El Presidente Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I hope our members will find this interesting. Habanos s.a Marketing proposes new cigars based on a process of consultation with major distributors, sales figures/projections and major (top 5) brands requiring line support. Why top 5 only? well the answer comes back to end sales and market support based on sales for the final product. Also, regional releases can only be on brands outside of the top 5 (Top 5 being, Cohiba/R&J/Upmann/Partagas/Montecristo) which means that these brands are receiving limited line extensions of which Habanos s.a holds the option to take it to global distribution once the distributors exclusive time period expires (now only one year on regional releases). Let's study the process of the R&J SHort Churchill. Habanos s.a decised upon a new concept cigar being the R&J Short Churchill. TABACUBA (seperate to Habanos s.a. and owner of the fields, processing houses and factories) is then comissioned to come up with the cigar. TABACUBA is briefed on the vitola and marque which immediately gives them the parameters for blend. TABACUBA selects a team of approximately 40 of their most experienced people and holds a series of meetings to discuss the new cigar. The questions covered are along the lines of: "What will be the essential charachteristics of the cigar in order to remain true to the marque?" "How will we define this cigar in terms of flavour?" "From what districts will the tobacco for the blend be drawn?" (ie there are apporximately 16 districts in the Velta Abajo region. Take San Luis, it has 22 sorting houses to handle the tobacco grown from that district alone). Remember, this process is seperate to Habanos s.a. The TABACUBA team will decide on two different blends for the new R&J Short Churchill and commissions approximately 200 cigars of each blend to be rolled by the finest rollers available. Once rolled they are tagged and bundled seperately and aged for 1 month. After the one month a tasting team is assorted of the best tasters available and a blind tasting of each cigar (each taster is given a pair of unbanded cigars) is completed to a strict tasting sheet. In the flavour profile the core flavours only are assessed such as :Salty, Sweet, Sour, Tannin, Acid. Additional comments can be made on other flavours such as coffee etc. The tasting sheets cover wrapper, commbustion, aroma, body etc. I will obtain one of these sheets and post to the forum at a later date. Only half the cigars are tasted at this first session. A second tasting takes place exactly one month later. Tastings take place between 9am - around 1pm. Only luke warm tea is available to cleanse the palate. The notes are collated and assessed and if the results favourable...the blend is chosen and final cigars submitted for final approval by Habanos s.a. The blend is only known by a select few at TABACUBA. It is written. It is not disclosed to Habanos s.a. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colt45 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Thanks Rob - this is the kind of thing I find very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenpimp Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Fascinating. Thanks for posting this. The more I hear about the relationship between Habanos and Cubatabac the more interesting it is. Fascinating tasting methodology as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginseng Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this, Rob. Wilkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genevapics Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Great info Rob. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tampa1257 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Excellent coverage Rob, keep it coming.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike33 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Thanks for the info Rob!!! Its really hard to come by this kind of "insider" info and it is truly interesting to know how some of these cigars come about. That wouldn't be too bad a job to be a taster for the new cigars.....:-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvm4 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Pretty interesting and indepth. Thanks for the details Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiley Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Thanks for the details! Keep it coming Rob! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 » Thanks for the details! Keep it coming Rob! Thanks fella's. All part of the Research and Development program which falls under my personal responsibility. No corner will be cut :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigardawg Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 » » Thanks for the details! Keep it coming Rob! » » Thanks fella's. All part of the Research and Development » program which falls under my personal responsibility. » » No corner will be cut :cool: Thanks for sharing this with us, Rob. The process is very interesting. I find it almost amusing that the blend is not shared with Habanos SA. I like the process of blending, tasting, etc. Very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2advnture Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 VERY intersting Rob! Thanks! ~Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokinLightning Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Great information! Thanks for posting this type of stuff, Rob... keep it coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anacostiakat Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Thanks! Good intellegence! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasch_24 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Very cool insight Rob...thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrAlejandro Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 very cool prez, I find this kind of insight so interesting... thanks for the info :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarnv Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Rob, great information!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIGARHead Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 » The blend is only known by a select few at TABACUBA. It is written. It is » not disclosed to Habanos s.a. This is very interesting to me. A cigar secret society! Thanks for all the hard work(I use this statement very lightly) in getting us this "insider" info, Rob.;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsfan54 Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Rob, I find this thread very educational to someone new to the Cuban cigar scene. I look forward to hearing and learning more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Great, great interesting info Rob, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12stones Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Excellent and interesting post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tattoodad13 Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Very interesting information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sb1396 Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Interesting info!! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkhano Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Thanks Rob. Something interesting and worth knowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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