Villiger Expands 1888 Line

Source from:  CigarAficionado.com 08/19/2009

Villiger Stokkebye International has expanded its handmade premium Villiger 1888 brand by adding the Perla, a four-inch long, 40 ring gauge cigar. The size was shown last week at the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers trade show in New Orleans and will begin shipping almost immediately. It will retail for about $5. Villiger 1888s are made in the Dominican Republic at the ABAM Cigars S.A. factory in Santo Domingo, the capital city. While more cigars are made by hand in the Dominican Republic than in any other country, almost all are made in and around Santiago, so the factory location is unusual. The factory owners, two Cuban expatriates, opened the factory away from the heart of Dominican cigar production intentionally, to staff it with rollers that had not been trained by someone else. Villiger is best known for its machine-made cigars, and the 1888 is the first handmade cigar bearing the Villiger brand name. The line debuted in Switzerland on the company's 120th anniversary, and was launched in the United States last spring. The brand features a Connecticut-seed Ecuadoran wrapper grown "desflorado" style, which means the leaves are picked after flowering. Enditem