May 22, 2013 (Basel, Switzerland) — Davidoff tobacco masters have created these very special Limited Edition “Club House” Toro Cigars with moments of shared pleasure in mind. The connoisseur’s choice, wherever he or she is relaxing, particularly enjoying the fairways on a golf course.
Creation of the Davidoff Masters Edition 2013 “Club House” Toro
For this cigar, the Davidoff Master Blenders decided to play the long game, taking adventurous, sometimes risky, shots. They mixed rare and specially matured tobaccos, focusing on delivering delightful aromas rather than pure strength.
The majestic Gran Toro format allows the aficionado to enjoy the cigar’s intensive but balanced and nuanced taste over its entire length: the exceptional Yamasá wrapper, Mejorado filler and Ecuadorian binder develop mildly peppery and creamy notes, followed by elegant hints of chocolate, caramel and coffee.
Finally, displaying a playful elegance, both the cigar box, which is finished in high gloss white, and the second band carry a golf ball pattern.
The new Davidoff Masters Edition Club House Toro is the ultimate way to fill your time beautifully on a golf course with your friends.
This exclusive edition is limited to 7’000 boxes worldwide and the Davidoff Masters Edition 2013 “Club House” Toro can certainly be described as a collector’s item. As we all know, the perfect round of golf depends upon the choice or club and cigar.
This Limited Edition will be available from the end of May onwards in Appointed Merchants across the US.
Price: $21.90 (each)
Price: $219.00 (box of 10)
Format: Gran Toro
Length: 15.9 cm, 6 ¼”
Ring gauge: 2.1 cm, 52 RG
Wrapper: Yamasá- Marron Claro (matured for 3 years)
Binder: Ecuador
Filler: Piloto Viso, San Vicente Mejorado Seco, Piloto Mejorado Seco, San Vicente Mejorado Viso, Vicente Mejorado Viso
Effective use of social media platforms like Instagram can entice hundreds and even thousands of potential customers to your product for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing strategies.
In the four years I’ve been actively involved in the New York City cigar community, I’ve become acquainted with the whole gambit of cigar companies that make up what we bloggers like to call the “industry.” I’ve helped to market or promote companies like the small local brick and mortar in Brooklyn, to the new boutique brand in Arizona, and on up to legendary industry leaders like Nat Sherman. My team has hosted or sponsored over 60 events in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and NJ. I’ve also spent a lot of time marketing my own organization, FineTobaccoNYC, which after starting in 2010 as a wordpress blog has become a review website, cigar club with over 700 members, and a luxury consulting company.
You can only meet your customers where they are, and they are on social media.
Central to all of my efforts has been the utilization of social media. I’ve sold a lot of cigars on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, for myself and on behalf of a number of companies. In my work, I’ve noticed that many cigar company owners either a) don’t maintain a social media presence, b) don’t use social media in a way that effectively drives sales, and/or c) don’t know how to measure the effectiveness of social media efforts.
This series of posts, “Social Media for Cigar Companies,” is intended to help cigar shops, brands, and other industry players to market their brand more effectively. If you are a cigar company owner, or just a small business owner referred here from Google, read on and learn how to make money using social media.
Let’s start with why you need to be utilizing social media.Consider these six reasons:
1. Your customers are already using social media
According to the Experian 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, a whopping 91% of adults have a social media presence. Cigar smokers are no exception. The hashtag #cigar on Instagram, for example, has over 300,000 photos and is growing more rapidly every day. You can only meet your customers where they are, and they are on social media. You might be able to count on the older generation calling you on the phone, but you can’t count on that with the younger crowd that will soon make up your customer base.
2. Your competitors are, or will, use social media
Social media as we know it now is less than a decade old. This presents an incredible opportunity for companies with foresight to take an early lead in marketing to the next generation of cigar smokers. It also means that this is your market to lose if you don’t make a wise investment in building a strong presence on social media.
3. Social Media is perfectly suited for luxury market companies
Luxury marketing is about narrative. People don’t just buy your product—they buy your story, your vision of life. This of course means that you must have a story to tell. But just as important, you must be able to present that story in a compelling way.
“92% of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising.”
Social media is key to this. An Abrams Research study on social media marketing for luxury companies put it this way:
“The luxury market is ideally situated to thrive on social media. Along with deeper pockets, a keen interest in staying up to date on the latest consumer product goods, and an appetite for luxury products and lifestyle markers that’s growing all the time, its customers – the affluent – spend more time online than the general population.”
4. Social media is a leading source of customer referral
The 2012 Nielsen Report on “Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages” found that trust in traditional forms of advertising (television, magazine, banner ads, etc) is in rapid decline. The marketplace is simply too saturated with ads, and as a result consumers have lost faith in those ads.
At the same time, 92% of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as recommendations from friends and family above allother forms of advertising. Translation: the $4000 you just spent placing that magazine ad could have been two, three, or four times as effective in social media. Why? Because social media is all about referrals. When Bob sees that Jim liked your company’s Facebook page, he is more likely to connect with your company and purchase your product than if you shouted at him to buy your product from a slick looking banner ad.
5. Social media builds invaluable business relationships
Roughly 90% of the valuable relationships I have in the industry started out as friendly conversations on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Why such a lopsided number? The power of these networks is that the social barriers between users are almost entirely non-existent. This allows for informal, totally off the cuff conversations that can serve as introductions to valuable business relationships.
6. Your business can survive without it. But why just survive?
As more of life takes place in online venues, and as social media becomes more deeply embedded in our lives, more of our relationships will start and grow online. At some point, social media relationship building will be a given. This is a big opportunity for those who see the tide shifting and act, and a liability for those who don’t.
In our next segment, we’ll look at the basic platforms you must have a presence on and discuss how each of them allows you to broadcast to, interact with, and entice your audience.
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Michael Herklots of Nat Sherman Cigars, the iconic New York City tobacconist, announced today via Facebook the release of the Nat Sherman 1930, which will feature both Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos.
The Facebook announcement is below:
Herklots posted:
As Cigar Aficionado has exclusively reported: We are pleased to announce the release of The Nat Sherman 1930. Handmade by MATASA in Santiago, Dominican Republic, the line is offered in five sizes – Corona (5.5” x 42), Corona Grande (6” x 46), Rothschild (4.5” x 52), Gran Robusto (5.25” x 54) and Inmenso (7” x 56). Packed in boxes of 24 cigars, the Nat Sherman 1930 ranges in price from $8.75 – $12.00 per cigar, before applicable taxes. The cigars combine aged filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, have a Dominican binder, and are finished with a Dominican-grown wrapper.
“The Nat Sherman 1930 Collection pays homage to the year the brand was founded, builds upon our long established tradition of innovation, and follows the success of our award-winning Timeless collection, released in February, 2012,” said Nat Sherman Executive Vice President William Sherman.
Executive Director of Retail and Brand Development Michael Herklots adds, “While there is no shortage of great cigars in the world today, there is a strong and growing demand for distinctive cigars that offer an incomparable balance of strength, flavor and aroma. The Nat Sherman 1930 is a rich cigar, with deep and complex flavors, yet offers a brightness and overall balance that contributes to a truly memorable experience.”
The 1930 Collection will be available in June. Visit our store locator to find an authorized Nat Sherman Tobacconist Near you. Which one do you plan to try first?
Alan Winchester, Master Distiller of The Glenlivet led the inaugural tasting of a new mystery expression, The Glenlivet Alpha at a media launch event held at the Whisky Shop in Piccadilly on 8th May.
Chivas Brothers CEO, Christian Porta, attended the event to support the launch of the new expression, which is limited to 3350 bottles.
Guests were also invited to try a range of sensory challenges launched by the Glenlivet in collaboration with Greyworld to help whisky enthusiasts master their senses to unlock the secrets of The Glenlivet Alpha. The sensory challenges are hosted on The GlenlivetFacebook page and http://www.theglenlivet.com/.
Alan Winchester (pictured above leading the tasting) will reveal the tasting notes and cask information for the mystery expression in a video broadcast on 6th June at 12:30pm. To watch the reveal live, visit The Glenlivet’s Facebook page.
Notes
Follow The Glenlivet on Twitter via the handle @The_Glenlivet and stream the campaign through #alpha
The Glenlivet is the No. 2 single malt Scotch whisky in the world. Crafted in the remote Livet Valley since 1824, it is the only whisky with the unchallengeable right to be called The Glenlivet.
Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits. Chivas Brothers is the global leader in luxury Scotch whisky and premium gin. Its portfolio includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, Beefeater Gin, The Glenlivet, Royal Salute, Aberlour, Plymouth Gin, Longmorn, Scapa, 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport.
May 15, 2013 (Richmond, Va.) — La Gloria Cubana® is making a bold departure from its Dominican roots with the launch of two new Nicaraguan collections, the first-ever La Glorias to have Nicaragua as the country of origin. Both expressions will mark the expansion of the top-selling Serie R line which started the large ring, full flavor craze back in 1999.
According to Michael Giannini, General Cigar’s director of innovation, “When Serie R debuted, we established a market for bold cigars, and inspired other manufacturers to follow suit. We’re shaking things up again, by further expanding the size and flavor spectrum of our cigars with two unique and different full-flavored Nicaraguan blends, each in ultra-large ring gauges. Both new collections are trend setters in the making.”
The first of the two new Nicaraguan collections is a puro called Serie R Black. The blend features viso leaves from Jalapa and Esteli, and a Jalapa viso binder. The use of Jalapa viso as a binder and in the blend speaks to the spectacular characteristics of this tobacco, which was cultivated by a small, independent grower named Pedro Joaquin Guardian. It was Pedro who took a bold step by raising the tobacco on several small, unconnected plots on the craggy Jalapa mountainside. The blend is punctuated with an audacious Jalapa ligero wrapper. Harvested from the 2009 crop, this flavorful tobacco was fermented for an entire year, and aged for two and a half years.
Serie R Black debuts with a trio of brawny frontmarks, each in 18-count boxes. This includes: No 58 (6.87” x 58, SRP $6.99); No 60 (6” x 60, SRP $7.24) and No 64 (6.25” x 64, SRP $7.49). This collection will only be available for purchase through Internet/catalog retailers.
Initial details about the second Serie R offering will be released in June, with a full reveal in July at the IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas. This new line will be a brick and mortar exclusive.
Giannini noted, “What’s also significant about both new blends is that they have the full flavor that’s characteristic of Nicaraguan tobacco, but they’re not about power. They are meant to deliver the smoking experience of a well-aged, refined and balanced Nicaraguan smoke, and we believe we’re delivering that in spades.”
May 17, 2013 (Miami, Fla) — Moya Ruiz Cigars has announced they are adding a 6 x 60 vitola called Ancho to their La Jugada – Prieto line. The line is available in five sizes, Robusto (5 x 52), Belicoso (6-1/8 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), Doble Corona (7-1/2×49), and now Ancho (6 x 60).
The Ancho vitola is now available and ready to ship to retailers. It is presented in boxes of 20 cigars with an MSRP of $8.80 a cigar.
Moya Ruiz Cigars introduced their first cigar brand in late 2012 called La Jugada – Prieto, which is Spanish for “the move” or “the play”. This was an ode to their love for dominoes and poker. La Jugada – Prieto is med-to-full bodied and comes in a dark San Andres Maduro wrapper with binder and filler from Nicaragua. The La Jugada – Prieto is full of complex flavors like, cedar, sweet spice, expresso, and dark chocolate. This is one of the first side lines blended and rolled at Erik Espinosa’s La Zona Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Danny Moya and Nelson Ruiz are the men behind the Moya Ruiz Cigar company. For more information visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/moyaruizcigars.
The team at FineTobaccoNYC is proud to announce we’ve partnered with the Carnegie Club to host an epic cigar and whiskey tasting on June 5th. The tasting will feature the Grand Empire Reserve from Reinado Cigars, as well as the Rough Rider Small Batch bourbon from Long Island Spirits.
The event is free and open to the public. Below are details mailed to those on the mailing list.
May 15, 2013 (Louisville, Ky.) — Ted’s Cigars, a leading manufacturer of premium branded cigars announces a collaboration with Duck Commander, the company that produces duck calls featured in the hit A&E series Duck Dynasty. The packaging of the officially licensed “Duck Commander Cigar” features members of the Robertson clan and the company’s signature logo. The cigar itself is handcrafted in Dominican Republic.
Millions of viewers have made Duck Dynasty a blockbuster reality show hit. Yet, the family’s success began with patriarch’s Phil Robertson’s original duck call. After patenting the call in 1972, he built what is today an empire of Duck Commander hunting products headquartered in West Monroe, Louisiana.
The launch of the Duck Commander Cigar follows the tradition of hunting and cigars. Hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, and casual smokers will enjoy the cigar’s excellent blend of Ecuadorian Habano, United States Broadleaf, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Dominican Habano, and Dominican Criollo 98 tobacco.
The tradition of Duck Commander craftsmanship and excellence is in line with that of the storied history of Ted’s Cigars. For almost 20 years, Ted’s Cigars has been the industry leader in the development, marketing, and licensing of premium cigars. Fortune 100 companies and worldwide brands including Maker’s Mark, Grand Marnier, Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Forty Creek Whiskey, Courvoisier, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Sr. have all entrusted Ted’s Cigars to license their name. Indeed, Ted’s Cigars are the “go-to” guys for any brand that seeks to launch a cigar.
“This is an exciting partnership between Ted’s Cigars and Duck Commander and an excellent fit given that we are also avid hunters,” said Ted Jackson, President of Ted’s Cigars. “We share many of the same values as the boys at Duck Commander, and know enjoying a fine cigar while outdoors can make anyone ‘happy, happy, happy.”
The Duck Commander Cigar is a 6 x 50 Toro and features a mild, creamy smoke with a smooth finish. Individually sealed in a glass tube – no humidor required.
Expecting a huge demand, the cigars are available for pre-orders in singles and in boxes of 3, 10, & 25 cigars at www.tedscigars.com. Orders will ship at the end of May.
Cigar enthusiasts often think of cigar company reps as professional cigar smokers that advocate just one particular brand. In reality, cigar repping is a lot more complex and takes even more hard work. I recently spoke with Dustin Schmidt, Northeast Territory Representative for Carlos Toraño Cigars, about what it means to be a cigar rep, and what brought him into the business.
Q. Where are you from, and what originally drew you to cigars?
A. I was born and raised in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. For all of you out there wondering where that is, it is a small bedroom community located an hour north of NYC. I first started getting into cigars at the age of 18 when I took a senior class trip to Spain. My classmates and I, free from the tyranny of middle class parenthood, had a bit of a rebellious streak running though us before we landed in Madrid. We wanted to get our hands on anything that may be construed as counterculture, or defying the status quo, so cigars seemed like a natural fit. Plus we had heard you could smoke Cubans there, so the forbidden fruit theory had proven true. My first cigar was a Montecristo #4 and needless to say my untrained palate could not decipher any distinguishable characteristics at the time, but I thought it was a pretty cool experience.
Q. How did you first get involved withToraño?
That is an interesting question, and one that I could go on forever about because it was quite the journey. I will try to give the Cliffs Notes version if that is at all possible. I had worked at the Davidoff Columbus Circle store in Manhattan between 2007 and 2008. There I learned quite a bit about cigars from Michael Herklots and Kevin Threat along with manufacturers who came to visit the store.
Before then, I had been passionate about cigars for several years, but I knew very little about how they were made, the different types of tobacco used, and countries of origin along with their impact on the flavor profile. From there I started my own blog, where I reviewed boutique cigars from manufacturers like El Tiante, Reinado, Nomad Cigar Company, and Panacea Cigars.
In January 2012, I was at a Toraño Family Cigars tasting event at one of my favorite shops on the planet: Hudson Valley Cigars in New Windsor, NY. I am still enamored by the fact that you can go there and enjoy a cigar along with an unbelievable steak dinner at Schlessingers Steak House. At the event I met Territory Representative Miguel Schoedel who was excited about where Toraño was headed. They were experiencing quite a bit of growth at the time and were looking to bring on a new rep for the Northeast. When I first submitted my resume to VP of Sales and Marketing Bruce Lewis, he said that they were expanding, but it would not be for a few more months. I was excited about the possibility of working for them, and knowing that I was one of many qualified candidates interested in the position, I asked to review some of their cigars on my blog. I had smoked the Exodus 50 Year, Exodus 1959, and Master before, but had never reviewed their cigars. I was sent some samples and really enjoyed all of them, especially one of their newer blends at the time: Vault. About five months later I was hired, and the rest is history.
Q. What’s it like being a brand rep? I know for some of us enthusiasts, brand reps can seem like shadowy figures traveling around in the name of a company. But what it is that you do?
A. Being a territory representative in the cigar industry is far different than what I thought it was like when I was a consumer hanging out at cigar shops. Don’t get me wrong, It is great to travel across the Northeast to visit shops and to meet customers, but I think many people paint a hyperbolic, romanticized picture about what it must be like to be a cigar salesman. I believe what many people miss is the sacrifice, hard work and stress involved being on the road as frequently as you are. I have grown the utmost respect for cigar reps as the result of walking in their shoes because I could not grasp all that it entailed before now.
Q. What is the most memorable experience you’ve had as a member of the Toraño family?
A. That’s easy: meeting Charlie Toraño just outside of Newark Airport right after I was hired last year. I had never met Charlie before, so it was quite a surreal experience. At the time it was kind of intimidating because here I was a total rookie in the cigar industry with no real experience, but he had the confidence and trust in my ability to help grow their presence in the Northeast.
Q. Cigar smokers are known for being friendly, but the industry as a whole can sometimes seem a bit cut-throat. What has been your experience?
My approach is somewhat atypical. I believe that the best way to make a contribution is to create value and be of service unconditionally. Bullying is a dead end street that usually leads to resentment and hard feelings. When you have a product that is as good of quality and at an incredibly competitive price as Toraño, it becomes more about building relationships and less about the hard sell. Yes, it is a competitive marketplace with a lot of great choices, and there are many fine cigars coming to shops across the country every day that blow me away in terms of complexity, and quality of blending. We believe that there is a cigar in our portfolio that is right for you, and ultimately our goal is to find one that fits into your rotation.
Q.Toraño makes incredible cigars. The Master Blend (reviewed here) and Master Maduro are fantastic, along with the Exodus 50 Year (reviewed here). Some of my favorite cigars. Yet I don’t see them at many shops, which has always surprised me. IsToraño more of a boutique brand, or is your plan to expand and become a national, sort of everyday smoke?
A. Toraño Cigars is a boutique brand. Being a family owned company, we are pretty small compared to other manufacturers. The reason why you don’t see Toraño everywhere is because we are more focused on working with the best stores that are supportive of our lines rather than being everywhere you go. Having said that, there is more room for growth and with our portfolio expanding to include Leccia Tobacco Company and Palio, we are excited about where we are, and the direction we are going.
You can learn more about CarlosToraño Cigars at theirwebsite.
The makers of premium whisky brand Wild Turkey are introducing an exciting honey-flavoured bourbon, American Honey to the UK this month. American Honey, is blended with real Kentucky Wild Turkey bourbon and hand-selected American honey and has been developed to be shared with friends, chilled from the bottle as a shot.
Unlike other honey flavoured bourbons, American Honey retains the taste and kick of straight bourbon but introduces subtle notes of sweet honey, caramel and orange giving it a much smoother finish. American Honey was the first ever bourbon liqueur with honey to launch in the US and is one of Wild Turkey’s signature drinks made in their distillery near Lawrenceburg in Kentucky, USA.
American Honey is smooth without being overly sweet and is perfect straight out of the bottle as a shot, chilled or over ice, or works well with mixers like cola.
American Honey will be touring University Student Unions around the UK with a branded American Honey photobooth and will also be offering the chance to win a US Road Trip in summer 2013. For more details go to www.facebook.com/americanhoneyuk
