JM Tobacco, Inc., a Los Angeles, California,provider of premium cigars, has acquired all assets, marketing rights and the Zoidian brand name from George Hafoury, founder andformer owner of theten-year-oldGlendale, California,company.
JM is replacing the original Zoidian selections with an entirely new and different lineup of fourshapes and blends. They will be made at the same Dominican factory as JM’sextensivevariety ofvalue-priced all-tobacco, handcrafted premium products. The company is spotlighting Zoidian at IPCPR, as well as JM’s full-premium Española, their first introduction in 1996, which has continued in limited production until now.
JM’s president,Anto Mahroukian, reports, “These Zoidian cigars bridge the gap between ourprincipal JM’s brand of cigars … all retailing forless than$3 … and our flagship Española, at $7-$8.” Zoidian’s MSRP falls between $4 and $5 for its four classic Cuban shapes … Robusto, Toro, Churchilland 6-3/4″ x 62 Gordo Grande.”
The Zoidian shapes come in Natural (Sumatran) orMaduro(San Andreas, Mexico) wrappers. The binders are true Connecticut Broadleaf, and the fillers are Cuban seed Dominican leaf. All tobaccos are well-aged for rich, balanced flavor. The Natural is a mild-to-medium cigar, while the Maduro is medium-to-full bodied.
Quoting Mahroukian, “JM is noted for its use of Cuban sandwich fillers, which wrap short- and medium-length leaves and remnants (but not chopped) inside one or more long filler leaf(ves). In addition to maximizing economy, they virtually eliminate burn problems in all our JM’s cigars. By selecting remnants from top-quality long-filler cigar brands, our flavorand body properties surprise even the most discriminating palates. Of course, we include Cuban sandwich filler in our Zoidian brand.”
Zoidian’s bundled packaging saves the smokers evenmore, a benefit to those who like more than one smoke a day. The four shapes are presentedin separate twenty-cigar bundles for Natural and Maduro, except for the Gordo Grande’s sixteen to the bundle. This totals 152cigars in a “bundle box,” which wholesales for $279 at the show and through September 30, with the cost rising to $299 on October 1 Says Mahroukian: “JM’s motto, due to our value pricing has been ‘Your Daily Choice.’ Now we are adding ‘The Affordable Luxury,’Zoidian’s complementary slogan for their cigars.” The Zoidian cigar line, like Española will ship on September 1 … all other JM cigars are available currently.
Photo caption: JM Tobacco debuts four all-new Zoidian Cigar additions to its existing widevariety of value-priced JMpremium cigars (file name: JM Zoidian.jpg)
Company Profile:
Family-owned JM Tobacco, Inc. was founded in 1996 by John Mahroukian. The company distributes its natural and flavored premium cigarsthrough retail tobacco stores across the United States and in Europe.It is based in Los Angeles, California, and imports its cigars from the Dominican Republic. Mahroukian’s son, Anto, currently serves as company president.
