, Romeo and Julieta and Hoyo de Monterrey.

***Presentation of new products for 2007 will take place during the 9th edition of the Habanos Festival.

Havana, June 29th, 2006. Corporation Habanos s.a. announced that a launching of a new line with Cuban Maduro wrapper within the Cohiba brand will occur next year. The statement was made in the Annual Marketing Meeting held by the Co. and its Exclusive Distributors from 26 -28 of June in Havana city. This announcement means the creation of a third line in its flagship brand, after the Classic and Siglo 1492 Lines. Habanos s.a. has been working in this project for more than five years as well as for Cohiba Behike.

Cuban Maduro Wrapper is obtained through a natural fermentation process undergoing an ageing of two years minimum - as Habanos s.a. clearly pointed out. Unlike other Maduro wrappers from other origins, that include artificial processes to force the colour of the wrappers, the process for obtaining Cuban Maduro Wrappers is 100% natural.

Representatives from Habanos s.a. also pointed out that “for maintaining the coherence with the international leadership of said brand, the Cuban Maduro wrapper used to dress these productions is five years aged. Thus, -official sources added- the Cuban Maduro Wrapper will have an extra ageing adding more uniqueness to this product.”

Limited Editions

Habanos will market three new products in the 2007 Limited Editions. The brands chosen are Romeo and Julieta, Hoyo de Monterrey and Trinidad which will be carrying on the traditional two-year ageing not only for the wrapper (as of today) but for the filler and binder leaves as well. These ageing features will be incorporated to all Limited Edition releases from now on.

2007 new products will be premiered at the 9th Edition of the Habanos Festival, to be held in Havana, Cuba next February.

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I would suspect that with 5 year old aged Wrapper, even if it is Maduro, that it will take the Cohiba line from a medium bodied cigar to a much fuller bodied cigar. At the same time increase the pricing and increase the profits. So the retailers will have something new for the guy walking in and asking for what is the newest and best thing going right now that doesn't want the ELs which we have all commented on as being a Fad. I am sort of interested in this new Cohiba as well as the Trinidad EL. A 2 year old Trinidad should be interesting.

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Tampa1257: I am sort of interested in this new Cohiba as well as the Trinidad EL.

Mods: Someone is obviously impersonating Chuck. He swore a blood oath that he would never smoke an EL. ;-)

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I will have more information on these next week. I have a dinner aranged in Havana next Thursday with some Habanos s.a marketing execs and Hamlet Paredes. Looking forward to a hell of a time :yes:

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» Rob when are you getting the Gold Medal's in ?

Jimmy, to my knowledge they have not been released at this time. I will try and get an approximate release date from Habanos s.a marketing next week.

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Several things come to mind concerning this announcement.

This tends to resolve the issue that Habanos S.A. has never before had a Maduro wrapper.

Now while the wrapper is going to be aged 5 years, they say nothing about the filler and binder, so logically, since they are not announcing the filler and binder to be aged 5 years, then it could be safe to conclude they will be using regular tobacco for this in the new cigar line. What has also not been addressed, is what vitolas are going to be made in this new line. Are they going to follow Altadis's general direction of other marcas and create new vitolas for the new line? Or are they going to duplicate other vitolas already being made? Following Altadis's marketing direction, would they all be bigger ring cigars? All of this makes me believe that Altadis is gearing up for expansion into new markets, that being the USA. Why do I say that? Well, it is widely known that the American Market has a love affair with Big Wide ring gauge cigars and I could just see an American going into a tobacconist and asking for a Maduro Cuban and being told that there was no such thing!

If they decide to duplicate vitolas with a Maduro wrapper, it may finally be able to determine how much flavor is derived from the wrapper. Take a Cohiba Robusto and then take a Maduro Cohiba Robusto and see what the difference in taste will be. FYI, it has been my opinion that the wrapper account for somewhere between 20-30% of the flavor in a cigar.

Now another issue to consider is what type of tobacco s being used for this Maduro wrapper? Is it the old H2000 wrapper that was basically fireproof? Now it is also widely known that the strains of tobacco must be changed about every 5-7 years to keep the tobacco from becoming resistant from disease such as Blue Mold and other crop killing diseases. So how long are they going to keep this new line going and when will it change to a new strain and what will the flavors change to then? It is going to be difficult for them because they are going to have to invest 5 years into aging the new tobacco and gamble on the results.

So many questions, and so little time to write them all down. Whats next? A Sun Grown wrapper following Altadis's love affair of having different wrappers on the shelf?

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» Several things come to mind concerning this announcement.

»

» This tends to resolve the issue that Habanos S.A. has never before had a

» Maduro wrapper.

»

» Now while the wrapper is going to be aged 5 years, they say nothing about

» the filler and binder, so logically, since they are not announcing the

» filler and binder to be aged 5 years, then it could be safe to conclude

» they will be using regular tobacco for this in the new cigar line. What

» has also not been addressed, is what vitolas are going to be made in this

» new line. Are they going to follow Altadis's general direction of other

» marcas and create new vitolas for the new line? Or are they going to

» duplicate other vitolas already being made? Following Altadis's marketing

» direction, would they all be bigger ring cigars? All of this makes me

» believe that Altadis is gearing up for expansion into new markets, that

» being the USA. Why do I say that? Well, it is widely known that the

» American Market has a love affair with Big Wide ring gauge cigars and I

» could just see an American going into a tobacconist and asking for a

» Maduro Cuban and being told that there was no such thing!

»

» If they decide to duplicate vitolas with a Maduro wrapper, it may finally

» be able to determine how much flavor is derived from the wrapper. Take a

» Cohiba Robusto and then take a Maduro Cohiba Robusto and see what the

» difference in taste will be. FYI, it has been my opinion that the wrapper

» account for somewhere between 20-30% of the flavor in a cigar.

»

» Now another issue to consider is what type of tobacco s being used for

» this Maduro wrapper? Is it the old H2000 wrapper that was basically

» fireproof? Now it is also widely known that the strains of tobacco must be

» changed about every 5-7 years to keep the tobacco from becoming resistant

» from disease such as Blue Mold and other crop killing diseases. So how

» long are they going to keep this new line going and when will it change to

» a new strain and what will the flavors change to then? It is going to be

» difficult for them because they are going to have to invest 5 years into

» aging the new tobacco and gamble on the results.

»

» So many questions, and so little time to write them all down. Whats next?

» A Sun Grown wrapper following Altadis's love affair of having different

» wrappers on the shelf?

All very good points Tampa. I would love to know if that is indeed the direction Habanos SA is heading.

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» I'd like to see some of the proposed 2006s like the RA Esptupendos

» actually released before we get to excited about the 2007s.

Very true. Out of the 4 main cigars I have been waiting for (Cohiba, Monte, Partagas ELs and the BGM), only 2 have been released so far, and that was in May. I was disappointed by the D3 and the Montes are VERY expensive, so that makes the wait even more unbearable.

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Just an update.

There will be three vitola's of the new Cohiba Maduro released.

I too would be thrilled to see 2005 cigars released and supplied in 2005, 2006 in 2006 and 2007 in 2007.

Anyone seen a Partagas P2 Tubos yet ? :lol2:

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Colt ....it is indeed a gamble.

Cubatobacco has previously steadfastly refused to produce true Maduro cigars. This was one hell of an internal battle.

IMHO the market will determine the longterm future of the path undertaken. If they are outstanding cigars they will sell. If not, they will sit on the shelf after the first year.

The news of the proposed release of the Montecristo Edmundo Petite Robusto at least lends credence to their focussing on the mid priced cigars as well.

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