The product of several years' planning and work by Miami Cigar, the Don Lino Africa's wrapper is from a lot of extra-select leaf set aside in 1999, and the finished cigars are aged for three months before shipping. The new cigar is being offered in four shapes, each bearing an African native name for a jungle animal: The Punda Mila (Zebra), 6 1/2 x 44; the Duma (Cheetah), 5 x 50; the Kifaro (Rhino), 6 1/4 x 52; and the Tembo (Elephant), 7 1/2 x 50. All the cigars are cellophaned and presented in a humidor-quality, lacquered box adorned with African-themed ochre-toned box art. Suggested retail prices for the Don Lino Africa range from $5.28 to $6.24.

Miami Cigar is offering retailers extensive support to launch the new line, including display easels, cutters, posters, cigar pouches, and danglers as well as "a POS tool never seen in our industry," says Miami Cigar's director of marketing, Daniel Miranda. Don Lino Africa "shelf liners" are decorative strips that line shelves above and below the display, framing the boxes to draw attention to the entire line, says Miranda.

The Romeo y Julieta Petit Coronas Pack holds five cigars in the popular R&J frontmark, the 129-mm by 42 ring gauge Petit Corona.

The "3 Romeos" box presents three cigars in different sizes, each in an aluminum tube, and each meant to be smoked at a different time of day. The Romeo No. 1 (140 mm by 40 ring) is about a 40-minute smoke; the Romeo No 2 (129 mm by 42) provides about a half-hour of enjoyment; and the Romeo No. 3 (117 mm x 40) is a small-size smoke of about 20 minutes' duration.

Cuaba, like Cohiba, is an Indian word used by the Tainos in Cuba at the time when Christopher Columbus arrived to the island. The Cuaba tree had a highly combustible wood that was used to light their 'cohibas'. The Cuaba brand recreates the style of cigars that existed in the 19th century, when double figurados, or cigars pointed at both ends, were fashionable. One century later, in 1996, this classic style was taken up again at the Romeo y Julieta factory, where the Cuaba brand is handmade following the most traditional methods.

Harsbeck was one of three finalists, and seven semifinalists, out of over 80 entrants in the company's "Ms. Cuesta-Rey Lookalike Contest," chosen with the help of a handful of sponsoring tobacconists. Her picture will appear in J.C. Newman's advertisements for the Cuesta-Rey brand in early 2004. Maria and her husband Craig Harbeck will also be treated to an all-expense paid trip to Madrid, Spain, birthplace of the cigar brand's namesake Angel LaMadrid Cuesta, for six days and five nights, joined by their tobacconist Kurt Kendal and his fiancée Melanie Achter.

All seven semifinalists received a $100 American Express Gift Certificate, two boxes of Cuesta-Rey Aristocrat cigars imprinted with the contestant's name, and two boxes of Cuesta-Rey Pyramid No. 9 cigars.

Like the original and Cognac Flavored Golden Wraps, the new booklets each carry 20 leaves made with the finest tobacco, rendering a brown premium cigarette paper. The flavorings deliver a "smoothly sweet" and "aromatic" smoke, according to HBI.

Twenty booklets are packed per display box, each which features gravity feed or counter-top dispensing options. Distinct chocolate, strawberry, and coconut-like packaging colors and motifs complement each of the three flavors, along with the flagship Golden Wrap logo, first introduced on the original brand in 1998. Master cases contain 48 display boxes. A special introductory four-box self-shipping retail display is also available.

Skoal Fine Cut Wintergreen is now available nationally in all classes of trade in a fiberboard can, similar to the container Skoal was sold in for more than a half-century after its introduction in 1934. The can features a commemorative green litho-embossed lid and has a "made" date on the bottom. Skoal is also offering consumers an introductory $1.00 off per can on the product.

Also in support of the celebration, the company will launch the Skoal 70th Anniversary Racing Sweepstakes, which will give 70 winners an adrenaline-fueled trip to a Skip Barber Racing School, where they will learn to drive open-wheel race cars from professional drivers and compete for a $70,000 grand prize.

"This sweepstakes is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Michael Terry, brand director for Skoal. "It is also consistent with Skoal's proud history in racing." The sweepstakes runs from March 1 through June 30, 2004.

The new Perdomo Reserve "White Label" features a "Cuban Café" sun-grown wrapper that imparts to the cigar hints of coffee, cedar, and almonds and a smooth, clean finish. The Perdomo Reserve "Red Label" has a triple-fermented maduro wrapper which adds a semi-sweet cocoa flavor and a long finish. These new cigars join the existing "Silver Label," introduced at last year's RTDA, which sports a top-grade Cameroon wrapper.

Both of the new wrappers are from a strain of deeply aged Cuban-seed Nicaraguan tobaccos grown in the dark soil of the Perdomo family plantation in Esteli, Nicaragua.

"The evolving tastes of consumers seeking deeper and more complex flavors led to the genesis of the new La Tradicion Perdomo Reserve line," stated company president Nick Perdomo, Jr. "My father and I have been curing the new strain of Cuban-seed wrapper crop for the past 24 months and it's the perfect compliment to our well-aged Cuban-seed fillers and binders we already use for our Perdomo Reserve line."

All of the Perdomo Reserve cigars are now available in nine Cuban-style sizes: F (4 x 44/56/52 figurado); R (5 x 54 robusto); D (5 x 32/54/32 diadema); E (6 x 54 epicure); P (5 x 55 perfecto); C (7 x 54 Churchill); B (6 x 54 belicoso); V (6 x 32/56/32 figurado); and X (7 x 54 torpedo).

All are packaged in stylish 8-9-8 cedar boxes. The White label features a pearl-white finish, the Red Label a ruby-red finish, and the existing Silver Label a gun-metal silver finish. The brand retails from $5.75 to $8.40 per stick.