Humo Latino Journal PCA 2023

Yfrach & Natura Cigar

Innovation in Tradition

Jacob

DIRECTORY

César Salinas Chávez

Director

Alberto Arizmendi

Publisher

Estados Unidos

Yaniv Erez

Honduras

Patricia Pineda

Rolando Soto

República Dominicana

Luisa Gómez

Félix Ferreira

Roberto Pérez Santiago

Editorial Design

Moisés Licea

Web Master

COLLABORATORS

Argentina

Gastón Banegas

Brasil

Rodrigo Emmanuel, Don Emmanuel

Colombia

Christian Gómez

Chile

Francisco Reusser

Christopher Sáez

Michel Iván Texier Verdugo

Nicolás Valenzuela Voss

España

José Antonio Ruiz Tierraseca

Fernando Sanfiel

Estados Unidos

Sergio Rosario Díaz

Irlanda

Luciano Quadrini

México

Raúl Melo

Ricardo Paredes

Manolo Santiago

Puerto Rico

José Luis Acosta

Cynthia L. González

Nelson Rivera Oquendo

República Dominicana

Krishna Rodríguez

Wendell Rodríguez

Venezuela

José Bello

Diego Urdaneta

Edited by:

YEAR

El Chan, Big Rubio

Rated 92

“The Resistance” advances in Puerto Rico

El Chan Cigars is not only an spearhead boutique tobacco company in Puerto Rico, but the origin of a movement with which José Gabriel Cruz, El Chan, and Liz Janice López lead “La Resistencia/The Resistance” against a tobacco industry that refuses to disappear from the island.

Heirs of the artisanal techniques and the tradition of manufacturing cigars, in addition to producing the brands El Chan and GalizSweet, they spread the Culture of Tobacco and lead the national market of cigar confection in private events

The idea of this movement is that more male and female rollers join and achieve – in addition to support – to give more value to the Made in Puerto Rico great cigars.

At the moment, some of its cigars have been recognized by specialized sites, such as stogiepress:(*)

.

Gran Toro Connecticut, 6 inches, ring gauge 60.

Wrapper: USA Connecticut. Binder: Indonesia.

Filler: Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

Strength: Mild.

Flavor Profile: Almond, Fruity Jam, Herbal, Lemon Grass, Natural Sweetness, Nut, Pepper, Toasted Bread.

El Chan, Big Bro.

Rated 88

Gran Toro Maduro, 6 inches, ring gauge 60.

Wrapper: Negro San Andrés.

Binder: Indonesia.

Filler: Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

Strength: Medium – Full.

Flavor Profile: Black Pepper, Cherry, Dark Chocolate, Fruit, Harsh, Spice.

El Chan, Gran Toro

Habano. Rated 86 Gran Toro Habano, 6 inches, ring gauge 60.

Wrapper: Habano 2000.

Binder: Indonesia.

Filler: Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

Strength: Medium.

Flavor Profile: Cedar, Coffee, Earth, Fruit, Harsh, Natural Sweetness, Pepper, Spice.

(* Stogie Press is a website emerged from the project of a cigars specialized magazine setteld in Florida, United States. Boosted by Jimmie Vita and his wife Dianne, it focuses on cigar reviews from boutique brands around the world and tobacco culture.

Chan PR La Hoja Del Chan

Innovation in Tradition

Against all canons, Jacob Yfrach is an expert and visionary farmer who grows tobacco in open-air and greenhouses in the mountains of the Dominican Republic: a high-altitude product which keeps the flavors and essential oils that give his cigars unique characteristics. Willing to continue investing in research and development, he plans to keep a boutique tobacco company with high-end cigars: a commitment to innovation, destined to set a precedent in the industry

Alberto Arizmendi

Descendant from a family of Moroccan farmers who settled in the Middle East, Jacob Yfrach grew up in the countryside, in a small village in Israel, next to his parents and nine siblings.

He followed the tradition and at the end of university he started the master’s degrees in Plant Nutrition and in Soil and Water Physics. He was an Advisor in Rural Development to the Israeli Government and participated in United Nations’ projects (FAO) in countries such as India and Nepal, among others.

Looking to broad his horizons of study and business took him to the United States and then to Mexico, where Sonora and Sinaloa are important agricultural areas. There he promoted, as an advisor, the technological change from surface irrigation to drip irrigation, as well as the installation of greenhouses, to increase production.

This allowed him to rent and acquire land on a large scale, as well as to associate with a major company, to which he sold his share seven years later. With that capital he moved to New York, where he established an agricultural distribution company and eventually –looking for land to plant– arrived into the Dominican Republic.

NATURA FIELDS

On the island, he began to produce greenhouse cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers; export vegetables

marketed by his office in New York, whose cultivation he would later extend to different areas of the country. The name of his company, Natura Fields, resulted from joining the words “Natura”, from Portuguese, and “Fields”, from English.

Jacob entered the World of Tobacco during the Covid-19 pandemic, as an alternative for development. He knew the importance of this industry in the Dominican Republic and “I took this course because they are non-perishable products of great acceptance and a global market”, he says.

When researching, he discovered that traditional techniques persist in tobacco cultivation and considered that by producing in open-air and greenhouses –in high areas– he could technify and improve processes, something that until now is not customary, to obtain something different.

INNOVATION IN TRADITION

As for cigars, Jacob says the most important thing is consistency:

that a product always has the same flavors and strength. Achieving this is difficult, because if differences exist between the leaves of the same tobacco plant –simply due to the stem’s height–, even more so when raw material from different countries is used.

His advisors are Modesta Fondeur and Daniel Núñez, who in 2009 retired as president of General Cigars, after 35 years in the industry. At first, they showed some doubts because they were crops in highlands, but now they recognize that the tobacco obtained has special flavors and smells.

The spirit that moves Natura Cigar is to take on the challenge of “innovation in tradition”.

In Jacob’s greenhouses and fields –installed in Constanza, more than 1,200 meters high– the temperature and humidity prolong the tasks of cultivation, cutting, drying and fermentation. But as a reward, even triple its costs, tobacco holds more flavors, essential oils and other desirable characteristics.

NATURA CIGAR

The company launched its first cigars in 2020, with four blends based on imported and local supplies. “Very good cigars that we send mainly to the United States and Israel”.

Forest has a Connecticut wrapper; Mustang, Habano, and Friesian, Negro San Andrés. All of them, in the Robusto vitolas, 5 inches, ring gauge 52; Torpedo and Toro, 6 inches, ring gauge 52, and Gordo, 6 inches, ring gauge 60. Finally, Akhal Teke, Cameroon wrapper, includes the Box Pressed vitolas of Gran Toro, 6 inches, ring gauge 60, and Torpedo, 6.5 inches, ring gauge 54, in addition to Solomon, 6.5 inches, ring gauge 58, and Churchill, 7 inches, ring gauge 48.

Entering the market reaffirmed Jacob’s conviction to grow his own tobacco, given the difficulty of obtaining raw material “when you’re looking to make something consistent”.

FIRST HARVEST

In the open-air and greenhouses, 15 varieties are planted, such as Habano, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, among others. For the control of irrigation, fertilization and other processes he uses computerized systems; a strict monitoring that allows to obtain leaves up to 1.80 meters long by 70 centimeters wide, for very thin and elastic wrappers.

Natura Cigar Co. is transitioning to cigars manufactured from his own tobacco and has managed to produce his first cigar, First Harvest –of limited production– the result of the initial harvest. With Habano wrapper, it is a medium creamy smoke, with sweet notes and a great aroma.

The idea is to increase the amount of tobacco adapted to the height –under its quality standards– after each harvest, which now totals four. “It’s been a process with a lot

of trials and costs, because it’s a business you invest in with a future perspective”, Jacob explains.

SETTING A PRECEDENT

The goal of Natura Cigar is to remain a boutique tobacco company and, in the medium term, launch a cigar with different blends every year. This will expand its market by connecting with fans willing to live new experiences.

In the world of tobacco “there is room for everyone –Jacob continues–, and when you invest in high-end products you allocate a lot of resources to production and research and development.

“I know that there are very good, excellent tobacco companies… I look for the technique to serve as a guide in this business and our innovations to set a precedent in the industry”.

naturacigars.com