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Villiger’s new long filler cigar, 1888 |
SWITZERLAND. Leading Swiss-German cigar house Villiger Soehne is celebrating its 120th anniversary with the launch of its first handmade long filler line, Villiger 1888. As reported, the new cigar was unveiled during the company’s anniversary celebrations last month, attended by The Moodie Report.
The new line is made in the Dominican Republic and comes in three sizes: Corona (150mm long; ring size 43); Robusto (124mm long; ring size 50) and Short Robusto (102mm long; ring size 19.8mm). A second Robusto size is also available, at 102mm in length. A special Selection pack contains one each of the three variants.
The company said: “What does a company do when it turns a proud 120 years old? Does it [host] a great party? Does it bring a new product on the market? Villiger does both. The hand-rolled format of the brand Villiger 1888 is the first premium cigar from the company. [Owner] Heinrich Villiger has personally chosen the tobacco for the formats of the new brand, and in great measure influenced the composition of the cigars. In this way Heinrich Villiger is both the initiator as well as the “midwife” of this new brand.”
Heinrich Villiger developed the brand along with the company’s partners – Matias Maragoto of the Abam cigar factory in Santo Domingo, and Adalberto Ruiz Calderón, whose company ASP Enterprises supplies high-quality tobacco wrappers from its base at the foot of the Andes in Ecuador.
To round out the blend, additional tobaccos from Latin America and the Caribbean are added. Villiger said: “After careful fermentation and long aging they have reached the necessary stage, developing their unique flavours when smoked. The result is medium strength cigars that convince through their rich aroma.”
The Villiger 1888 cigar commemorates the founding of the company 120 years ago by Jean Villiger (Heinrich Villiger’s grandfather) in Pfeffikon, north of Lucerne.
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Historic celebration: (Clockwise from top left) Villiger’s 120th anniversary was hosted by company owner Heinrich Villiger (right), with his brother Kaspar (left) – former Swiss Minister and Federal President – as one of the guests of honour; More than 200 local and international guests joined the party at historic Lenzburg Castle; The Moodie Report Deputy Publisher Dermot Davitt (right) with former Export Director Monika Villiger, a popular face in travel retail for many years; Villiger Director Export Sales Chris Pfister with Area Export Manager, The Americas Lydia Garcia | |
The anniversary celebrations took place over four days during the first week of September, and were attended by around 70 distributors and retailers from around the world, as well as many friends and partners of Villiger from Switzerland. Among the guests of honour at the anniversary party were long-time Export Director Monika Villiger and Kaspar Villiger, former Swiss Federal President and government minister.
With 2007 sales of over 600 million cigars worth a total of €115 million, and with 800 employees, Villiger is among the world’s top ten cigar manufacturers.
Contact:
Villiger Sons Ltd
Export Department
Chris B. Pfister
5735 Pfeffikon/Lucerne
Switzerland
Tel +41 62 765 5555
Fax +41 62 765 5651
Export@villiger.ch
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