Mike Chiusano, president of DomRey Cigars Inc., Bradenton, Fla., says he knows. “Provided that you have a balanced filler, the wrapper is as much as 50 percent of the taste of the cigar.”

That is among the reasons that Cusano Cigars typically will use wrapper leaf as filler, and sometimes binder, to create in effect a double-wrapped cigar in many of its offerings.

“If the filler is balanced properly, wrapper can really dictate the entire nature of the cigar,” Chiusano explains. “Certainly, wrapper is used for its aesthetic qualities. When you see the color of a wrapper, you immediately form an opinion of what to expect from the cigar.

“When you start adding two or three wrappers to a cigar, you can see the exponential value of using them. And I’ve always loved exotic, interesting wrapper, and finding innovative ways to use them.”

DomRey debuted Cusano’s first cigars in 1996 at the zenith of the mid-1990s cigar boom, and Cusano is one of the boutique manufacturers that survived and went on to capture the attention of the mainstream cigar buyer.

“The use of exotic wrapper started us off,” Chiusano recalls. “When I first talked to smoke shops, they looked at me like I was Don Nobody. We differentiated ourselves early on with things like a Dominican wrapper.”

To date, DomRey has primarily been known for its mid-priced brands such as Cusano Hermanos, Cusano 18 Double Connecticut, Cusano 18 Paired Maduro, Cusano Corojo 1997, and Cusano C10 — released two years ago to mark Cusano’s 10th anniversary and now sold out. Most recently, DomRey has reached for opposite ends of the cigar spectrum by distributing the limited edition Cuvée Grand that will be sold by only 100 top retailers in the U.S. By marketing its first Dominican machine-made line — the all-natural tobacco Perfect Cut brand — the company completes its broad based portfolio. The new pre-cut, Connecticut shade, tubed cigar was developed in a joint venture with CTS Concepts and will be available primarily through outside distributors and convenience outlets later this summer.

Notably, Cuvée Grand — which launched in the U.S. last November at the Davidoff Madison Avenue store in New York City — does not carry the Cusano brand name. Chiusano considers the Cuvée to be an ultra-premium alternative with a suggested retail price of $12 each before taxes.

“We didn’t want anyone to have a preconception of what Cuvée Grand was going to be,” Chiusano said. “We want it to stand on its own apart from the Cusano name. It doesn’t necessarily fit the pricing of our value-premium cigars. It’s really a super premium for a different market segment. It’s not a three-a-day cigar or even an every day cigar.”

A limited number of the Cuvée Grand were made — only 17,000 sticks — in a single size each year, and each cigar is hand-numbered. For Cuvée’s launch, Cusano designed a 7 x 40 lancero using a proprietary Ecuadorian-grown, Dos Cubanos Cuban-seed wrapper with filler and binder from Honduras, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

“Cuvée Grand was developed because our biggest distributor in Europe wanted a cigar to appeal to a customer base that usually bought Cuban cigars,” Chiusano says, noting that the cigar packs a punch. It’s been a three-year project in selecting tobaccos, developing the blend, and aging the tobaccos.

“I think it’s better than a Cuban because it’s easier on the palate but it’s got just as much potency,” he says.

At the upcoming 2007 Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) trade Show in Houston, DomRey will introduce three premium priced cousins of the Cuvée Grand — Cuvee 151 and “overproof” cigar for experts only, Cuvée Rouge with a special reddish sun-grown wrapper, Cuvée Blanc with an Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut-seed shade wrapper. “It is the most surprisingly complex Connecticut wrapper you’ll ever taste,” Chiusano said.

Cuvee 151, Cuvée Rouge, and Cuvée Blanc will be available in four sizes with retail prices ranging from $6.95 (before taxes) for an entry level robusto size to $12 for an impressive 7 1/4 x 57 Salomon.

While much is often said about the similarities between fine cigars and fine wine, Chiusano notes the process of making fine champagne actually has more in common, and the name Cuvée Grand parallels these similarities. Great champagnes, notes Chiusano, start with each variety of grape being harvested and fermented individually, acknowledging the “terroir” or characteristics of the soil, climate, where they are grown. The vintages are then combined in specific proportions to create the final champagne blend, or Cuvée, where consistency is paramount. A vineyard’s finest cuvée is considered its “cuvée grande,” whereas the finest wines are often single vintages rather than blends maintained over time.

Cusano also manufacturers a series of bundle-type cigars that are sold for under $3 by retailers as singles from a tray that can be refilled: the mild M1 with a Connecticut shade-grown wrapper; the P1 with a Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper; the medium-body MC, also with a Connecticut shade-grown wrapper but with a richer filler; and the Cuban-style, full-bodied CC with an Ecuadorian-grown Sumatra wrapper.

“We have priced our tray and refill program aggressively for both tobacconists and the tobacco outlet market,” Chiusano said. “They are premium-priced bundled cigars, but they compare favorably in taste and quality to many boxed products in the market.”

Cusano 18 Double Connecticut, selling for about $5 each, is one of DomRey’s cigars that packs a two-wrapper punch with Connecticut shade tobacco used both as the binder and as the wrapper. Similarly, the Cusano 18 Paired Maduro features a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper with Brazilian-grown Mata Fina wrapper used in the filler. “Cusano 18 is not a luxury brand or a prestige brand,” Chiusano says. “It’s just a great cigar. Where you chose to position a cigar pricewise doesn’t say a lot about how it’s going to taste. We price our cigars reasonably because we are everyday smokers.”

Cusano Corojo 1997 — the wrapper is from a 1997 crop — features a second-generation Ecuadorian-grown Corojo wrapper, with Sumatra wrapper leaf used as the binder.

The brand name Cusano is derived from the family’s Italian surname — Chiusano. “When we made our first labels, nobody new how to pronounce our last name, so we used the phonetic spelling. That’s why nobody knows how to spell my name,” he says, laughing.

Chiusano, 46, travels a majority of the time, estimating that he was home three or four weeks during the first five months of the year as he attended trade shows and visited retailers and their Dominican factory.

Although Cusano is one of only a handful of cigar manufacturers founded during the tumultuous 1990s cigar boom that is still in business, Chiusano feels that DomRey and their Cusano brand has more than just survived. “We’ve grown 30% a year for the last 10 years,” he said. “I think cigar smokers have validated our whole plan and our products.”

Chiusano says he’s always enjoyed cigars, but got into the cigar business almost by chance while operating his own Boston-based investment management company — Chiusano & Company.

“It was a situation where I had gained access to some fantastic tobacco in the Dominican Republic at a time when demand for cigars outpaced their supply,” he says.

A customer of New Hampshire-based Two Guys Smoke Shop, then located outside of Boston, Chiusano had some samples made and offered them to Two Guys owner David Garofalo. “I cut the letterhead from my investment company for the band,” Chiusano said. “He loved the cigar, but he didn’t believe me when I told him I could deliver more of them. His first order was for 10,000 cigars — we called them Cusano Hermanos after me and my big brother Joe. I’ve never looked back.”

Relocating to Florida in 1997, DomRey has moved into larger facilities four times and currently occupies a 10,000-square-foot distribution center in Bradenton where it has 16 employees. The company also has an additional outside sales force of 10. Most of DomRey’s cigars are produced in the Tabadom factory in Villa Gonzalez, Dominican Republic, supervised by master cigarmaker Hendrik Kelner, a founding director of Pro Cigar, the Dominican Republic cigar manufacturers’ association.

Chiusano says that his experience with cigars has paralleled that of the people who have enjoyed his cigars over the last decade.

“It’s interesting,” Chiusano says. “As I’ve progressed in life, I don’t think my experience is that much different than other people. When I first got into the cigar business, I liked cigars with that creamy Connecticut shade wrapper. Over time, my tastes have matured so that my favorite cigars usually have a richer, more full-bodied flavor.

“As time goes by, you look for more and more flavor and potency in a cigar. And I think you can appreciate cigars more. Even with cigars that I don’t necessarily like, I can appreciate the tobaccos in them for what they are. Cigars are similar to wine. You are seeing more and more full bodied, complex wines being sold today. I think it’s a natural progression.

“Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors of ice cream, but everybody probably started with vanilla and chocolate.”

Because Cusano has become a steady force in the cigar industry, the company is able to keep a three-year inventory of tobacco to hedge against price increases.

In regard to the future of cigars, Chiusano thinks there is a small but very vocal group of cigar smokers constantly calling for stronger and stronger cigars. “But we still see the volume in milder cigars,” he said.

Chiusano doesn’t mind that his company is considered a “boutique” manufacturer fighting for shelf space with larger cigar companies. “It’s the difference between a nice little family-run restaurant and McDonald’s,” Chiusano says. “Boutiques can pay more attention to what is happening. My brother and I are smoking everything and seeing everything, so we know what’s going on in the market place.

“And quality control is better because the line between the consumer and the president of the company is very short. If someone is unhappy with a cigar that I’ve manufactured, they can get me on the phone.

“The secret to any business is discovering what you can be the best at and staying focused,” Chiusano said. “Our focus has always been to make the greatest product for the best price.”

“For us, the bottom line is making sure our consumers are happy.”