Gurkha Redesigns Pedro Martín Brand

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 11/20/2014

When Maria Martín launched her Pedro Martín brand back in 2011, she intended it as a tribute to her father, the late tobacco luminary who founded Tabacalera Tropical. But last year, production of the line was temporarily halted before Gurkha acquired the Pedro Martín brand (and hired Maria) with plans to completely overhaul the cigars from packaging to end product. Today, the new Pedro Martíns have been consolidated to two regular-production lines, and the packaging has been redesigned.

The new boxes, Gurkha believes, are a better reflection of Martín's storied history in the business. Each inner lid is emblazoned with a central monogrammed crest and symbolic illustration. Flanking the "PM" monogram are two landscapes. On the right is the Castillo de Jagua, a castle that protected the Cuban city of Cienfuegos, close to where Martín was born. On the left is Cuba's famed tobacco growing region of Pinar del Río. While the decorative gold filigree represents tobacco flowers, the dates 1920 and 2010 are the birth and death year of Martín.

The boxes, which used to be lacquered, are now made of unvarnished cedar with the same type of decorative trimwork along the edges found on traditional dress boxes.

The two Pedro Martín brands, Ruby and Maduro are made with Corojo and Mexican San Andrés wrappers, respectively, though both otherwise contain all Nicaraguan tobacco. A Robusto, Toro and 6 by 60 called the XO are available. While the Rubies retail for $7.50 to $9.50, the Maduros are priced a little higher. Enditem