Cigar Weekly Interview with Carlos Torano, Jr.

August, 1998 -- The tradition began in 1916, shortly after Don Santiago Toraņo arrived in Cuba from his native Spain. Together with his three sons, Carlos, Jaime and Jose, Don Santiago became one of the largest tobacco producers in Cuba, growing some of the best tobacco in the Pinar del Rio region. Decades later, son Carlos made a key contribution to the industry, by introducing the renowned "Piloto Cubano" seed from Cuba to the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.

Today Carlos, Jr. oversees this tobacco and cigar dynasty, now in its fourth generation. He is joined by son Charlie, daughter Carolina Toraņo Levine and son-in-law Seth Levine. Together they manage five factories in three countries and a total workforce of 3,000, evenly split between factory and field.

Cigar Weekly: How do you decide what flavor to blend? Available tobacco or market tastes, etc?

Carlos Toraņo, Jr.: It is really a combination of our personal taste and, of course, available tobacco. You have to love the taste of your cigar in order to sell the cigar. Although we are concerned with "market" taste, we have to first feel that we have created an exceptional blend before we even consider marketing the cigar.

CW: When developing a new cigar blend, what are the steps involved? Do you start with the wrapper or filler tobacco?

CT: We generally begin with the wrapper tobacco. We also know, at the beginning of the process, the strength of flavor that we are targeting. If the target is a mild blend, than we may not have a complex blend of different types of tobacco fillers, which would add more flavor and strength. The stronger the flavor, the more complex the blend. From then on, we experiment until we find what we like and what we are looking for.

CW: Has the quality of tobacco changed over the last ten years? Has there been improved seeds or growing methods? Can you explain?

CT: In general, tobacco quality has stayed the same. However, in the boom you had many new growers who decided to venture into tobacco because it was profitable. When this happened, unfortunately you had some very poor tobacco. The weather, of course, also affects the quality of tobacco you have from year to year. For example, in 1997 you had a tremendous amount of rain in Ecuador. This not only affected the quantity of Ecuador wrapper available, but also the quality of what came from that crop. But the truth is that tobacco has been grown the same way for hundreds of years and we really haven't changed its methods very much. This is what makes it such a rich industry with so much heritage.

CW: Over the previous several years, have there been any improvements in cigar making productivity to shorten the cigar making cycle? What are they?

CT: You simply cannot rush a good cigar. Thus, even if there were ways to shorten the cycle, we would not be interested. The cigars have to age properly.

CW: What are the biggest challenges to maintaining a consistent blend? How do those challenges change from season to season?

CT: The biggest challenge of maintaining a consistent blend is the quality of the tobacco. As stated earlier, the weather can affect a crop, which in turn affects the taste. Also, you must rotate your fields every once in a while and thus a field, which may just be a few blocks away, may have different nutrients, which can slightly change the taste. The challenge is in maintaining good and consistently flavored tobacco. Because we grow a substantial amount of the tobacco we use, we can guarantee the consistency of the blend.

CW: On average, how much of the total flavor of the cigar do you think comes from the wrapper?

CT: I personally believe that about 50% of the taste comes from the wrapper. There are others that would put a higher percentage. But I feel that your filler tobacco also has a major impact. You can smoke two different cigars with the same type of Connecticut wrapper and I guarantee you can find a difference if one has a mild blend of seco leaf from the Dominican and the other has a strong blend of Honduran tobacco with a strong ligero leaf.

CW: Which wrappers do you work with most frequently? From your perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

CT: We work with Connecticut, Ecuador, Havano (Nicaraguan) and Indonesian wrapper. Each wrapper has its own flavor, The advantages and disadvantages are really matters of personal taste. In Europe, most consumers like the lighter colored wrapper in their handmade cigars. Although this is also true here in the States, consumers here are more willing to try Indonesian wrappers and Maduro wrappers. It's really just a matter of personal tastes.

CW: What special processes do you use during fermentation?

CT: Again, we use age-old processes to ferment our tobacco. Each type of tobacco needs to be handled a certain way. You need people with substantial experience to read how the tobacco is handling the fermentation to make the necessary adjustments during the process. This process can only be mastered through several years of experience.

CW: Other than the obvious additional flavor, what is different about blending a flavored cigar? Does most of the taste come from the flavoring?

CT: A good flavor cigar is hard to find. Most flavored cigars simply have their filler sprayed with some type of food flavor and mixed like a salad. We do not believe in this method. We work with "Reaction Flavors" which are meant specific for tobacco and emit more flavor as the tobacco burns. The more heat, the more flavor. We believe that to properly blend a flavor cigar you need mild tobacco that will not overwhelm the flavoring you are adding. A person who likes a flavor cigar wants to smell and taste the flavor as they smoke. Thus, if the tobacco is too strong, the flavor will not come through.

CW: Do you have any new cigars planned?

CT: Our new cigars are the flavors, which are called "Tropical Treats by Carlos Toraņo." We launched at the RTDA the following three flavors: Rum Rumba, Chocolate Cha Cha and Virgin Vanilla. We believe that our flavor cigars will set the standard in the industry.

CW: Thanks to Carlos Torano, Jr. for answering our questions.

Find out more: Toraņo Company Website