Weekly Cigar News Sampler: Trump Cuba Changes Won’t Impact Cigars, CAO Fuma Em Corda, New Dunbarton Cigars, and More

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 535th in the series.

1) CAO is set to debut a new cigar line featuring Arapiraca tobacco fermented in ropes. According to a press release from General Cigar, in his travels to the Brazil in 2015, Ernest Gocaj, director of tobacco procurement for General, found natives who were fermenting Arapiraca leaves in ropes, and that the process “produced tobacco with flavor like nothing else.” Gocaj bought the natives’ entire harvest for the year and handed it over to CAO’s blending team. The result is the new CAO Fuma Em Corda, a new limited edition release “made with the world’s most rare Brazilian tobacco.” In addition to the rope-fermented Aripiraca, the cigar sports a Honduran Colorado wrapper, a Cameroon binder, and other filler tobaccos from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Brazil. Only 3,000 20-count boxes of a single vitola—Robusto (5 x 50)—will be made, each cigar with a suggested retail price of $8.99. There will also be a limited edition Toro (6 x 58, $10.49) for internet and catalog retailers.

2) Today, President Donald Trump’s long-awaited announcement on changes to U.S. policies toward Cuba is set to be delivered in Little Havana in Miami, Florida. Initial reports suggest not all of President Obama’s changes will be reversed. Of the eleven categories of travel to Cuba currently available to American citizens, all but one will remain. The biggest changes will come once Trump’s secretaries of Treasury and Commerce implement regulations that prohibit direct financial transactions with Cuban military intelligence and security services, though some exemptions will exist, including deals involving lodging options. One administration official said the goal of the changes is to “steer money away from the Cuban military and toward the Cuban people.” Flights and cruise ships from the United States will not be restricted, nor will there be changes to Obama’s policy shift that allows Cuban rum and cigars to be imported for personal use when traveling home from abroad.

3) Inside the Industry: Leading up to the 85th annual IPCPR Trade Show—which will be held July 10-14 in Las Vegas—Steve Saka took to Facebook to preview the offerings he will be highlighting at the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust booth. “In addition to [Muestra de Saka] Exclusivo, we have three very solid offerings to be showcased at this year’s IPCPR,” he posted. They include Mi Querida Gordita (4 x 48), “a plumper of air-cured Broadleaf joy;” Muestra de Saka Nacatamale (6 x 48), “one of my all-time favorite liga/vitola combos;” and Todos Las Dias, “our third core brand, which will really expand our portfolio of ‘puros sin compromiso’ with yet another totally different approach and flavor profile in the fuller-bodied world of craft cigars.” Saka went on to say, “I must say thank you to all our customers, [as] both Sobremesa and Mi Querida sales continue to grow. With most new cigars, customers try them and then move on to the next new cigar, so I want you to know we here at Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust are genuinely appreciative of all of you who have added our cigars to your rotation… Please know we always do our utmost to make cigars worthy of your support.”

4) From the Archives: Interested in the science behind humidor humidity? A conversation about it broke out in the comments of Wednesday’s article on prepping your humidor for the summer. Read it here.

5) Deal of the Week: Need a last-minute Father’s Day gift for dad? Consider a subscription to Bespoke Post, a monthly collection of awesome items delivered to your door for just $45. Available now are two cigar-oriented boxes. “Toast” features four cigars by H. Upmann and Romeo y Julieta, along with a cigar pouch and a small desktop humidor. “Study” includes two Montecristo White cigars, two Glencairn whiskey glasses, a cigar tube, and a smoke-eating candle. You can skip or switch to another box every month. Sign up your dad (or yourself) here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: General Cigar Co.