Cigar Companero Cigar News Page June 2008

July 8, 2008
GENERAL CIGAR LEADS THE PACK WITH NEW FRONTMARKS AND RETAIL PROMOTIONS

Richmond, VA-When it comes to bringing excitement to the premium cigar category, General Cigar is taking center stage. Not only will the company release four blockbuster new collections and re-launch a leading brand, but they will also roll out a constellation of new frontmarks and retail promotions.

The annual release of the Cohiba® Gift Pack generates a lot of buzz, and this year will be no exception. The 2008 offering contains one cigar from each of the three current Cohiba collections (Cohiba, Cohiba Black and Cohiba XV), all packaged in a limited edition, Cohiba-branded Andre Garcia leather cigar case. Featuring three
5" x 54 size cigars, the handsome gift pack will make its mark at retail in early November, and will command a suggested retail price of $59.99 per pack.

The exquisite Partagas® Decadas 1998 Gift Pack is sure to have premium cigar enthusiasts wondering whether it's better to give or receive this holiday season. Three Partagas Decadas 1998 No. II (5 ½" x 50) cigars will be elegantly presented alongside a cylinder of branded wooden matches in a gorgeous collectible tin. Further protected in a gift box, the Partagas Decadas gift pack will become available at fine tobacco retailers in November and will be offered at a special price of $49.95 per pack.

The perennially popular sampler pack from Macanudo®, America's best-selling premium cigar brand, will ship in late July. Housed in a handsome display containing a total of 30 four packs, the Four Tastes of Macanudo samplers each contain the top selling, tubed frontmark Hampton Court (5 ½" x 42), in Café, Robust, Maduro and Gold Label varieties. The Four Tastes of Macanudo sampler will retail for $17.90 per pack - the price of just three Macanudo Hampton Court frontmarks. Orders for this special offer will be taken during the IPCPR show.

Also during the show, retailers can also place orders for The Three Powerful Tastes of Punch®, which will ship in September. For just $9.50, the price of two Punch cigars, tobacconists will sell the sampler pack which contains one cigar from three of Punch's most popular lines: Punch, Punch Rare Corojo and Punch Gran Puro. The pack contains the Magnum frontmark (5 ¼" x 54) in Punch and Punch Rare Corojo varieties, and the Rancho frontmark (5 ½" x 54) from Punch Gran Puro.

The Sancho Panza® brand will welcome four new frontmarks, from each of the brand's three collections. New to the original Sancho Panza line are Aragon (6 ¼" x 54, SRP per cigar: $4.40) and Toledo (6" x 60, SPR per cigar: $5.25). Alicante (6"x 60, SRP per cigar: $5.25) will debut as a new Double Maduro frontmark, as Seville (6" x 60, SRP per cigar: $5.25) rounds out the Extra Fuerte line.

Don Tomas® will introduce a Coronita frontmark to its Maduro and Sungrown collections. The new size measures
4 1/8" x 32 and will be available as part of a new ten-cigar tin, with a suggested retail price of $11.35 apiece.

In addition to the new Sancho Panza and Don Tomas sizes, General Cigar is pleased to announce that two frontmarks will soon be available as open stock items. As such, Cohiba Gigante (6" x 60) and Punch Gran Puro Sesenta (6 ¼" x 60, SRP $5.25) will be available for stand-alone purchase, starting in August and September, respectively.

About General Cigar
General Cigar Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Swedish Match, manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Passionate about delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo, Partagas, Cohiba, Punch, Excalibur®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other industry-leading brands, which are sold through tobacconists nationwide. In addition, the company grows its own proprietary Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com

La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Miami

Miami, FL-Only 100 tobacconists nationwide will be selected to join Cigar Master Ernesto Perez-Carrillo in celebrating the success of the El Credito Cigar Factory with La Gloria Cubana® Artesanos de Miami®, a rarefied collection of five new frontmarks handcrafted exclusively at his Little Havana rolling gallery.

In the 1960s, Ernesto's family expatriated to the U.S. from Cuba and established the El Credito Cigar Factory in Miami's now-celebrated Little Havana district. Even during the lean years when Little Havana suffered from economic instability, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo continued to supply fellow Cuban exiles with the taste of home that came in the form of La Gloria Cubana® cigars.

Over the past six years, Ernesto has toiled to make a rare cigar to celebrate his intrinsic link to Miami and to honor the city and his tabacalera which together have catapulted to international stardom. The fruit of his labor is Artesanos de Miami, a bespoke blend handcrafted by only ten Cuban expatriate rollers personally selected by Ernesto to culminate his most exclusive offering to date. In fact, only 250,000 Artesanos de Miami cigars will be released this year.

According to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, "Creating Artesanos de Miami has been a labor of love. After much experimentation, I arrived at a blend that is reminiscent of La Gloria Cubana, with a vastly different taste that pays tribute to the heritage of the brand that brought prominence to the El Credito Cigar Factory. I am very proud of Artesanos and am grateful for the opportunity to share it with the very people who have supported me and my cigars throughout the years."

Meticulously handcrafted of a proprietary Nicaraguan and Dominican blend, Artesanos de Miami is bound with a rich Ecuadoran Sumatra leaf and is dressed in an elegant, reddish Nicaraguan Havana wrapper.

Distinctive in its medium-to-full bodied flavor, Artesanos de Miami boasts spicy nuances that are evident with the first draw. The unique flavor is prevalent throughout, and its burn is slow and even.

Dictated by the relatively diminutive size of Nicaraguan Havana leaves, each of the five Artesanos de Miami frontmarks are made in smaller lengths. The meticulously constructed collection begins with Campana Chica Torpedo, a 5 ½ x 58 figurado that will come with a suggested retail price of $12.50 per cigar. A box of the collection's torpedos will cost $312.50. Sabrosos (5 1/2" x 52) will cost $10.00 apiece, or $250.00 per box. Artesanitos (5" x 46) will sell for $8.00 per cigar and will have a box price of $200. Gran Corona Especiale
(6" x 54) will have an SRP of $13.00 per cigar and $325 per box. Rounding out the collection is the sleek Elegante frontmark (6 7/8" x 49) that will retail for $11.00 per cigar or $275 per box.

Each of the new Artesanos cigars will be protected in handsome wooden boxes containing 25 cigars.

General Cigar Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Swedish Match, manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Passionate about delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo®, Partagas®, Cohiba®, Punch®, Excalibur®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, La Gloria Cubana and several other industry-leading brands, which are sold through tobacconists nationwide. In addition, the company grows its own proprietary Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com

® La Gloria Cubana, Artesanos de Miami, Macanudo, Partagas, Cohiba, Punch, Excalibur, Hoyo de Monterrey and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.

COHIBA PURO DOMINICANA

Richmond, VA- Following more than 30 years of cultivating tobacco in the Dominican Republic and on the heels of nearly two decades in development, Cigar Master Daniel Núñez is proud to release Cohiba® Puro Dominicana.

The story of Cohiba Puro Dominicana is steeped in the brand's history. When Dominican Taino Indians introduced Christopher Columbus to their beloved "Cohiba" cigars, they shared with him indigenous tobacco leaves borne of Dominican soil. Today, Cohiba Puro Dominicana celebrates the heritage of the venerable brand with a collection of cigars made solely of Dominican tobacco.

The result of hundreds of prototypes and countless hours of experimentation with natural seeds developed solely by General Cigar's dedicated research and development team, Cohiba Puro Dominicana is the ultimate tribute to Daniel's country and to the tobacco that he has so carefully nurtured throughout the years.

Cultivated in the island's Cibao and Northwestern agricultural growing regions, each component of this cigar, beginning with every tiny seed and encompassing specific soil types, speaks to Daniel's tireless commitment to developing Dominican tobacco. The tobaccos are blended in striking proportion, marrying each other while retaining the inherent characteristics of the Dominican growing areas from which each leaf was harvested. These proprietary tobaccos have been aged in tercios and charcoaled wooden barrels to enhance their natural flavor.

The Cigar Master comments, "For me, Cohiba Puro Dominicana is a dream come true, for this collection showcases the extraordinary range of flavor that can be achieved through Dominican tobacco. In allowing these natural seeds to soak in an extraordinary flavor and richness from the soil, I believe that Cohiba Puro Dominicana will bring increased prominence to Dominican tobacco. This, our first collection of Dominican puro cigars is just the beginning, because I believe that there are infinite possibilities for Dominican tobacco."

Cooper Gardiner, vice president of marketing notes, "It is an indisputable fact that Daniel Núñez is a founding father of the Dominican tobacco industry. Beginning in the 1970s with the experience he gleaned through Texas A & M's cooperation with the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture and spanning his thirty-plus years commitment to developing Dominican tobacco, Daniel has created Cohiba Puro Dominicana to fulfill the luxury cigar smoker's desire for a superbly crafted cigar with a smooth, ultra-refined taste. We believe he has accomplished this in spades."

Boasting depth of aroma and complexity of taste that are at once refined and rich, Cohiba Puro Dominicana cigars are the most exquisite in the history of the Cohiba brand.

To smoke Cohiba Puro Dominicana is to be ushered into a world of flavorful aroma, surrounded by nuances of taste that are evident in every draw. The organic soil which bore the tobaccos offers a unique complexity that speaks of the essence of Dominican tobacco. Long after this cigar is enjoyed, reminders of the pleasant aroma linger on the palate.

Scheduled for release in early October, Cohiba Puro Dominicana features four super premium frontmarks, each nestled in boxes containing 25 cigars. The Churchill (7" x 49) will sell for $20.50 per cigar, $512.50 per box, and the Corona (5 ½" x 42) will bear a suggested retail price of $13.50 per cigar and a box price of $337.50. The Robusto measures 5 ½" x 50 and will cost $17.00 per cigar, or $425 per box. Rounding out the collection is a Toro (6" x 54) that will be available for $19.50 per cigar and $487.50 per box.

About General Cigar
General Cigar Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Swedish Match, manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Passionate about delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo®, Partagas®, Cohiba, Punch®, Excalibur®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other industry-leading brands, which are sold through tobacconists nationwide. In addition, the company grows its own proprietary Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com

® Cohiba, Macanudo, Partagas, Excalibur, Hoyo de Monterrey, La Gloria Cubana and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co., Inc.

Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend

Richmond, VA-Hoyo de Monterrey® Excalibur® is regarded as one of the most exemplary brands to hail from Honduras. It is only fitting that the latest incarnation of this revered brand, Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend, pays homage to the brand's pedigree with a decidedly regal name and full flavor that commands as much attention.

As the boldest expression of Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur, Legend begins when spicy Nicaraguan tobacco from the mainland is paired with a proprietary tobacco from Nicaragua's remote volcanic island of Ometepe and blended with a powerful Dominican ligero. Bound with a bold Connecticut Havana Seed leaf, Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend dons the same lush, well-oiled Connecticut Havana leaf that won praise for Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Dark Knight.

Cooper Gardiner, vice president of marketing comments, "Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend is tailor made for the tenured smoker who can appreciate the bold notes of full-flavored tobaccos. The new Legend is in keeping with the growing demand for full-bodied cigars that smoke smoothly and effortlessly and we are confident that Legend has all the makings of a consumer favorite."

Cigar Master Daniel Núñez has done a masterful job at blending these stand-out tobaccos into a cigar that flaunts its balanced taste. Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend opens with unabashed flavor, and draws evenly into a rich, spicy smoke. Its aroma is reminiscent of that of the base brand, spiked with a bold taste and aroma that promotes the cigar's Nicaraguan components.

Each of Excalibur Legend's frontmarks will be housed in boxes of 20 cigars at an accessible price point. The Crusader (5 ¾" x 45) and Challenger (5 ¼" x 50) sizes will share the same suggested retail price: $6.75 per cigar, and $135.00 per box. At 6 ¼" x 54, Conqueror will sell for $7.50 per cigar or $150.00 per box.

Orders for the robust Honduran collection will be taken during the product's debut at this year's IPCPR trade show in July. Consumers can expect to see Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend in tobacconists' humidors beginning in late July.

Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend cigars are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo®, Partagas, Cohiba®, Punch®, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur, La Gloria Cubana® and several other leading premium brands. In addition, the company grows its own premium Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide. For more information about General Cigar, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

® Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur, Macanudo, Partagas, Cohiba, Punch, La Gloria Cubana and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co., Inc.

Havana Honeys Gets an Extreme Makeover
Richmond, VA-General Cigar announces an exciting re-launch of select frontmarks from four of the most popular expressions of Havana Honeys® flavored premium cigars.

When General Cigar took ownership of the wildly successful Havana Honeys brand in December of 2007, the company also assumed production of the flavored cigars. At that time, Cigar Master Daniel Núñez and his team set out to improve the product's quality and consistency. Today, with the new Havana Honeys,
Núñez has raised the bar by setting a new standard by which all flavored premium cigars should be measured.

Under Daniel Nunez' guidance, the caliber of tobaccos used to make the Honey, Blackberry, Rum and Vanilla collections has been exponentially improved. The thin, supple Indonesian wrapper bears many benefits, for its lower priming allows the unique flavoring process to take center stage. Likewise, the blend features volado and seco leaves from General Cigar's inventory of proprietary Dominican tobacco, which also help to maximize each of the unique Havana Honeys flavors. The Mexican binder rounds out the taste experience by adding a natural sweetness that gives staying power to the flavors and ensures an even burn.

Modesta Fondeur, executive vice president of tobacco and operations, oversees the production of Havana Honeys in General Cigar's Dominican factory. She explains, "In addition to improving the quality of tobaccos used in Havana Honeys, we also refined the methods of imparting the flavor into the tobacco to deepen the aroma. We then took it one step further, using high quality flavorings which provide consistent, long-lasting taste. We are extremely pleased with the new Havana Honeys cigars, which bear strikingly similar tastes to the flavors that inspired them."

The new, improved Havana Honeys products will debut at retail in early November, with strikingly modern and upscale packaging that is sure to increase the brand's prominence at retail. At the annual IPCPR show, orders will be taken for the newly re-blended and re-packaged Corona del Sol (5 ½" x 42, SRP $4.40) will be joined by the updated Petit Corona Rio (5" x 36, SRP $4.20) and Cigarillos (4" x 30, SRP $14.80 for the ten-cigar tin).

Established in 1997, Havana Honeys is one of the best-selling premium flavored cigar brands in the U.S. Best known for its unique collection of flavor profiles, Havana Honeys is largely credited with creating the demand for flavored cigars in the premium category.

About General Cigar
Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo®, Partagas®, Cohiba®, Punch®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other leading premium brands. In addition, the company grows its own premium Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide. For more information about General Cigar, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

® Havana Honeys, Macanudo, Partagas, Cohiba, Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur, La Gloria Cubana and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.

MACANUDO 1968: RICH, DARK AND UNEXPECTED

Richmond, VA- Cigar Master Daniel Núñez is proud to introduce Macanudo® 1968, a limited edition collection made solely of proprietary tobaccos and created in celebration of the iconic brand's 40 year legacy.

This four-cigar collection of Macanudo is named to commemorate 1968, the year that General Cigar purchased the Temple Hall factory in Jamaica. It was in that same year that Cigar Master Ramon Cifuentes began developing Macanudo, which was ultimately released in the U.S. in 1971. Since then, Macanudo has been noted for its quality and consistency, the hallmarks that have earned the brand its lofty position as America's best selling premium cigar.

According to Cigar Master Daniel Núñez, "It is with great pleasure that I present Macanudo 1968. We developed the seeds used in each of the cigar's components and selected specific growing regions to enrich the blend and its aroma. So unique are the tobaccos used in Macanudo 1968, it tastes like no other cigar I have ever smoked."

Cooper Gardiner, General Cigar's vice president of marketing remarks, "We conceived Macanudo 1968 to pay homage to the previously-released expressions of the brand while offering an entirely new, rich smoking experience. This new line is particularly special because it also celebrates Daniel Núñez' storied career in the premium cigar business. We believe that Daniel has exceeded all expectations, having created a new cigar that is destined to enjoy the success of previously-released incarnations of Macanudo."

Macanudo 1968 is made completely of tobaccos which are either grown by General Cigar or cultivated for the company under an agreement of exclusivity. Harvested one sun-ripened leaf at a time, aged in tercios and charcoaled wooden barrels to further enrich its flavor, the blend marries proprietary Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco to a tobacco cultivated solely for General Cigar in the remote Nicaraguan island of Ometepe. These tobaccos were developed expressly to complement the hearty Connecticut Habano binder and flawless, lustrous Honduran San Agustin wrapper.

Macanudo 1968 is aesthetically pleasing, with the brand's characteristic round head and immaculate construction evident at the first glance. From the first draw to the last, deeply complex yet balanced flavor envelops the palate with a freshness that celebrates inherent natural sweetness from the soils that bore each tobacco.

Each of the brand's frontmarks will be housed in 20-count boxes. Macanudo 1968 Churchill (7" x 49) will be available for $10.00 per cigar or $200 per box, as Macanudo 1968 Toro (6" x 54) will carry an SRP of $9.50 per cigar, or $190.00 per box. At 5" x 50, the aptly-named Robusto frontmark (5" x 50) will retail for $8.50 per cigar and $170.00 per box. Rounding out the collection is Macanudo 1968 Gigante (6" x 60) which will cost $11.00 apiece, with a box price of $220.

Macanudo 1968 will be unveiled exclusively at tobacconists in mid-August. General Cigar will support the brand with the brand's largest-ever integrated marketing campaign including advertising executions to promote the brand in magazines such as Esquire, Men's Journal, Playboy, Golf Digest and Yachting, among others.

About General Cigar
General Cigar Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Swedish Match, manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Passionate about delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo®, Partagas®, Cohiba®, Punch®, Excalibur®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other industry-leading brands, which are sold through tobacconists nationwide. In addition, the company grows its own proprietary Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com

® Macanudo, Partagas, Cohiba, Excalibur, Hoyo de Monterrey, La Gloria Cubana and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.