Laura Chavin

Family traditions began to matter for Helmut Buhrle when his wife gave birth to a baby daughter in 1988. Buhrle's grandparents had been tobacco traders and his mother had owned a prestigious tobacco shop, but the young Stuttgart designer took no interest in the family business during the early part of his life. After studying design, he moved to Paris with grand career plans, fuelled (in his own words) by energy and imagination.

The grand plans were realized – Buhrle's resume includes work for outstanding fashion houses, such as Ferre, Hermes, Dior, and Byblos. The birth of a daughter, christened Laura Chavin, brought a change in course. A new brand of cigars by the name of Laura Chavin appeared in German tobacco shops. Helmut took the step into a new career very seriously – there could be no question of failure when the name of his beloved daughter was at stake.

The first priorities were excellent tobacco and an experienced manufacturer. Helmut chose to work with Jose Sejas, head of the Tabacalera de Garcia tobacco factory in the Dominican Republic, and Siegfried Maruske, one of the best suppliers of tobacco from locations outside Cuba. These two were alone in believing in Helmut's plans, which seemed overambitious: the chances of success for a new brand of cigars in the already overcrowded market were slim. The partners set up a factory within a factory – a separate workshop inside the Tabacalera de Garcia, where the most expert cigar makers devoted all of their attention to the creation of a new range of luxury cigars by the name of Laura Chavin.

The recipe for the essential Laura Chavin range, which consists of nine cigar types, is classic : Dominican tobacco bound in a leaf from Mexico's San Andres valley, with a Connecticut shade wrapper from the US. In 2001 the partners presented a new range of cigars – Pur Sang ("Thoroughbred") – made exclusively from top leaves ("la corona") of the tobacco plant. All the other leaves on the plant must be disposed of in order to obtain these top four leaves, which are black from the sun, saturated with aroma and minerals, making the perfect cigar tobacco. Connecticut shade is used for the wrapper, but with four, five or six fermentations instead of the usual two, ensuring an optimal balance between taste and strength. A specialty of the Pur Sang range is the chico mini-cigar, extremely difficult for the cigar maker to execute, but a true delicacy for the smoker. The chico concentrates the aroma and strength of a big cigar in a small format (it is more expensive than a Churchill), and its success has secured international renown for the Laura Chavin brand.

The latest innovation by Laura Chavin is Terre de Mythe, which uses 100% Cuban tobacco for the filler, binder and wrapper. Tobacco from Cuba is imported to the Dominican Republic, where it is fermented, matured and rolled into cigars at the Tabacalera de Garcia.

Helmut Buhrle is not interested in easy money or cheap celebrity status, preferring a long and difficult path, which leads to quality, consistency and a completely exclusive product. As he says: "My motto is: the less the better". Laura Chavin uses the same exclusive approach in its sales policy: the limited range, Concours des meilleurs connoisseurs, which includes double corona, figurado, and belicoso cigars, has only been available in Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany. It is soon coming to Russia.

Classic

No. 11 Petit Panetela 115 × 15 mm

No. 22 Panetela 152 × 14 mm

No. 33 Corona 140 × 17 mm

No. 44 Torpedo 155 × 21 mm

No. 55 Robusto 128 × 21 mm

No. 66 Churchill 178 × 20 mm

No. 77 Petit Corona 102 × 16 mm

No. 88 Petit Perfecto 100 × 18 mm

No. 99 Fino Largo 178 × 15 mm

No. 444 Grand Perfecto 175 × 18 mm

Pur Sang

Pur Sang I Fino Largo 178 × 15 mm

Pur Sang II Corona 140 × 17mm

Pur Sang III Piramid 125 × 20 mm

Pur Sang IV Toro 152 × 21 mm

Pur Sang V Chico 100 ×10 mm

Pur Sang VI Grand Pyramid 175 × 20 mm

Terre de Myrthe

Giant 205 × 21 mm

Toro 171 × 21 mm

Corona 140 × 17 mm

Mimi Belicoso 113 × 21 mm

Petit Corona 88 × 16 mm

Petit Perfecto 100 × 16 mm

Concours des meilleurs

connoisseurs

Belicoso 152 × 20 mm

Double Corona 190 × 19 mm

Figurado 177 × 18 mm

Cigar Clan 5'2007 vol.1.Sophia Bakaleeva