Page 40 - TOB Magazine March/April 2013
Basic HTML Version
86
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
MARCH/APRIL 2013
PRODUCT PROFILE
Hustling at
7-20-4 Cigars
Kurt A. Kendall, founder of today’s 7-20-
4 Cigars, is reintroducing a second dusty
brand—“Hustler,” a trademark that hails
back to the late 19th Century. Following
the company’s introduction of the 7-20-4
and 1874 boutique lines, the Hustler “has a
misty history,” reports Kendall, “which I’m
still researching. The brand dates back to
a New York State birth in 1892. I selected
its original box art because it almost leaps
off the shelf. It shows a dandy in full stride,
toting a carpetbag and briefcase, with
newspaper and ‘bumbershoot’ under each arm. His grin and the angle of the cigar
in his mouth say this guy’s a hustler, in more ways than one.”
The Spanish cedar box holds an unusual 27 cigars, divided into three
compartments. Each holds nine parejos cigars in 5.5x52, 6x54 (both at $9.00
MSRP), plus 6.375x58 ($11.00 MSRP). The Hustler, entirely separate from Kendall’s
benchmark 7-20-4 line, is triple-capped for durability of its heads, and entubado-
bunched, yielding a company-touted “vertical integrity” that ensures smooth
draws and uniform burns. The cigars are made by Tabacos de Oriente in Danli,
Honduras. The tobaccos carry five years of aging, with the cigars resting another
six months.
The cigars are spirally wrapped in a two-tone, barber-pole wrapper, with a dark
and brawny Brazilian Mata Fina leaf and a contrasting tawny, Ecuadorian-grown
Connecticut Shade leaf. The heads are finished in a traditional Cuban-style pigtail,
and the Jamastran and Jalapa filler is held in a Costa Rican binder. The Hustler is
a medium-bodied smoke, with the spiral wrapper providing a visual emphasis to
what Kendall calls its “swirl of complex flavors and aroma.”
7-20-4 Cigars, Vintage Cigar Distributors of New England, Inc., 603-965-4493,
Diversifying Discount Cigs
JTI is debuting Wave Collection, a new addition to the brand family that
will be available in California, Louisiana and Kentucky during the second
quarter of 2013. Wave Collection, which complements the brand’s
premium quality American blend tobacco, is available in a sleek 100 mm
round-corner box in two popular flavors: Blue and Menthol Green.
Wave Collection is supported by the JTI U.S.A. field force and offers
unique integrated marketing programs typically associated with premium
brands, including consumer coupon mailings, exciting consumer
promotions and a dedicated consumer website.
JTI, Teaneck, New Jersey, 800-966-9709,
Sensational Super
Premium
Zander-Greg’snewNatCiccoHHB“Super
Premium” cigar is available in three sizes:
7.25x52, 6.25x56 and 5.25x54. All share
a pigtail-capped head and a foot that
is enclosed within the wrapper—both
features also found in Zander-Greg’s
recently introduced “Aniversario 1965,”
which celebrates the year that the Nat
Cicco “Rejects” were born.
HHB has an Ecuadorian-grown
Connecticut Shade leaf wrapper, with
a Nicaraguan binder and filler for a
well-balanced and full-bodied smoke
the company describes as “robust,
but creamy smooth, very flavorful
and
elegantly
aromatic.”
HHB’s
presentation—a black “piano-finish,”
furniture-grade Spanish cedar humidor-
style box, holding ten nude cigars—
befits its $14 suggested retail price.
Zander-Greg,
Inc.,
888-772-5111,
zandergreg.com
