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Cayman Cigar Company’s Granger Haugh inspects a tobacco field at Beacon Farms. Credit: CCC, Ltd.
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Barrington Adams, creator of the Barrington House cigar brand. Credit: Barrington Cigars (Jamaica) Ltd.
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Barrington House’s portfolio is rather diverse. (pictured: Pride of Jamaica, Fundadores, Montalvo, Guaranteed Jamaica, Jamaica Heritage). Credit: Barrington Cigars (Jamaica) Ltd.
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Angelika Marshall, managing director of Caribbean Cigar Co. Ltd., makers of “Royal Barbados.” Credit: Caribbean Cigar Company Ltd.
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A hand-rolled Royal Barbados No. 1. Credit: Caribbean Cigar Company Ltd.
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Cayman Island Cigar’s Caravel (foreground) and Sovereign No. 2( background.) Credit: CCC, Ltd.
When Hurricane Gilbert slammed into Jamaica in September 1988, it utterly obliterated the island’s burgeoning tobacco farming industry. The iconic Royal Jamaica cigar brand, its Kingston factory leveled by the storm, was forced to shift production to the Dominican Republic. A similar fate befell the island’s other famous brand, Macanudo. Hanging on for a little over a decade following Gilbert, it eventually also moved to the Dominican Republic, in 2000. And, with dozens of other smaller manufacturers shutting down one by one as well, Jamaica eventually had all but disappeared from the cigar aficionado’s world map.
JAMAICA
Barrington House: reviving an industry thought lost
This situation changed in 1996, when Barrington Adams – born in Jamaica but
raised in the US – returned to his native island with the vision of resurrecting the local tobacco industry. He founded Barrington Cigars (Jamaica) Ltd. and created Barrington House, currently the only premium cigar brand that is actually manufactured locally. “Besides putting my life-long dream into reality, I also wanted to give back to the people of my home country and create much needed job opportunities,” he told Tobacco Asia.
Decades after the hurricane devastation, Jamaica is nowadays even growing modest amounts of tobacco once again. ”The main varietals of tobacco cultivated on the island are Cow Tongue and Sp5, both of which are indigenous to Jamaica,” Adams revealed. He added that Jamaica-grown tobacco offered “a lighter yet rich and flavorful taste” but has a rougher leaf texture when compared to produce from other regional countries. The island’s volcanic soil, rich in nutrients, also results in a milder smoke.
Except for Barrington House’s Santa Cruz Puro line (which exclusively utilizes Jamaican tobacco), all other cigars in the company’s portfolio use local tobacco only as a filler. The binder typically is Mexican, the wrapper Connecticut, Connecticut Broadleaf, or Cameroon. This also applies to the firm’s current bestselling product line, the “Guaranteed Jamaica Founder’s Series”, according to Barrington Adams’ son and the company’s chief creative officer , George C. Adams. “We believe that this cigar’s smooth draw and overall mild taste, as well as its price point, certainly play a role in its popularity,” he said.
Barrington House also is renowned for the Harvill, a cigar line which, besides a natural, unflavored variant, additionally features a variety of flavored cigars, imparting aroma notes ranging from rum and cognac to vanilla, passion fruit-rum, and coffee. “The Harvill line is widely accepted by consumers because all the flavorings are entirely natural yet not overpoweringly intense,” explained Barrington Adams. And then there is the Montalvo, of course, Barrington House’s top luxury cigar. It is distinguished by a quite bold cedar pine aroma that makes for a well-aged fuller-bodied cigar with an easy burn.
Heavily export-reliant
Barrington Adams readily admitted that his cigar business is heavily export-reliant, with about 90% of total annual production volume shipped abroad.” Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic our primary market was the United States, accounting for approximately 40% of our export volume,” he divulged. However, duty-free outlets at international airports and cruise ship ports are an even more important sales channel, making up a whopping 60% of export volume. “Duty-free sales have played – and continue to play – a significant role for Barrington House in terms of sales channels, as we currently do not market our cigars directly to consumers,” confirmed George C. Adams.
Asia has always been on Barrington House’s radar, too, though the company is not yet as well represented there as it would like to be. “China, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia are of particular interest because of their [relatively recently emerging] demand for luxury high-end items, including premium cigars,” explained George C. Adams.
But, the company has already undertaken an important step to gain a bigger footprint in Asia. In 2019, Barrington House exhibited at the inaugural International Cigar Expo (ICE) in Shenzhen. “The response was overwhelmingly positive,” enthused Barrington Adams. “Alas, then the [Covid-19] pandemic struck and we now find ourselves having to start over from square one [in Asia].” As discouraging as this may be, it doesn’t really faze Barrington Adams. “We have been in the premium cigar business since 1996 and look forward to expanding Jamaica’s rich tobacco history to Asia and the world at large.”
CAYMAN ISLANDS
The Caribbean’s latest rising star
Situated between Cuba and the Central American mainland and a self-governing British overseas territory, the tiny (264km2) archipelago of the Cayman Islands is the only landmass of any size in the western Caribbean. More than half of the archipelago’s 66,000 inhabitants live in the capital, George Town, located on the main island, Grand Cayman.
Agriculture always has been a chore here due to the surface rock that covers ample swathes of the islands, leaving only small pockets of arable land in between. Though the islands’ climate, very similar to close-by Cuba’s, is perfectly suited for tobacco, growing food crops always took precedence. Until recently, that is.
Then American entrepreneur and philanthropist Granger Haugh arrived on Grand Cayman. He founded Beacon Farms, a not-for-profit organization designed to rehabilitate former drug addicts and promote new agricultural products. Haugh soon also turned his attention to tobacco, envisioning the development of “Cayman-specific varietals with qualities unique to our location, soil type, and climatic environment”.
Haugh is adamant his efforts will eventually lead to the creation of the world’s first 100% Cayman grown and rolled premium cigars for export. “Once we are going into production, they’ll be in a class all by themselves; ‘boutique, super-premium luxury cigars’,” Haugh said. “Volumes will be very limited, exclusively using the best hand-selected 100% Cayman filler, binder and wrapper, with upgraded packaging and presentation to reflect its bespoke quality and limited availability.”
His unbridled enthusiasm notwithstanding, Haugh is well aware that the plan is going to take several years. “We would be very pleased if our first production output is ready by January 2025, aiming at maybe [10,000-20,000] cigars per batch,” he said.
Ongoing intensive experiments
Experimentation with several imported tobacco varietals already is in full swing at Beacon Farms. A first crop of Cuban Criollo 98 was planted in 2019 and processed in 2020, intended to be used as a binder or filler. Although the plants developed very large leaves and grew to about six feet high, the crop unfortunately failed in the fermentation phase. According to Haugh, it had inadequate flavor richness, though no unsavory characteristics, such as bitterness.
Then, a batch of Connecticut Broadleaf was planted at the end of 2020 and harvested in February 2021, turning out healthy with very large leaves. “The fermentation process should be complete by July, after which we will assess the results,” explained Haugh, adding that a second Broadleaf crop was already growing. “The 100% Cayman Leaf cigar will take a few years to perfect,” Haugh reiterated. “Several other fillers must be grown and evaluated, and the tobaccos must be aged for a year or longer before they can be used in a premium cigar.”
Further challenges that will have to be solved by Haugh and his team include reducing or even eliminating the high chloride content in Grand Cayman’s soil and water, optimizing leaf processing procedures and, ultimately, selecting seed types that will give the finest smoking qualities and flavor. “The plan is to control the entire process from seed to cigar,” he asserted. “All our tobaccos are grown organically in a small environment of fruit trees and vegetable crops, using Beacon Farms-supplied compost as a soil enhancer.”
In early 2021, Beacon Farms even acquired a rock-crushing machine to solve the surface rock issue and increase arable land. “The machine pulverizes rocks into fine particles which, when blended with compost, provide our tobacco beds with nutrient-rich soil with excellent drainage,” explained Haugh. Clearing rocky areas also is going to allow for “Americanized” commercial farming, with plants arranged in straight rows. “We envision small parcels of tobacco beds, meticulously farmed for optimum quality, not quantity. We want to plant strategically, not randomly,” Haugh pointed out.
Forming the Cayman Islands Cigar Company
Just because the quest for a truly “100% Cayman Leaf cigar” evidently is still a work in progress, cigar connoisseurs don’t have to wait it out. Haugh had the foresight of establishing the Cayman Cigar Company a few years ago. “Our original concept was to make cigars at Beacon Farms, but as a non-profit organization, the farm could not possess a tobacco license,” he recalled. “That led to the formation of the Cayman Cigar Company – or CCC, Ltd. - as a private company.”
After setting up production facilities near George Town, CCC hired cigar rollers from Cuba. Until Haugh’s research bears full fruit, they’ll be working with tobaccos from Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. The company’s inaugural cigar offering, the Sovereign #2, was launched in November 2018. Since then, the portfolio has grown to 6 different cigar blends, most of them available in both robusto and corona formats (see table).
CCC presently concentrates on two main markets. Domestic sales target locals and visiting tourists alike. And on the export side the US has been chosen due to its “huge market potential and ease of market entry.” But, CCC also has started eyeing Asian territories like Singapore, China’s Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau.
“We believe that a premium and super-premium, small-production and high-quality cigar will meet with high interest in Asia, where premium cigars are enjoying strong growth,” reasoned Haugh. Reliable information obtained by Tobacco Asia indeed indicates that Haugh’s company is already negotiating with a potential distributor located in Hong Kong.
While production output at CCC currently hovers around 30,000 cigars per year, Haugh insisted that doubling or even tripling that volume would be easy. He also predicted that the Cayman Islands will be fully recognized as the world’s newest premium cigar origin in good time. “If our r&d proves successful, we will soon show the world that Grand Cayman is a viable tobacco growing region, and introduce an entirely novel, exciting portfolio of premium and super-premium cigars.”
All profits to charity
But what really separates the Cayman Cigar Company from every other premium cigar manufacturer is its mission and purpose to donate 100% of all net profits to charity. Granger Haugh noted: “This was our mission from the very beginning; to make world-class hand-rolled cigars and give back to charitable organizations worldwide. We know that a great many cigar companies engage charitably, but we are not aware of any other cigar company in the world that donates the entirety of its net profits to charity.” While local Cayman Islands charitable organizations are the initial focus, additional organizations from across the globe will be added as the company’s sales and profits grow.
BARBADOS
Royal Barbados: high-class cigars for high-class tourists
Dream beaches, steel drum bands, rum… and Rihanna. This pretty much sums up the eastern Caribbean island state of Barbados. But, there also is high-end tourism, an important economic sector that started to really take off in the late 1980s. Tobacco is not in the economic spotlight, though. It never was. In contrast to the formerly substantial tobacco cultivation pursued in Jamaica, Barbados’ traditional cash crop always had been sugar cane.
Nevertheless, once wealthy foreign tourists arrived in droves, they not only enjoyed sipping the island’s famous Barbados rum punch but also wanted to savor the occasional premium cigar.
This fostered an idea in German-born Angelika Marshall, who settled on the island in 1990 with her since-deceased husband. Marshall’s spouse was no newcomer to the tobacco business, having operated a tobacco factory in Germany years earlier. An opportunity presented itself in 1993, when the couple were offered to purchase a dilapidated, formerly Canadian-owned factory near the island capital of Bridgetown. “We took our chance, having a vision of developing a hand-made cigar that would be milder than similar Cuban products, yet still very flavorful,” Marshall recalled. This started the Caribbean Cigar Company, manufacturer of what is the island’s only premium cigar brand, Royal Barbados.
A perfect match with Barbados’ image
As no local tobaccos were available, the Marshalls initially resorted to imported leaves from Cuba. “However, we eventually encountered some quality issues, which prompted us to switch to Nicaragua-grown tobacco as filler and Ecuadorian binder and wrapper,” said Angelika Marshall, who today serves as the company’s managing director. Royal Barbados’ portfolio presently comprises 4 cigar formats: a robusto, churchill, corona, and petit corona.
Marshall asserted that her products “perfectly match and reflect Barbados’ image as a high-end, exclusive tourism destination.” Though it wasn’t easy to establish the brand initially. “The competition from Cuban cigars was a tough challenge, but after a few years we were able to finally secure a steady customer base for Royal Barbados.”
With a pre-Covid-19 annual volume of between 50 and 60 thousand cigars across all four formats, Royal Barbados understands itself as a “niche company’. Direct sales to island visitors accounted for about 60% of yearly turnover, while another 30% stemmed from mail order sales. The company also built a modest export business, with 10% of its production primarily being shipped “to other Caribbean countries, including the US Virgin Islands,” according to Marshall.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic hit Royal Barbados hard. As tourist arrivals plummeted steeply, Marshall estimated that sales declined by 60 to 70% overall. Alas, this slump also forced her to scale down production. Further pandemic-related difficulties emerged with mail orders. “Customers could not receive their orders through regular mail as no commercial planes were flying. The only option left was shipping through the UPS parcel service, which is very expensive.” Marshall hopes that Asia might breathe some new life into her flagging business. “I’d really like to talk to a distributor or importer in Asia,” she confided. Otherwise, it could well be back to dream beaches, steel drum bands, rum… and Rihanna.