J. Cortès has offered cigar aficionados from around the world an exclusive understanding of the production at Oliva Cigar Company via an innovative virtual tour.
J. Cortès, which struck a deal to acquire fellow family-run company Oliva in 2016, recently completed a major two-year investment in the Oliva factory in Nicaragua.
“We as a family showed our commitment by investing a lot in the manufacturing side of the company to take the factory up to where it is now,” J. Cortès CEO Fred Vandermarliere told The Moodie Davitt Report and other guests ahead of a virtual tour of the facility.
Attendees were then treated to an insightful dive into all stages of the cigar manufacturing process for Oliva – from rolling to binding – at the factory that produces upwards of 80,000 cigars on a typical day.
The tour took place virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic and clear safety measures were in place for the 1,200 staff in the facility. All staff were wearing masks, hand sanitiser is in place throughout and social distancing has been implemented where possible. All staff also have their temperature taken twice a day and have been educated on COVID-19 and how to minimise the spread.
Vandermarliere added: “The government of Nicaragua didn’t give any guidelines at first, so we took the instructions out of the Greater Miami and Florida area of the US and the Belgian rules to make our own standards.”
COVID-19 has dealt a “big hit” to J. Cortès’ travel retail business Vandermarliere admitted. “It is a very tough time for travel retail, but we believe in the long-term future for the industry and will support our partners,” he continued.
“I still think that if you see the cigar smoker as the type of person that travels more than on average, especially the premium cigar smoker, I do believe that they will start travelling again. It might be less frequent for a couple of years and we have to live with that, but I don’t believe it will disappear.”
Commenting on how the behaviour of cigar smokers has changed during the pandemic, Vandermarliere said: “We feel that people are not enjoying fewer cigars. People are enjoying smoking at home in their garden.
“We have also found more people are having Zoom sessions where they are smoking cigars with their friends. I really hope this can continue and we can have cigar tasting with people in different parts of the world with no need to travel. They can be at home, enjoying a cigar and chatting with each other.”
The pandemic is not slowing efforts to refine the range offered by the two family companies. J. Cortès Export Manager & Travel Retail Coordinator Thomas Gryson said: “At this moment we are concentrating on the lines we have. That said, we are always trying to blend new cigar lines and hopefully, by the end of 2020 or early 2021, we will be able to announce some exciting news.”
Vandermarliere added: “We will only bring the new product when we feel it is ready. It could be one year later than planned. We will only bring it the moment that we feel it is fully ready; we are not in a hurry or under any stress in that sense.”
