The Maxima Reserve was introduced last year to honor Rolando Reyes, Sr., who founded Puros Indios and operates the factory in Honduras, at age 78. The cigar boasts tobacco that has been aged 3-5 years, and retailers report brisk "ask-for" customer response, according to Diez.

Joining the original five shapes (Churchill, Toro, Robusto, Corona, and Corona Media) are the Piramide #1 (7 1/2 x 60), Piramide #2 (6 1/2 x 56), and Belicoso (6 x 48). The Belicoso features a fully tapered torpedo shape without a cut-off foot. The blend is Brazilian, Nicaraguan, and Dominican tobacco, with an Ecuadorian binder and sun-grown naturally-fermented maduro Sumatran wrapper. Reyes adds extra ligero leaf to give the cigar its extra-robust body and tames it with 3-5 years of aging.

The new shapes are presented in 10-count boxes. Suggested retail box pricing for the Piramide #1 is $120, the Piramide #2, $100, and the Belicoso, $80, all at keystone. The cigar box labels feature a modern rendition of traditional Cuban box art.

"These cigars balance the sweetness and lack of acidity of the finest honey with the delectable hint of roasted almonds and hazelnuts," says Heather L. Phillips, Heavenly's president. Phillips notes that the company's "unique flavoring process gives Heaven cigars a more sophisticated character than most flavored cigars."

Heather's Honey Nut is available in the company's new 5-pack boxes (suggested retail $15.90 for the Petites, and $18.30 for the Coronas, at keystone), as well as 25-count bundles and classic cedar boxes. Wholesale cost for a 25-cigar bundle of five Petite 5-Packs is $39.95, and $49.95 for five 5-Packs of Coronas.

In a related matter, Phillips announced an artwork change for all Heaven flavored cigars' cedar boxes. "The new marking on the outside lid of the box reads 'Heaven,' not 'Heavenly' Cigars," explains Phillips. "Although Heavenly is our company's name, the box's exterior is now consistent with its inner artwork and cigar bands, to avoid consumer confusion. Everything else about the box and cigars remains the same."

Indian hand-crafted cigarettes, or bidis, are an entirely natural product, made by filling shredded, flavored tobacco in tendu leaf which is cut to size, then tied with a thin colored thread, before being dried in a fire furnace. This process not only demoisturizes the cigarettes but also brings out their natural flavor.

Soex cigarettes have a built-in cotton filter and are available in a selection of flavors: chocolate, menthol, vanilla, wild cherry, strawberry, coffee, lime-lemon, raspberry, clove, and black licorice. The company also plans to add coconut, fruit, and spice flavors. The cigarettes are packaged in 20-count packs, ten packs per box, and 50 boxes in one carton.

Soex introductory price is $150 per carton, F.O.B. Bombay (Mumbai), India. However, as an introductory promotional sales offer to potential distributors only, Sopariwala is offering one carton of Soex cigarettes delivered to the nearest airport, as a free sample.

"This promotional trial offer will definitely assist you in assessing the response in your market and the benefits you are likely to accrue from the supply of Soex cigarettes," says Arif Sopariwala, managing director. "If there is any way that we can assist you in making a decision, please feel free to contact us."

The display is good looking and economical - it ships pre-filled and is offered at an introductory price of $175.

Chills Tobacco was recently awarded American and foreign patents for their best-selling Survival Kit, an all-in-one roll-your-own smoker's box. It contains a spring-loaded Reusable Cigarette, a 10 gram tobacco cavity for storing cigarette tobacco, a metal cleaning tool, a booklet of cigarette papers, and ships with filters and two extra booklets of papers.

In addition to Cigets, the company also manufactures gourmet cigars called Single Sweets and hand-rolled premium cigars called Companions in three series: Red (mild), Silver (medium), and Bronze (strong), each featuring only the finest leaves and a selection of flavored loose-leaf chewing tobaccos.

The Dominican-made Casanova Sweets are 100% tobacco and hand made. "We use only the highest-quality Connecticut shade-grown wrapper leaf," says Martin, "and both the Dominican filler tobacco and the pharmaceutical-grade flavoring essences complement each other, to yield a subtle flavor and fragrance. This is truly a premium cigar, a far cry from the flavored cigars of the past, where too much flavoring was used to mask inferior tobacco."

Casanova Sweets are available in Miniature (4 x 30) and Corona (5 1/2 x 38) sizes, packaged in bundles of 25 or 10-packs. The pocket-sized mini boxes of 10 are attractive colored boxes, much like cigarette hard packs, that clearly identify the three flavors: black for the rum, red for cherry, and bright yellow for vanilla. Suggested retail pricing is $15.50 for the 10-pack Miniatures, while the bundles retail for $30 (Miniatures) and $37.50 (Corona), at keystone.

The new display trays, which are intended for display of Tropical Tobacco's Don Juan and Cacique Martin premium cigars, take up less space on a walk-in humidor's shelf and hold all the sizes of each brand in one tray. Six bins in each tray hold all the sizes of each brand. The cigars are displayed loose, so retailers can replenish empty bins from bundles of 20 cigars, thus saving the cost of boxes. The Don Juan tray is high-quality finished wood, while the Cacique Martin is traditional Cuban-style paper-covered and includes pop-up on the front, and drop-down promotional information on the rear. Retailers who place minimum orders will receive the trays free of charge.

Produced in Danl’, Honduras in 1998, Viejo ("old" in Spanish), is the first of a series of annual releases of Puros Indios collectible cigars. Five classic Cuban shapes are offered: Churchill (7 x 49), Toro (6 x 52), Rothschild (5 x 50), #4 (5 1/2 x 44) and #2 (6 1/2 x 46).

"We only set aside 50,000 Viejos for aging, which just makes them more desirable," says Carlos Diez, director of sales and grandson of 78-year old company founder and active cigar master Rolando Reyes, Sr.

Viejo features the original tobacco blend of the Puros Indios line rolled at that time: Ecuadorian-grown Sumatra-seed wrapper and Ecuadorian binder, Brazilian and Dominican filler with Jamaican leaf for aroma and solid ash. The wrapper shades are natural and maduro. The cigars are medium- to medium-full bodied, but the taste "is even more rounded - the different tobaccos having harmonized," notes Diez.

An artist was commissioned to create a custom box, box art, and ring. The cigars are presented in space-saving five-wide boxes of 20 sticks. Suggested retail is $4.00 to $7.00, at keystone.

The company has limited Viejo's distribution to top-performing Puros Indios tobacco retailers, currently authorized to sell the Puros Indios Maxima Reserva. "When these cigars are gone," says Diez, "they're gone."

Also available from Davidoff of Geneva is the Avo Puritos Display, holds 10 tins of Avo Classic Puritos and 10 tins of Domaine Avo Puritos. The center slot contains ten free sample packs containing one Avo Classic and one Domaine Avo Purito each.

With its simple style and small footprint, this is the perfect way to display Avo Puritos for maximum consumer exposure. Wholesale prices, $168.

"We're making Heavenly Vanilla the first flavor offered in 10-count Spanish cedar boxes, because this is our best-selling flavored cigar," says Heather L. Phillips, Heavenly's president.

Heavenly cigars come in five other flavors: Cupid's Cherry Cream, Angel's Spice (Cinnamon), Raging Rum, Chocolate Thunder, and the just-introduced Heather's Honey Nut.

"We are careful to select blends and flavors that complement each other," she states, "and we don't merely spray or inject flavoring into the cigars. Our five-point flavor enhancement process is exclusive to the Heavenly Cigar Company, using just enough flavoring to allow the subtleties of both tobacco and flavor essence to come through."

At present, only the 5 x 30 Petite size of Heavenly Vanilla cigars are available in 10-pack boxes, with more flavors and sizes expected soon. Suggested retail pricing is $31 per box, wholesale cost is $15.75. Phillips and the Heavenly's "Angels" will be in the company's booth at RTDA, with samples of their entire line of cigars.