PRODUCT PROFILE
september/october 2013
92
TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
Striking Gold
Swisher International and its new premium cigar di-
vision, Royal Gold Cigars, have launched Gold Strike
handmade cigars, the first of four lines to be intro-
duced by Royal Gold Cigars in the next few months.
With three cigars in each package, Gold Strike is avail-
able in two popular formats: Churchill (7x48) and Toro
(6.25x50). They are packaged in Swisher’s innovative,
sealed-fresh pouches that are re-sealable to keep each
cigar as fresh as the first.
Handmade in Esteli, Nicaragua by master cigar
rollers, Gold Strike cigars offer consumers a pleas-
ing, medium-bodied, premium cigar experience at an
affordable price. The $6.75 to $6.99 per pouch sug-
gested retail price makes Gold Strike affordable to the
widest possible segment of cigar smokers.
Gold Strike cigars are now available through all ma-
jor tobacco product and convenience store distribu-
tors, independent cigarette/tobacco outlets, conve-
nience stores, smoke shops, and wherever tobacco
products are sold. Swisher International, 800-874-9720
Bringing Back
Hustler & Spider
Kurt A. Kendall, founder of 7-20-4 Cigars, has added two regular-production
additions to his portfolio of resurrected brands. Both are handmade, 100
percenttobaccoboutiquepremiumcigars,entirelyseparatefromhisexisting
7-20-4 premium line. Both are parejos only and are crafted at Tabacos de
Oriente in Danli, Honduras, with five years of aging on their tobaccos, plus
six months on the finished cigars. Neither contains ligero, relying instead
on the other tobaccos in the blends to gain their power. Their triple-capped
heads prevent unraveling, and they are entubado-bunched, which avoids
uneven burn and tight draws.
The“Hustler”ispresentedinahighqualitySpanishcedarbox($270MSRP),
with nine cigars in each of the
three compartments: 5.5x52,
6.5x58 and 6x54. Kendall is
also adding 10-cigar packswhich retailers can use for single stick sales or to replenish stock.
A five-pack presentation is also offered only in the 4.25x40 Hustler Dog Walker, which the
company describes as “petite barber pole.” The dual wrapper combines a robust Brazilian
MataFinawithamoderatingEcuadorian-grownConnecticut Shade leaf. TheJamastranand
Jalapa filler is held in a Costa Rican binder. Kendall says the smoke is “medium-bodied, with
the spiral wrapper providing a visual emphasis to its swirl of complex flavors and aroma.”
“Spider,”Kendall’slatestcigar,originatedinthe1930sinhishomestateofNewHampshire.
Formerly released in a limited number of New England smoke shops in 2011, it comes in a
6x52 shape that retailed for one silver dime back in the ‘30s. The MSRP for today’s edition
is $220 per humidor of 20. The presentation is a strong selling point—a furniture-grade
Spanish cedar humidor with an etched glass lid featuring the Spider logo. Vintage Cigar
Distributors of New England, 603-965-4493
