A. Turrent Releasing Casa Turrent, Taking Distribution In House
After discontinuing all previous A. Turrent branded cigar lines last year, A. Turrent Cigars, makers of the famous Te-Amo brand, will be releasing the Casa Turrent brand in June—and they're distributing it themselves.
Made in Mexico at A. Turrent's Nueva Matacapan S.A. factory, Casa Turrent consists of a dark, San Andrés maduro wrapper, two binders (one from Mexico and one from Nicaragua) and a filler of Nicaraguan and Mexican tobacco. While the wrapper is grown from Mexico's native San Andrés Negro seed, the filler and binder were cultivated from a Cuban-seed Criollo variety also grown in Mexico.
"This is a family brand," said Alejandro Turrent, president of A. Turrent and prolific grower of Mexican tobacco. "It's different from what we've made previously. A lot of this tobacco has been grown especially for the Casa Turrent brand. San Andrés tobacco has a great taste and combustion but lacks strength and body. That's why we added Nicaraguan tobacco. It has that strength, that punch. Because of that, the two tobaccos make a great combination."
Turrent said that the blend consists of 80 percent Mexican tobacco. It's set to retail for $8 to $10 and comes in three box-pressed sizes: Robusto, 5 1/4 inches by 50 ring gauge, Torpedo, 5 1/2 by 50 and Gran Robusto, 5 3/4 by 52.
Casa Turrent is now the only cigar brand that carries the Turrent name. Brands like A. Turrent, A. Turrent Puro Corojo and A. Turrent Triple Play were all discontinued last year. The entire portfolio of Te-Amo, including Te-Amo Classic, Te-Amo World Selection and Te-Amo Revolution is still in production.
Though the Te-Amo brands continue to be distributed by Altadis U.S.A., Casa Turrent is not. Turrent has decided to bring the distribution of his new brand in house.
If Casa Turrent sounds familiar, it's because the cigars were released in 2013 in Canada and Europe. Turrent said he did not have enough production last year for a U.S. release so he thought that Canada and Europe would be a good way to start the brand slowly and, at the same time, give the brand some international recognition. Production for the June release began at the beginning of 2015.
"We want to make this the flagship brand of our company," said Turrent, during an office visit to Cigar Aficionado. "It's important for us to change the perception of Mexican cigars. They can be balanced, complex and dynamic."
This story first appeared in the April 21, 2015 issue of Cigar Insider.
