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CIGAR SPOTLIGHT
Macanudo Game Changer Innovations in leaf, from aging to blending, have been at the heart of Macanudo’s rise to prominence in the premium cigar business and among the top globally recognized brands. > BY FRANK SELTZER
B
ack in 1968 when Edgar Cullman’s General Cigar Company bought a small Jamaican factory, very few people could have guessed that transaction would be the birth of one of the world’s most recognized brands and one of the biggest innovators in the cigar industry: Macanudo. According to Steve Abbot, Macanudo’s senior brand manager, “Innovation for Macanudo has been focused in two areas: limited editions that are centered on the brand’s heritage, and full-time launches that change the way people think about the brand.” The brand does have a long history. In the mid-1960s, Jamaica was the place
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to be. After all, it was home to James Bond’s Ian Fleming, had stunning beaches, and was a short flight from New York. Edgar Cullman had a vacation home there. Jamaica also was home to several small cigar operations left over from World War II. During the war, Cuba could not sell its cigars to England because the country had no money to spare. But by moving some operations to the commonwealth of Jamaica no hard cash was needed. Says Benji Menendez, “They printed all the pictures of the King they wanted. So the factory was a joint venture of Fernando Palacio and Menendez y Garcia, my family’s company.”
So in Jamaica was the birth of the brand called Macanudo. The makers of Punch needed a new brand to sell to England and former King Edward loved the word Macanudo. He learned it from Argentinian polo players and it meant “super” or “fantastic.” The Cubans thought it would be welcomed by the British for their new Jamaican cigar. Jamaica continued producing cigars for England until the mid-1950s when Cuba opened back up to the British for cigars >Macanudo is the leading premium cigar brand in the U.S. Numerous line extensions and innovations over the years, focused on its tobacco processes and blending, have kept the brand at the forefront.
