News / Business
Cigars International Provides Ultimate Cigar Blending Experience
Cigars International has been more than innovative in their short 14 year-span. Through aggressive marketing, a customer-friendly sales approach and a user-friendly national website, cigar enthusiasts across the United States have enjoyed a definitive cigar experience through the company. Accolades aside, CI continues to grow with ground-breaking ideas and has tackled a new project, one that no other cigar company in the world has accomplished. This new venture is the CI BlendLab and it presents cigar smokers with the ultimate cigar blending experience.
Because the blending process is crucial to cigar-making, Cigars International has created this experience through 33 staggering blends, all ranging in price from $4 U.S. to $9 U.S. and constructed by the industry’s top manufacturers out of Central America. Each cigar does not have a name or a brand attached to it, but rather a code which is hand-written on the cigar’s band (i.e. TO-554). The cigar smoker will then taste the cigar from start to finish, rating the cigar’s appearance, draw and burn, value, construction, flavor, body and overall experience.
This is where the blending process begins. Through the input of the taster, the cigar’s manufacturer will then tweak the blend, size and/or production size and try again. Moreover, this customer feedback will determine which blends continue in production and which ones are discontinued.
Mat Cook of Cigars International describes the blending process as, “The red beating heart that drives innovation and creativity in the cigar world. The BlendLab bypasses the gatekeepers, the elites, the marketers, the middlemen and brings the factory and blending process to the customer directly.”
With the success of the original BlendLab, located at the Cigars International Super-Store in Bethlehem, PA, the project was adopted by headquarters, allowing these exclusive blends to be distributed all across the country. The original BlendLab is still located at the Super-Store and offers tours daily.
“This isn’t for everybody,” says Jeff Kocher of Cigars International, “It’s geared more to the cigar enthusiast, or ‘aficionado’ if you will. These are gems that are not sold on our sales floor [of the Super-Store], on our website, or anyone else’s website. We’re doing this for the guy that has a true passion for the industry.”
Through this new project, CI’s goal is to generate an experience analogous to what would be experienced at a factory in Central America. Moreover, it’s likely these blends may never be released to the public, due to rare or small allotments of tobaccos. More exciting, one or more of these blends will ultimately go into production and become nationally distributed brands.
Cook adds, “If these cigars were to go into production they will easily range in price from $12 U.S. to $20 U.S. per stick, due to the rarity of tobacco and strict quality control of the batch.”
Instructional videos, order info, and general information can be obtained by visiting the BlendLab.
