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Box of Casa 1910 Teniente Angelas. Photo credit: Casa 1910 SA de CV
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From left to right: Casa 1910 co-founders Jamie Baer, Serge Bollag, and Manolo Santiago at InterTabac 2022. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Tobacco growing in the San Andrés valley. Photo credit: Casa 1910 SA de CV
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Casa 1910’s flagship Cuchillo Parada is a cigar for any occasion. Photo credit: Casa 1910 SA de CV
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Casa 1910’s Sampetrina (top), La Coronela (center) and Teniente Angela (bottom) lines. Photo credit: Casa 1910 SA de CV
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Cigar rolling at the Casa 1910 factory in the San Andrés valley. Photo credit: Casa 1910 SA de CV
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Premium cigars from Mexico have long gone under the radar, but that notion is changing thanks to enthusiastic local entrepreneurs.
Compared to their Caribbean and Central American cousins, Mexican premium hand-rolled cigars have been going quite under the radar for the longest time, at least in regions outside North America. This seems quite surprising, for Mexico has a tobacco tradition that actually reaches back to Aztec, Mayan, and even Olmec times. Among the initiated, Mexican cigars have of course always been regarded as very flavorful and aromatic. Yet outside of aficionado circles Mexican products remain underappreciated. It’s a shame, really. After all, Mexico actually [produces] some excellent tobaccos. Of particular note are the fine crops from the San Andrés valley of Veracruz state. Moreover, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Mexican cigars were indeed coveted worldwide. It was relatively recent developments that eroded that good standing.
A series of unfortunate events
The US traditionally has been Mexico’s largest export market. But, after the Great Depression and World War II, demand suddenly started soaring, giving Mexican producers a hard time to keep pace. That led to a mushrooming of machine-rolled products swamping the US and, later on, Europe too; alas at the expense of quality and reputation. Secondly, Mexican tobacco farmers and merchants in the 50s, 60s, and 70s began discovering that it was much more lucrative to export unmanufactured leaf instead of finished cigars. It naturally caused the local premium cigar industry to contract further. Even today, a huge proportion of the country’s annual tobacco harvest, including the indigenous Negro San Andrés varietal is shipped abroad. Negro San Andrés leaf is much sought after in producer countries like Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic as cigar binder and wrapper.
Withered but not gone
Despite Mexico’s hand-rolled premium cigar sector turning into a shadow of its former self, it never vanished completely. For instance, Te-Amo, a premium brand from family-owned Casa Turrent SA de CV in the San Andrés valley, has enjoyed consistent popularity for decades, both at home and in the US. Another example are Santa Clara cigars, likewise made by a family business located in the valley. Domestically, cigars from San Andrés and elsewhere never lost their appeal and are as popular as ever. It was the overseas visibility that had dwindled. But luckily, high-end cigars “Hecho en Mexico” have been experiencing a slow but steady comeback in recent years. It’s a sort of renaissance that should delight cigar lovers and help restore some reputation points.
Casa Turrent to the fore!
Interestingly, it was none other than aforementioned Casa Turrent which picked up that cue. To supplement its long-standing Te-Amo brand, the company in 2014 created a new luxury line, Casa Turrent Series 1900. By 2017, that was expanded by the Origins series, soon followed by Casa Turrent 1880, which between 2019 and 2021 launched in seven different lines. Presently, this by now rather extensive portfolio gifts the aficionado with an eclectic variety of gauge sizes that encompass a remarkably diverse range of complex flavor profiles (see table). Whereas Mexican tobaccos feature prominently in Casa Turrent branded artisanal cigars wherever it makes sense from a blending perspective, several of the product lines also use some of the best tobaccos from across the region, particularly Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
Excellence courtesy of the Turrent family
“Our Casa Turrent 1880 Doble Maduro has been extraordinarily well received by experienced smokers due to the richness of notes on the palate and in the smoke, while the Casa Turrent 1880 Doble Claro is very much appreciated by all types of smokers thanks to its mellowness and pleasant flavors,” visibly proud company c.e.o., Alejandro Turrent, told Tobacco Asia during a recent interview. However, he regards the exclusive Casa Turrent 1880 Edición Limitada as the undisputed crown jewel in the company’s portfolio. “It is a selection of tobaccos that have been aged for more than 10 years, representing a unique reserve courtesy of the Turrent family that is finding its way into an outstandingly exquisite cigar,” he said. The “1880” moniker was not chosen arbitrarily, of course. For the Turrent family it is a momentous date, for it marks the company’s founding year.
Casa 1910: Honoring the revolution
Three decades after the Turrents set up shop, another important event occurred in Mexico. In 1910, the people rose up in revolt against despised dictator General Porfirio Díaz, eventually deposing him. Revolutionary leaders like Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Francisco Madero became the stuff of legend. Curiously, the tumultuous Mexican Revolution also serves as an over-arching product theme for a newcomer on the still small but expanding premium cigar scene. With an administrative office and popular cigar lounge in Mexico City and a cigar factory in the San Andrés valley, Casa 1910 SA de CV was founded less than three years ago. “As every school pupil learns, the Mexican Revolution started in 1910 and we carry that date in our company name to honor this historical event,” explained master blender and company co-founder, Manolo Santiago. “There is a lot of rich history and imagery of Mexican revolutionaries smoking cigars, and [as a company] we set out to indeed revolutionize the Mexican premium cigar industry,” he said.
A battle and a flagship brand
Befittingly, Casa 1910 named its debut creation (and today’s flagship brand) Cuchillo Parado after the small town where the revolution’s first battle was fought. “It’s a Mexican puro made from 100% Mexican aged tobaccos harvested and rolled in the San Andres valley,” said Santiago. Introduced only in November 2021, the Cuchilla Parado has since been joined by seven more exquisite cigars, which in continuation of the “revolution theme” are marketed under one or another of three lines: the Revolutionary Edition; the Cavalry Edition; and the Soldadera Edition.
In memory of the revolution’s female heroes
The soldadera line, created in memory of the female fighters of the revolution, was in fact only launched at the recent Total Product Expo (TPE) in Las Vegas. “The edition features three blends of Mexican and Dominican tobaccos,” explained Swiss expat and Casa 1910 co-founder, Serge Bollag. He asserted that this latest edition adheres to the same “revolutionary spirit” as all of the other luxurious Casa 1910 products. “Apart from using very interesting and unique types of aged tobaccos in our blends, we additionally age every single one of our cigars for a minimum of six months after being rolled and before distributing them to market,” Bollag said.
The catalyst
Yet there is a third individual in the “band of brothers” behind Mexico’s newest premium cigar brand. Jamie Baer, a Swiss national and long-term Mexico resident just like Bollag, is regarded the catalyst who seeded the Casa 1910 idea. “I was well aware of the lack of superior-quality and long-aged cigars in the US, where most Mexican cigars available are of the mass-produced type,” he recounted. “Despite that, there still are those precious few high-class brands such as Casa Turrent or Santa Clara and I feel compelled to give kudos in their direction for keeping the flame burning all those years. Recognizing them as global reference points, they inspired our own venture to a large degree,” Baer said. He added that armed with that inspiration he and his business partners Bollag and Santiago aim at nothing less than developing Casa 1910 into Mexico’s “first luxury cigar brand that will resonate even with younger cigar enthusiasts and finally put Mexico back into the spotlight where she belongs.” Or in shorter words: Viva la Revolución!
Negro San Andrés: A Unique Tobacco Varietal
The city of San Andrés Tuxtla in the southern state of Veracruz has since the early 19th century been the main center of Mexico’s tobacco production. The surrounding agricultural lands are blessed with rich volcanic soil. Over time, selective breeding created Negro San Andrés, an endemic tobacco varietal unique in the world. According to Casa Turrent’s Alejandro Turrent, “it will grow nowhere else but here,” for it apparently is dependent on the one-of-a-kind microclimate and soil so characteristic for the San Andrés valley. “It is a tobacco that imparts the richness of the volcanic soil, giving it intense flavors of cocoa, damp earth and wood,” Turrent explained. Large-leaved, Negro San Andrés is coveted as a luxurious wrapper, giving cigars a dark color and unique texture. “Negro San Andrés is indeed our [region’s] ambassador,” Turrent said, adding that most of Casa Turrent’s cigars contained it, “and not just in the wrapper.”
A Hot Export Commodity
Its current renaissance notwithstanding, Mexico’s cigar manufacturing sector was stuck in a sort of Sleeping Beauty slumber for a long time. Although Mexican tobaccos are perfect for premium products, local farms and merchants alike focused much too much on exporting leaf to neighboring countries -- and ironically, exactly for the very purpose of making it into cigars over there. Unbeknownst to most end consumers, many high-end cigar brands from the Caribbean and Central America, even Cuba, routinely use Mexican tobacco as filler, binder, or wrapper. Casa Turrent’s Alejandro Turrent readily admitted that the company at present still exports some 60% of its annual harvest mostly to the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. ”For decades, we committed [a major] part of our tobacco harvests to exports,” Turrent said, “but we are now increasingly dedicating our harvests to our own premium brands.”