Tabaqueria de Filipinas, one of the two remaining companies making cigars in the country, is keeping the tradition of hand-rolling cigars, competing favorably with world leaders Cuba, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
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Tirso Ripoll, sales manager of Tabaqueria and son of the company’s founder Gabriel Jr., said the world is looking at the Philippines for mid-priced cigars.
"Every cigar we make is lovingly handmade," he said. "Most of our rollers are women. They go through a special training and apprenticeship before they can handle the more premium brands like the Independencia," he said.
Tabaqueria de Filipinas cigar, Ripoll said, is mild and smooth and giving competitors a good fight. Philippine cigars are affordable at P50 to P100 per cigar compared with the competitor’s P700.
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"We have a steady market and we are growing every year. Our clients are the discerning and sophisticated cigar smokers," he said.
Tabaqueria de Filipinas’cigars are available in most cigar shops and bars and restaurants that have smoking rooms in the Philippines.
Half of its production is exported to the United States, Europe and Asia with the US being the biggest international market.
About 2 million to 3 million cigars are sold per year, with at least 50 percent of sales from the domestic market.
Ripoll said he is continuing a tradition inherited from his father George Jr., who for 40 years was part of the remnant of the Spanish tobacco monopolies’ cigar factory.
George Jr. retired as general manager in 1993 and set up a factory in a pre-war house along Taft avenue in Manila.
The cigar business started in the 16th century with Augustinian friars bringing with them tobacco seeds from Cuba. They cultivated tobacco in regions they found suitable.
The first Tobacco Monopoly was formed in 1792 when farms were established, most notably in the Ilocos region and Cagayan Valley.
By the 1800s, cigar making flourished and factories were set up to feed the growing demand in Spain and other countries in Europe.
Ripoll said in its heyday, the cigar industry had quite a number of players, hitting its peak just before the Second World War, with an average yearly production of 202 million cigars.
By 1950, the production whittled down to roughly 2.1 million following the closure of many European markets during the war and the shift in preference to cigarettes.
Ripoll said soon after, cigarettes gained popularity, forcing many cigar factories to close operations. Eventually, it was only Compania General de Tobacos de Filipinas, the giant Spanish tobacco monopoly, which survived.
This company was split apart in the early 1990s and the cigar factory was sold off.
From there, Gabriel Jr. started Tabaqueria de Filipinas in 1993, Tabaqueria de Filipinas began as a five-roller operation on the ground level and garage of a rented pre-war home in old Manila.
Tabaqueria de Filipinas’ factory now sits on a 2,000-square-meter property in San Pedro, Laguna and has a floor area of 1,500 sq.m. which can produce between 15,000 and 20,000 cigars a day, depending on the size.
It now employs between 200 and 250 people, such as cigar makers, tobacco leaf handlers, sales and office staff, depending on the season. It also works closely with 65 farmer families in La Union as 85 percent of the tobacco they use they grow themselves.
He said the hand-made cigar is still a great product enjoyed by many aficionados.
This is why, Ripoll said, Tabaqueria de Filipinas continues to make cigars in the old, traditional way – by hand. "This is how the best cigars in the world have always been made and this is how they are still made today. From the way the tobacco is grown, harvested and air-cured to the way the cigars are rolled, and stored, everything is done in the traditional way," said Ripoll of Tabaqueira’s process.
"The cigar makers today use the same skills and tools used by their forefathers. Cigar making is a very skillful art and this is passed on from father to son, mother to daughter. Through the generations. We believe that cigars are a part of Philippine culture and, as proud Filipinos, we are obligated to keep these skills, arts and traditions alive.
"Cigars differ from cigarettes in that cigars are a want, not a need. That said, cigars will never outsell cigarettes but are enjoyed by many people because of their excellent taste, good quality and reasonable price.
"Cigars have a different market from cigarettes. Granted that this market is much smaller, it is much more discerning and sophisticated," he said.
He added: ’The Philippine cigar industry is surviving. But there are factors that threaten this survival."
He is referring to the proposed imposition of a blanket tax on cigars of P150 to P200 which he said will surely kill the sales of Philippine cigars as this tax does not differentiate between the various cigar sizes and selling price and, as such, is higher even than the selling price of the cigar. In some cases, the increase in tax is 12,000 percent.
"Philippine cigars are still very special and it is my hope that the government will protect this great traditional, national product," Ripoll said.
In a letter to President Aquino seeking not to enact the excise tax bill into law, Ripoll narrated how Tabaqueria has retained the rich heritage of cigar making: The Philippines has a rich cigar tradition that dates back to the Spanish era and a good premium Philippine cigars are still made in the traditional way – by hand. IT is a true skill that takes many years to master and has passed down through the generations.
"There are only a few countries in the world that produce cigars in the classic, traditional style and the Philippines proudly belongs to that exclusive club," Ripoll said. Enditem
