Boasting a solid portfolio of products –most of them winners of the Quality Gold Medal- this company’s manufactured items are backed up by the celebrated fact of being made with the world’s best black tobacco.

As in previous editions, the 9th International Habano Festival will feature BRASCUBA Cigarettes S.A., a Cuban-Brazilian joint venture formed by Souza Cruz –the leading cigarette company in the Brazilian market and a member of the British American Tobacco (BAT)- and Tabacuba, an enterprise attached to Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture with vast tradition as the producer of the world’s finest black tobacco.

Since its big break back in 1996, BRASCUBA has reaped major upshots in terms of production, marketing and distribution of cigarettes both in the turf and in other major markets overseas. Today, the company boasts a rock-solid portfolio of brands, most of them winners of the Quality Gold Medal.

In this first decade of hardworking efforts, the company has pieced together a catalog of brands designed to meet the demands of a number of consumers. In all, BRASCUBA owns nine different trademarks and sixteen versions, with three of them reserved for exportation: Cohiba, Romeo & Juliet, and Popular. All of them share a legitimate Cuban origin and are backed up by the celebrated fact of being made with the world’s very best black tobacco.

The company relies on its own industry, equipped with cutting-edge technology and located in Havana’s 10 de Octubre Municipality. In there, the quality of all products being funneled into the market is by far the name of the game.

EXPORTS ON THE RISE Ernesto TabIo Revilla, BRASCUBA’s Export Manager, explains that the company’s exports “were very fruitful in 2006. We sold as many as 410 million cigarettes, with 80 percent of that chunk going into the Spanish market and the remaining 20 percent doled out among Mexico, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Grand Cayman Island, and others.”

Mr. Revilla went on to say that in Spain –the company’s number-one market- since “the introduction of the Popular brand in 2003, we’ve achieved a superb growth. Today, (Popular) amasses a quarter of the entire black tobacco’s market there and, above all, it’s a brand that’s caught on quickly among Spanish consumers with a liking for this particular kind of cigarette.”

Other brands, like Romeo & Juliet and more recently Cohiba, are also making a splash in that market. The two of them are closely linked to the famous Habanos they’ve been named after and both cash in on this element to put on a much better show worldwide.

Mr. Revilla remembers that in 2006 started holding talks with distributors from the Asia-Pacific Rim, going stronger in Hong Kong, thus getting a much firmer toehold on major Asian market for the Cohiba brand.

As a token of the seriousness that characterizes BRASCUBA, the products the enterprise exports comply strictly with legal and sanitary regulations for each and every market. With that view in mind, the company sticks the Surgeon General’s warning label on items sent to all destinations.

COHIBA: CIGARETTES FOR THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD The Cuba-Brazilian joint venture has taken on a new challenge. Now the Cohiba Cigarettes are reaching out to all world regions, endorsed by the superb quality of BRASCUBA’s products. This version came into being in 1987, and in 2003 the company got a license from Habanos S.A. to produce and market the brand in Latin America, the Caribbean and Russia. The new brand is now going global after getting a second license last year to develop and sell the cigarettes in every nook and cranny of the planet.

Today, BRASCUBA producers and distributors say the cigarette-format Cohiba is at a premium all around the world, holding a candle to the fame the Habano version has garnered in over 40 years. Its challenge now is to preserve the undisputed quality of the well-known cigar by providing a one-and-only cigarette design from an exclusive selection of pure, genuine Cuban tobacco.

“The Cohiba cigarette is a brand well thought out, a product of exclusive quality designed for a segment of Premium smokers,” Mr. Revilla wrapped up. “We’re coming to this new edition of the Habano Festival with the goal of sharing this piece of news with both customers and distributors visiting the island nation.”

For contacts:

Ernesto Tabio Export Manager

Mailing Address: Revilla, 6 Reyes Street on the corner of Calzada de Luyano, 10 de Octubre, Havana, Cuba, Zip Code 10700 Phone: (53 7) 696 7510 al 15 ext. 219 Cell: (53 5) 285 0367 Fax: (53 7) 866 9306 e-mail: ernesto.tabio@brascuba.cu