CIGAR CONTROL & CHECKING

Cigar tycoon Nick Perdomo, born in Cuba, is rightly seen as a perfectionist. In his company every cigar is checked 17 times before it gets packed.He explains: we are a vertical fully integrated manufacturer, which means that we oversee every single work progress – from the selection of the seedling fields to the finished cigar.

We have our own agronomy department and we take care of the entire tobacco processing ourselves. We even choose the wood for our cigar boxes and also produce them. And we also make our own cellophane tubes. We do every individual step ourselves because we believe that our consumers deserve the best, and this at more than fair prices. With Perdomo, every single cigar is put through a ring gauge. The quality control is over the top so our clients can be assured worldwide that they only get the best from Tabacalera Perdomo.

FOUR CONTROL FILTERS

Nicholas Melillo is the tobacco expert at Drew Estate in Esteli, where the quality control is divided into four levels. At Drew Estate Nicaragua introduced four control filters to ensure quality. Filter one is our quality control team, which checks all tobaccos and the tobacco blends and also the work of the butchers. We don’t use any draw testing machines, in fact, we don’t use any machines at all. Filter two: As soon as the cigars come off the rolling table, each one is inspected individually; some are Aldo smoked to check the blends again. Every fiftieth bundle of cigars is tagged with barcodes, which store information about size and brand, the muncher, the roller and the reviser.These bundles are then weighted. If one weighs too little or too much, the reviewer opens it and checks every cigar again and removes the inferior ones.

In the quality control room, control filter number three, only the production from the previous few days is checked; the cigars are weighted and smoked again. All the production defects detected up to this point are analysed and solutions are found for all the problems. After the maturing process the cigars are put on a sorting table, where they are sorted according to colour, inspected again and randomly sampled. Melillo says, At Drew Estate we have a rejection rejection number of 2.5 percent. I think that is phenomenal for a handmade product. Quality assurance is a daily struggle; you can’t slacken off for a moment.

CULTURE OF QUALITY

Hendrik Kelner vouches for the quality of the luxury brand Davidoff with his name. Davidoff is a vertically integrated business. We do inspections for everything from the production of the tobacco seeds to the packaging of the cigars. In our company quality control is more than a system of hundreds of statistical measurements and organoleptic assessments. We foster a culture of quality in which the entire team of the business is involved and committed. At Davidoff, quality control is spread over all the production processes. Hendrik Kelner explains, A few interesting aspects that we measure and control are things like the percentage of the germination of the tobacco seeds or the height and weight of the tobacco. Before harvesting we adjust the fertiliser to the condition of the soil, we do a physics chemical analysis of the ground, determine the ph-valueof the water, check the use of pesticides, and after harvest calculate the kilo profit per hectare. Even the position of the tobacco stalks of the post drying combustibility in seconds is observed and monitored.

STRESS FREE ATMOSPHERE

Every manufacturer has its own strict quality criteria. At Plasencia cigars importance is placed on a stress free atmosphere. Here the quality controller is seen less as an inspector and more as a facilitator. Our main capital is the people. Our workers at Plasencia cigars receive comprehensive additional training to educate them into innovative and committed specialists. With their input we maintain our quality standards day in and day out.

To find out more about cigar control and checking, please feel free to contact us today at Taylors Tobacconists.