TOB Magazine

[ 46 ]

TOBACCO BUSINESS

[

JULY

AUGUST

17 ]

An Unwavering Commitment to Consistency

Mother Nature likes to throw curveballs, and tobacco

is a crop she enjoys playing with. Ensuring consisten-

cy of flavor for an agricultural product year after year

is no small feat, especially when factors such as rain-

fall, temperature and humidity can have a big impact.

When you select a Macanudo, you are all but guaran-

teed to enjoy the same taste year after year, across the

entire portfolio. How do they do that?

Macanudo has a team of experts, each with at least

two decades of experience on the brand, who focus

on evaluating a crop’s flavor, burn, aroma and ash

before the tobacco makes it into a Macanudo blend.

This is a proprietary and scientific process unique to

Macanudo, one established by Cifuentes.

That commitment to consistency extends to the

types of tobaccos that are chosen for blends across

the entire Macanudo brand portfolio. No matter

what country the tobacco comes from, wrapper for

Macanudo has to be fine, with barely perceptible

veins, and the leaf must have a certain thickness. It

must also be harvested from a designated priming.

Wrapper leaves are then aged for three years before

they can be used for Macanudo cigars. All filler and

binder tobaccos designated for Macanudo must meet

strict guidelines for leaf thickness, combustibility and

aroma after they are fully fermented and left to rest,

with at least two years of aging.

Keeping up with the times has also been a corner-

stone of Macanudo’s continued success. As variety is

the spice of life, in the nearly 50 years since its launch,

Macanudo has been constantly evolving, adding new

sizes, deeper taste profiles and a wider range of to-

baccos in its blends to meet the ever-changing needs

of the marketplace, with no signs of slowing down.

Through it all, Macanudo Café remains one of the

world’s best-selling cigar brands, proving that good

taste is indeed timeless.

International stardom

Over the decades, Macanudo has become an iconic

global brand. In the early 1980s, Macanudo made its

foray into export markets, with the release of Macanudo

Café in the U.K. and Germany. Today, Macanudo is

sold in more than 50 countries worldwide, competing

and winning against rival brands, including Cubans.

General Cigar’s president Régis Broersma noted,

“Outside of the U.S., cigar lovers are joining Amer-

ican cigar smokers in their quest to find unique new

tastes,andMacanudoisansweringthatcallwithnever-

before-seen tobacco varieties and new countries

of origin.”

Macanudo Inspirado, a blend that has been hailed

as the best Macanudo blend to date, has taken inter-

national markets by storm in recent history. With its

launch in 2014, Inspirado has been the catalyst for a

renaissance of the brand.

Broersma has taken a fresh, modern approach to

the company’s portfolio and is leading the explosive,

renewed interest in Macanudo. “In 2016, we released

Macanudo Inspirado in the U.S., and the brand im-

mediately won favor among critics and discerning

smokers,” he explains. “Coupled with a new, mod-

ern take on the Macanudo logo, which also launched

last year, Macanudo is enjoying a significant uptick in

global sales. We’re pushing the envelope, and cigar

lovers of all levels of experience are being drawn to

Macanudo. They are attracted to the brand’s heri-

tage, quality and versatility, and [they] see Macanudo

as a cigar that enhances their smoking occasions.”

The Evolution Continues

Looking ahead, Broersma has big plans for Ma-

canudo. Together with marketing teams in the U.S.

and Europe, he has appointed brand ambassadors

to share Macanudo’s storied history and expansive

portfolio with cigar lovers across the world. The

brand ambassadors will begin appearing at fine ci-

gar shops across the U.S. and in key export markets

later this year.

“The 2017 IPCPR show will be the year of Ma-

canudo,” he says. “We are going to activate the brand

in a big way, starting with an opening night party that

promises to be the talk of the show. We’re keeping de-

tails close to the vest, but I can tell you that at IPCPR,

we will release the two biggest new item launches in

Macanudo history.”

With the trajectory built by Broersma and his team,

it’s safe to say that the stars are aligned for the Ma-

canudo revolution to continue well into the future.

1868 –

Macanudo is intro-

duced as a frontmark of

the Cuban Punch brand.

1930s –

Macanudo cigars

were produced for the first

time at the Temple Hall

factory in Jamaica.

1950s –

Maker of Punch

cigars, Palicio y Cia, sells

the Macanudo brand and

the Temple Hall factory in

Jamaica to General Cigar

Company.

1969 –

General Cigar

purchases the Macanudo

brand and the Temple Hall

factory.

1971 –

Macanudo is

launched in the United

States.

1983 –

Macanudo becomes

the leading premium cigar

brand in the United States;

General Cigar begins pro-

duction in the Dominican

Republic.

1989 –

Macanudo Vintage

Cabinet Selection is

introduced (1979 vintage),

marking the beginning of

vintage cigars.

1996 –

Club Macanudo

opens in New York City to

rave reviews.

1998 –

Macanudo Robust is

introduced at the height

of the cigar boom.

1999 –

Macanudo Maduro is

introduced, expanding the

line to include a Connecti-

cut Broadleaf wrapper.

2000 –

Production of

Macanudo is moved

exclusively to General

Cigar’s factory in Santiago,

Dominican Republic.

2002 –

Macanudo Gold La-

bel is introduced, bucking

the trend for full-bodied

cigars.

2008 –

Macanudo 1968

is released, bringing a

deeper flavor profile to the

brand portfolio.

2010

–

Macanudo Cru

Royale is introduced,

expanding the brand’s

medium-bodied offerings.

2016 –

Macanudo Inspirado,

the brand’s worldwide

best-seller, is introduced in

the U.S.

2016 –

The Macanudo logo

gets a global refresh.

2017 –

Macanudo will debut

its biggest innovations to

date at the IPCPR show.

Macanudo

Milestones

General Cigar

Continued

Edgar Cullman

Ramón Cifuentes