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NEWS RELEASE
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For Release: October 9, 2005 |
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After 45 Years, Cigars With Tobacco from
Pre-Embargo Cuban Seeds Return
"I doubt many smokers have experienced cigars like these," says
John Vogel, in his understated announcement of what is likely
the most anticipated event by the cigar world in 45 years.
Vogel, a graduate agronomical engineer specializing in genetic
research, is director of Tabacos de la Cordillera™, of Puriscal,
Costa Rica. Since 2002, he has been growing 100% genetically
pure Cuban tobacco naturally, from his proprietary bank of 47
rare, pre-Cuban Embargo "Ancestral" Cuban seeds. |
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Tabacos de la Cordillera now offers several
cigar brands made only from tobacco derived from the exclusive
seed bank, grown on the company-owned 65-acre farm. They include
Cumbres de Puriscal™, in 3 blends and 9 shapes ($3.25 to $5.90
suggested retail price); Purisco™, in two wrappers and 5 shapes
($2.70 to $4.75); Colinas™ (the only short-filler line, using
picadura tobacco from Cumbres and Purisco), in 6 shapes (2.50 to
$3.05); Picos™ mini-torpedoes, in 2 wrappers ($2.00); and Min
Cigars, in 2 blends ($1.00). |
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"Many non-Cuban cigar companies play on the
names 'Cuba' and 'Havana,' to add to their mystique," states
Vogel. "None can claim their tobacco is any different than all
the others using the same current Cuban seeds. Only from Tabacos
de la Cordillera can smokers enjoy the taste of true, peerless
pre-Embargo Havanas ... the world standard reborn. |
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"Our legendary strains date as far back as 1945,
and exist nowhere else worldwide, not even in Cuba. Most were
developed before Castro aborted research and improvement of
Cuban seeds, to focus on sugar crops for Russian Cold War
demands. Before that epochal event, following 300 years of
development by research scientists and expert tobacco farmers,
Cuban tobacco was at its pinnacle of perfection and the envy of
the world." |
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Vogel, of German and Spanish parentage, has the
credentials to substantiate his claim. A graduate agronomist, he
was an R & D project leader for 20 years with Consolidated Cigar
Corporation. Management-level assignments took him into
virtually every company activity, reporting to a company
director. He followed that with 20 years of genetic and
agricultural consulting to the tobacco industry. His
accomplishments garnered him recognition by Consolidated Cigar,
the US Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, and the Windsor
County Agricultural Station (in Connecticut's tobacco-farming
capital). |
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"My acquisition of these long-forgotten
Ancestral Cuban seeds is not a story of dark intrigue," asserts
Vogel. "Four decades of business travel to over 20 countries led
to associations with world-renowned tobacco researchers and
geneticists, including those from Cuban Land, the agricultural
research institution that operated in Cuba until Castro
disbanded it. These contacts were the sources of the seeds." |
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The news already has stirred requests by some of
the largest players on the tobacco landscape, for samples of his
unique product and visits to his farm and factory. Vogel's
impact on the cigar world is understood when one realizes Cuba's
modern contribution of seed is perhaps one new strain every
couple of years, shared by every tobacco grower and cigar
manufacturer. After a crop or two, the purity of each strain is
degraded by cross-pollenation from other nearby tobacco crops. |
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"In contrast, Tabacos de la Cordillera enjoys a
virtually limitless genetic diversity of tobacco strains,"
explains Vogel. "With 47 different, genetically pure pre-Castro
seeds, we can combine strains in an almost infinite variety. We
are offering several varieties of tobacco from Ancestral Cuban
seeds to cigar manufacturers, and it is now being used in some
of the world's most prestigious cigar labels. Also, by having
the original, pure seed stock, we can maintain a consistency in
our cigars that is lacking in the market today. Lastly, 40 years
in agricultural research has taught me how to maintain the
genetic quality of the original seeds, through ongoing,
systematic seed replenishment." |
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Smokers can obtain Tabacos de la Cordillera's
cigars at factory-direct prices, through the company's new Web
site (www.tabacordillera.com). All cigars are available on a
limited reserve status. |
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"Ancestral
Cuban seeds grow the world's finest cigars™" |
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