|
 FACE-OFF
La Flor Dominicana Vs. Camacho
(From Cigar Aficionado Posted: Monday, September 08, 2003)
By David Savona
Picture yourself as a successful cigarmaker, with a portfolio of highly rated products that have built a considerable buzz in the marketplace. You own a tobacco farm, where you grow leaves that you coddle like children, keeping them solely for your use. They are the heart of your cigar brands.
Now imagine shipping some of that tobacco to a competitor in another country, and giving him permission to make a version of your cigar, band and all, for the public to try.
Crazy? Maybe, but that's precisely what Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana and Christian Eiroa of Camacho are doing. In a project the cigarmakers have dubbed Face Off, the two competitors are trying to make a better version of the other's brand. FACE-OFF
Christian Eiroa of Camacho, left, locks arms with Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana.
"This is basically two cigarmakers trying to outdo each other," said Gomez. "I think this is an historic event for the industry. It's not very easy to accomplish, because you need to have a very high level of trust and respect for the other company and family."
Each man sent the other enough tobacco to make 50,000 cigars. Each will mix in a bit of his own leaf to make a new version of the other's brand, resulting in a Camacho by Litto Gomez and a La Flor Dominicana by Eiroa. There will be one size, 5 3/4 inches long by 50 ring gauge. Each should retail for about $7.
"There has to be a mutual respect, because you're helping a competitor," said Eiroa. "You can hurt that other guy's brand and he can hurt yours."
The idea for the project was sparked in Germany, where the two men got to talking during a boring stretch at a trade show. Eiroa had the idea initially.
"Litto grows his own tobacco. I wanted to see what a Honduran cigar would taste like mixed with real Dominican tobacco, and vice versa," Eiroa said.
Gomez co-owns the La Flor Dominicana brand with his wife, Ines Lorenzo-Gomez. "When I spoke to Ines, she was delighted by the project," said Gomez.
Christian is the son of Julio Eiroa, the owner of Tabacos Rancho Jamastran, the Danlí, Honduras, company that makes Camachos, Baccarats and La Fontana ciga rs. Christian's father initially didn't share his son's enthusiasm for the project.
"My father said, 'You're going to do what?' But once he met Litto, the old man really got excited with the project," said Eiroa.
Each cigarmaker truly wants to beat the other, whether it be in the marketplace or a Cigar Aficionado taste test. On a conference call, the friendly competitors seemed just a bit nervous
about the prospect of what the other was going to do. Said Eiroa: "I don't know what he's going to make."
At the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show last month, Eiroa had a surprise, handing this reporter his version of a La Flor Dominicana. (I have yet to smoke it.) Gomez was a bit shocked that Eiroa had completed the cigar so soon.
When will Gomez get to try Eiroa's version of La Flor Dominicana? "When he buys them -- just like everybody else," Eiroa said with a chuckle. Added a laughing Gomez: "I like him, but that doesn't mean I can trust him."
Cigar Insider will rate the cigars head-to-head in an upcoming issue. The cigars are AVAILABLE NOW. |
