Humo Latino Journal No. 8

DIRECTORY

César Salinas Chávez

Director

Alberto Arizmendi

Editorial Director

República Dominicana

Julio César Fuentes

Honduras

Patricia Pineda

Rolando Soto

Roberto Pérez Santiago

Designer

Raúl Melo

Publisher

COLLABORATORS

Argentina

Gastón Banegas

Brasil

Rodrigo Emmanuel

Colombia

Eduardo Márquez

Canadá

Nicolás Valenzuela Voss

Chile

Francisco Reusser

Christopher Sáez

Michel Iván Texier Verdugo

España

Luciano Quadrini

José Antonio Ruiz Tierraseca

Fernando Sanfiel

Estados Unidos

Blanca Suárez

México

Aurelio Contreras

Manolo Santiago

Puerto Rico

José Luis Acosta

Venezuela

José Bello

Diego Urdaneta

Installs factory in Tamboril...

Nova’s new shine

If during its presentation at the Premium Cigar Association Trade Show (PCA)* 2019 Nova was a rising star, at this point Platinum Nova Cigars is shining brightly, after installing its own factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic. This allows it to diversify the wide range of its lines with more blends and vitolas, but will preserve the manufacturing of the original products both in that country and in Nicaragua, guaranteeing quality and consistency.

to torpedo, perfecto, pigtail and box pressed, with ring gauges from 43 to 70, with an emphasis on the fifties.

TERRA NOVA CIGAR FACTORY

Established in Florida ten years ago, the company’s expansion in the United States began in 2019 with the incorporation of Leonor Abzaradel as Executive Director and the launch of an ultra-premium Limited Edition, after which erasing the expensive brand label involved time and effort. Maintaining that level of quality is part of the Nova Doctrine

Lowering prices, analyzing the market and listening to the consumer involved new lines to cover the entire aficionado market. The current portfolio includes six Limited Editions, eleven lines and a collection, with the most diverse strengths, blends and tobaccos. Their vitolas range is stablished from a football game ball

After their first years in a competitive market, they found distribution channels that allowed them to consolidate the brand in the United States, and despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, reach and strengthen themselves in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The recognition of the market has given them a place in the cigar industry.

In Tamboril, the World Cigar Capital, Dominican Republic, Terra Nova Cigar Factory is located, their factory launched during 2023. The two most recent vitolas are produced here: Platinum Nova Cigar Trappist 1G, 71/4 inch, ring gauge 54 Torpedo, with Habano 2000 Oscuro wrapper, and Platinum Nova Cigar 5 Boroughs, a tribute to the city of New York, in the 7 inches, ring gauge 50 Churchill vitola, with Negro San Andrés wrapper.

ULTRA PREMIUM

As the brand’s purpose is to maintain the production of ultra-premium vintage cigars, Leonor clarifies that even with its new factory, the transition is based on strict control in the production of the products. “Nothing has changed in the quality and consistency of Nova,” she says,

“and the consumer will continue to find this unique combination of modern cigars made with old school roots.”

Robert Glick...

Pairing cigar bands, colors, shapes and social work

Robert Glick, the cigar bands artist, is a lawyer originally from New York –where he has practiced his profession for more than three decades–, and a cigar aficionado who years ago began collecting the bands from every cigar he smoked. But unlike those who practice Vitolphily, who treasure them for their age, rarity or origin, there came a time when he didn’t know what to do with them, until he realized that he could use them to make sought after art designs and cigar accessories.

Robert explains that his collection of cigar bands are like paint, although in his art he tries to use them not only as a color palette, but as a tool to highlight key aspects or specific focal points of his designs, creating a symbiotic pairing between each connecting shape.

During the Procigar 2024 Festival, he was the artist selected to design the cover of the cigar box given as a gift during the White Night. The original artwork was then integrated into a one-of-a-kind humidor manufactured by HumidifGroup, auctioned off at the Gala Night to the highest bidder at $45,000.00, to benefit different Dominican charity organizations that support those who need it the most. It was a reinterpretation of the Procigar event logo, based on the cigar bands of each of the factories represented by the members of the Association.

For Robert, his artwork has never been about the money, because as a young boy his father constantly instilled in him that “It is always better to give than to receive”; words bespeak why a large part of his income from his art is allocated to charity.

After five years of regular trips to the Dominican Republic, Robert describes the tobacco industry as a big family, filled with love and opened arms that welcomed him from day one and continue to support his altruistic and artistic work to this day.

In addition, Robert has his own cigar brand: Kinship Cigars, with two lines of Negro San Andrés and Habano 2000 wrapper cigars. The San Andrés received a rating of 90

Cigar Band Beauty.

in January, and the Habano 2000 received a rating of 90 in the current edition of Cigar Journal Magazine

For more information, to commission a work, or to purchase an existing

piece, you can scan the QR code below, or contact Robert directly at his mobile 1-516-728-4455.

Robert, with the cigar box he designed, during the Procigar 2024 festival.

SOTL GLOBAL MOVEMENT

The Change is Here!

Women Friendly Cigar Destinations

The SOTL Global Movement is revolutionizing the cigar industry with its Women Friendly Cigar Destinations initiative and announces the creation of a global network of cigar destinations with welcoming spaces where women and men can immerse themselves in the rich culture of cigar world.

Dr. Anastasia Psomiadi, Ph.D. in Social Psychology and Master of Arts in Theology says:

“Everyone who knows me, knows my love & passion for composing different and often conflicting scientific fields. The formation of the global network of Women Friendly Cigar

Destinations is based on a proposal that I did, as the Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship advisor of the President of the International Centre for Health Tourism (IHTCT), right before the Covid era.”

The forming of this pivotal partnership with Lefty Karropoulos, Chief Development Officer of SGM, who has high business ethics & years of experience in the corporate world, shaped the initial proposal to the SOTL Global Movement: Women Friendly Cigar Destinations

“I spent 3 years investigating, interviewing women from around the world, organizing round tables with

members of our organization, putting together meetings with our Advisory Board and Committees, in order to determine the characteristics that transform a place as women friendly.”

Furthermore, the establishment of this Global Network required the valuable experience and contributions of women like Amanda Micallef, Des Silver, Katja Gnann, Janine Perdomo, Cynthia Fuente, Leo Abzaradel, Karen Berger, Temi Bu, Patricia Khalaf, Romy Kashouty, Ana López, Raquel Quesada, Melissa Meerapfel, Liana Fuente, Carry Rodríguez, P La Cangri, Sara Rodríguez, Belkys Sánchez, Lisa Sigler, Cynthia González, Patricia Pineda and numerous others.

THE REQUIREMENTS

The SGM requirements can be used as a guide by everyone who is interested in becoming better!

There is a list of those that must be complied with, and another of those that would be advisable to incorporate. To be part of the Women Friendly Cigar Destinations network,

WOMEN REVIEWERS

everything they offer and answer a questionnaire through a mobile device.

WORLD MAP

The SGM Network world map connects cigar culture lovers and promotes women-friendly cigar destinations. Users can easily navigate and explore places, making it simple to plan their visits. Detailed information is provided about each one, including reviews, ratings, address, contact information, and a brief description of its features.

SGM COURSE

Dr. Psomiadi, during her time as a Sustainability & Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship professor, and head of the Master of Business Administration programs at 3 universities in Europe, continued creating innovating courses, not only for academic institutions and companies but also for SOTL Global Movement.

“I love to combine my interests,” she continues. “I am creating a course on Women Friendly Cigar Destinations, one that will be shaped by case studies from the certified lounges; this course will hopefully be launched by the middle of 2025”.

The Reviewers are a group of women who are aficionadas or enjoy cigars occasionally. As a reviewer, your mission is to visit establishments, experience establishments must adhere to the following criteria:

MORE INFORMATION:

SOTL GLOBAL MOVEMENT Networking Event, in PCA 2023.

Dr. Anastasia Promiadi, Founder SOTL Global Movement, Social Innovator and Entrepreneur.

Venero...

A childhood memory, with love to all

With nearly 20 years of experience in the market, the fourth-generation tobacco maker Cristian Quintana leads Tabacalera Quintana, located in Tamboril, Dominican Republic, where countless naked cigars have come from for different private label; a common usage among boutique producers.

A childhood memory of grandmother

Venero and her orange leaf pachuchés, moved Cristian to the need to create something that would honor her and thus this own brand cigar was born, manufactured with Seco Dominicano, Criollo 98, Piloto and 2020 fillers; Sumatra Ecuador binder and Habano Ecuador wrapper, in a 6-inches, ring gauge 70 Double Figurado; 6 inches, ring gauge 56 Box Pressed and a 6 inches, ring gauge 54 Toro

In the Dominican Republic, the boutique producers who are outside the free tax zone are dedicated to doing very similar things, but Cristian took another path. Creating a blend with

tobaccos from different countries, with woody and sweet notes in a very natural cigar, with strength 7/10, flavor 9/10 and seven months of Aging Room, it is a smoke with love for everyone: from the regular aficionado, to even those who are just starting out.

For Tabacalera Quintana, this Venero in Toro size and its appearance in the Top 10 of Dominican Boutique Cigars

from El Humidor de Don Humberto, by Luis Monsanto, La Leyenda, is an opportunity for visibility and recognition within the highly competitive domestic market of the island.

Cristian Quintana’s experience includes having worked in different cigar factories over two decades. In 2018, he met Marco Accardi as a canadian client, with whom in 2022 he established Tabacalera Caballeros, a company with which they remember the origins of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, founded in 1495 and the first in America with that name.

At Tabacalera Caballeros three lines are offered: Maduro, with Negro San Andrés wrapper and Sumatra binder; Habano, with Habano wrapper and Olor Dominicano binder, and Connecticut, with Connecticut Ecuador wrapper and Sumatra binder. In all three cases, the tobacco used in the filler remains a secret.

Cristian Quintana.

Hiram & Solomon Cigars’ commitment to a universal smoke

Created 10 years ago with the idea of supporting the charitable activities of a Masonic lodge, Hiram & Solomon Cigars now focuses on satisfying as many palates as possible in order to achieve success and, with it, the financing of many more charitable works.

The company is headed by Fouad and Romy Kashouty, who have worked hard to make the brand a recognizable and recognized emblem within the industry, having a presence in nearly 30 countries and 800 lounges in the United States and having won awards and recognitions in Europe and North America, where the award for The Best Boutique Brand of 2022 by CigarsLover Magazine stands out.

For Romy, each award is an incentive that strengthens the passion to continue doing things better within the industry, a group that for them is like a family that they hope to see every year at the PCA show, in addition to having a solid online community that maintains ties despite distance.

But Hiram & Solomon is not only charitable activities, it also means the empowerment of women through their participation within the Sisters Of the Leaf (SOTL) Global Movement, where Romy collaborates in the mission of breaking stereotypes within the industry and to create more friendly environments for women smokers.

And how can you please all palates?

As a strategy to adapt to the market and new generations of smokers, the brand has the hashtag #everyonecigar, an ideology that represents its goal of satisfying as many palates as possible. Objective that is pursued by privileging listening to the public and sellers trying to stay updated within a changing market, “We know that we cannot please every consumer but we try and having different blends designed for many palates is how we do it,” says Fouad during the interview.

For Romy the answer is simple: Looking to have the perfect construction, the perfect mix, the perfect draw; After that, everything is in the hands of each person’s taste, “but we try to cover as much as we can, considering the opinion of everyone who wants to contribute something,” she reiterates.

Innovation plays a fundamental role in this objective and for this reason, the brand always works on new blends, secretly preparing for the next few years, “but I can tell you that one of them has a Cameroon wrapper and has been cooking for the last 3 years and it seems that it is ready to launch it very soon,” concludes Romy.

Heart & Soul Limited Edition

Toro, 6 inches, ring gauge 52.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano.

Binder: Ecuadorian.

Filler: Dominican Seco and Dominican Ligero

hiramandsolomoncigars.com

@hiramandsolomoncigars

Hiram and Solomon Cigars

Romy and Fouad Kashouty.