S.T. Dupont France turned to Pedro Pérez, president of Worldbest Cigars, and respected Canary Island producer CITA to develop a top-quality blend featuring a careful selection of tobaccos to create a fine, hand rolled premium cigar.

S.T. Dupont, through its domestic partner Worldbest Cigars, Newport Beach, Calif., is carefully building U.S. distribution among top tobacconists, in keeping with its high-end product lines.

The S.T. Dupont blend consists of Piloto Cubana and Olor filler from the Dominican Republic; a Colombian Cubita binder; and a Sumatra Rosada seed wrapper from the San Andres Valley, Mexico.

The line is offered in a full range of seven shapes; five long filler and two short filler. The long filler shapes consist of Double Corona, (71/2 x 50); Churchill, (7 x 47); Lonsdale, (61/2 x 43); Robusto, (43/4 x 50); and Corona, (51/2 x 43). Suggested retail prices range from $11.75 for the Double Corona, to $6 for the Corona. S.T. Dupont is elegantly packaged in 25-count hinge-lid wooden boxes overwrapped with a jet black glossy cardboard sleeve, as well as elegant, black four-count cardboard pocket packs.

In addition, there are two short filler sizes: Midi (43/4 x 29), packaged in flip-top boxes of five, and Mini (31/4 x 21), cigarillos packaged in either 20-count flip-top boxes or boxes of 50. Suggested retail are $1 and $.50 each, respectively.

The kit provides all components needed to easily and economically make filter cigarettes including: two 3/4-ounce pouches of TOP Tobacco, a TOP Cigarette Injector Machine, TOP Premium Filter Cigarette Tubes, and a free cigarette case. Easy-to-follow injector instructions are included. Regular and menthol versions are available. Enough tobacco for approximately 50 cigarettes is provided, allowing trial consumers into MYO segment at a lower price point. Retailers will receive the kits in 12-kit shipping case. A space-efficient, 18-count floor display is also available.

The Churchill cigars feature a blend of Brazilian Mata Fina and Mata Norte filler with a Mata Fina binder and Connecticut shade wrapper. They measure 71/2 x 44, and are packaged in individually-numbered hardwood boxes lined with rose cedarwood and containing 25 cigars. Each features a bronze medal of Pedro Ávares Cabral, commander of the Portuguese fleet that first landed at Bahia.

The third line in the L’anniversaire Series, joining the existing maduro and cameroon, will make its debut at the RTDA Trade Show in San Antonio, August 2000.

C.A.O. retailers are invited to participate in the promotion, and are being provided a counter display detailing the contest’s guidelines for consumers. Consumers can enter to win prizes ranging from a year’s supply of L’Anniversaire cigars, to individual boxes of the existing and upcoming L’Anniversaire cigars.

In addition, the retail account which purchases the most C.A.O. cigars, based on invoiced dollar amount, from March 15, 2000 through June 15, 2000 will receive an all-expense paid trip for two to Paris. Three runner-up accounts will win all-expense paid trips for two to attend the Big Smoke Las Vegas, which will be held at the Paris Las Vegas in November.