Cigars
igars are famous for the powerful and influential men who have smoked them. Winston Churchill, Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain (among many others) were all cigar aficionados. And while the picture of a grey-haired man, velour jacket and cravat, brandy snifter in one hand, cigar in the other, may have become something of a cultural cliché, cigars are now conquering a new frontier, appealing to a younger and more global audience. Similar to wine, coffee and chocolate, growing tobacco is dependent on climatic and soil conditions such as temperature, humidity, sunlight, all of which come into play when creating the distinct characteristics in tobacco leaves. Tobacco grown in different regions lends different notes; wood, blackberry, chocolate and coffee are all common characteristics. Cigars are created by blending different tobacco leaves to create particular bouquets. Master blenders at Davidoff, the Swiss luxury tobacco brand, created 355 test blends last year, only 10 of which went into production. The tobacco’s unpredictable growth cycle, combined with handcrafted blending and nuanced flavour profiles, have helped cigars find a new niche among young moneyed types. It is not just a luxury product, but has something of an esoteric appeal. It needs to be understood to be enjoyed, which only increases its cache. “It is clearly an elite product, but affordable still, not like buying a watch or a piece of jewellery. There is, of course, the banker who can afford to have one everyday and there is the individual who saves all week to enjoy one on a Saturday,” says Hans-Kristian
Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, CEO of Davidoff
74 Jan / Feb 2014
Hoejsgaard, the CEO of Davidoff. The tobacco industry has not had it easy in recent years with smoking bans, escalating prices and the global economic downturn. It is equally blamed and held accountable for a myriad of health risks. Still, as the global popularity of cigarettes has declined, the relative popularity of cigars has increased. In the global tobacco products market, cigars emerged as the leading growth driver in recent years. “The cigar has carved out that niche [as] a product of pleasure. You do not inhale a cigar, it’s something that you taste. I’m not going to say that it’s health risk-free. But since the average cigar smoker smokes less than five per week, it doesn’t even compare to the risks associated with smoking cigarettes,” says Hoejsgaard. And while the relative health risks are still debatable, the perception that the cigar is something to be savoured and enjoyed occasionally persists. This has attracted a new crop of cigar aficionados. Davidoff estimates 10 per cent of its clientele are now women. “We know women have a better palate than men, so there are some women who have gotten into it for purely a tasting reason,” says Hoejsgaard. Davidoff has now introduced women’s masterclasses. “The female cigar consumers are generally more informed than the men are, ” says Kim Krienke, the cigar sommelier at the Iris Lounge in the Oberoi Dubai. “They know what they want. Because cigars have always been seen as a male thing to do, women have taken it on, and if they’re going to do it, they’re going to do it right. I get a lot of women