Tiruchirappalli/Tamil Nadu: A shipwreck destroyed by Nazi Germany during World War II drew Winston Churchill’s attention to the small town of Tiruchirappalli or Trichy in Tamil Nadu. In fact it was all about how much he missed his Cuban cigars.
That’s when cigars from Fain Thompson & Company made their way to 10 Downing Street in the Voraiyur area of Trichy. The British PM also appointed a Churchhill Cigar Assistant (CCA) in the office of the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. His duty was to ensure regular supply of Tiruchirappalli cigars to the British PM. Thus this sleepy town has been transformed into an important stop on the cigar lover’s map. Even British author Arthur Conan Doyle and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock have mentioned Trichy cigars in their works.
,[Our cigar] Made differently than foreign cigars,” says V Ratnavel, 25, son of the current owner.
The 123-year-old cigar company established by Solai Thevar, a resident of Voraiyaur, is now the only cigar manufacturing unit in India. It also serves as a reminder of Trichy’s British heritage. In the last 20 years, due to increase in taxation, lack of availability of skilled labor and cheap machine-made cigarettes becoming popular in the market, almost all cigar makers in Voraiyaur have closed shop.
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what makes them unique
Three men are toiling hard inside a 400-square-foot room on the first floor of a building, on a quiet residential street in Voraiyaur, in the western part of Trichy. Nizam, 48, grips a tip of the fermented leaf between his hallux and second toe and quickly pulls out the main stem of the leaf. In a well-lit room with open windows, a strong odor overwhelms you if you stay too long. These men are the last skilled workers at V Vasudevan’s Fenn Thompson & Co.
The father-son duo explain that the fermentation process is what makes Trichy cigars unique. “Exotic cigars are made by aging tobacco leaves,” says Ratnavel. “Our technique is to ferment tobacco leaves using toddy water, juice of fruits like grapes, honey, pineapple,” says Vasudevan.
The Churchill Special, a tribute to the former PM, is still made today, with its tobacco leaves fermented for 13 to 14 years.
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last one standing
at its peak in the 1980s, The industry had over 4,000 manufacturing units in Voraiyur. The family remembers the golden age of Trichy cigars with a laminated pamphlet listing the more than 30 varieties used by Fane Thompson & Co. While half corona was just Rs 6 or 8 per 100 pieces, varieties like ‘no’. 1 Havana’ was priced at Rs 25 per 1,000 pieces. Now the company has only 8 varieties, and the price depends on the pieces in each box. “Twenty-five years ago, a box of 25 cigars cost Rs 400, now cigars cost Rs 40-900 per piece,” says Vasudevan. From about 70 workers in the factory with one warehouse, the unit now has only three skilled workers who store raw materials in a separate warehouse.
Vasudevan says that three types of tobacco are used – filler, binder and wrapper. The first two are supplied by specialized tobacco farmers from Dindigul, Erode, Arvakurichi, Tiruppur. The wrapper tobacco is specially sourced from Kolkata.
Things have been difficult, says Vasudevan. “There is 49 per cent taxation on this product – 28 per cent Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) and 21 per cent cess. There is a shortage of skilled laborers to do this work further. The government does not support us. Most companies stopped making cigars after making money. “It is true that increasing taxes is a threat. But I am doing this because of my love for this business. My grandfather told me to do this till I am alive.’
In the 1900s, apart from Fenn Thompson & Co., there were several cigar companies in Trichy, all of them with English names – Hunter & Co., John Mayer, Johnson & Co., Wilson & Co., etc. “None of our cigars were sold locally, and since we were exporting overseas, these types of names were chosen,” says Vasudevan.
Despite the challenges, Ratnavel is hopeful of taking the company forward. “Everyone wants to start something new, but I want to take this legacy forward. There is no competition for us,” he says.
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After the leaves are separated from the main stem, the Nizam takes a thin rod, separates the leaves into a specified shape, and holds the bunches together. Next, he takes another set of tobacco plant, with the main stem also removed, and wraps the leaf diagonally from the top to the end of the first bunch. The thin rod provides stability to the cylinder. After completing a set of 5 to 10 rolls, he places them one after the other in a wooden mould. In a machine to his right, he piles them up and tamps the flakes down hard.
“This process ensures the correct shape and size. The excess will be cut off,” explains Vasudevan. Once the heft is over, the cigar is taken out for the final step. Nizam cuts the tobacco leaf with a long scissor. cuts and places it on a wooden frame. Using his forefinger, he scoops out some root gum and spreads it on the leaf. In one smooth motion, the Nizam cuts the leaf diagonally as a wrapper for the cigar. rolls in, and finally, using a small rectangular piece of wood, rolls the cigar one last time on the plank.
“That’s a Churchill cigar, it would take a day and a half to make 15-20 such pieces,” says Vasudevan.
only on order
In 2001, Nadine Postel sent Vasudevan an unforgettable postcard from Paris. “We tasted your cigars and they are Best We’ve ever smoked,” he wrote. To ensure Vasudevan and his family remembered the two foreigners who came to Trichy to buy cigars, Nadine put a picture of herself and his wife on the postcard.
“All my customers are people who have heard about us through someone, or seen reviews on social media, or read about our history,” says Vasudevan.
In Lucknow, 80-year-old Dr. Arshad Alvi came to know about Fain Thompson & Co. at a tobacco shop where he used to buy his cigars. “For the last 7-8 years I have been buying cigars directly from him and I enjoy smoking them,” he says.
Ratnavel, who now handles the social media pages for Fenn Thompson & Co., made sure a surprise visitor’s recent review of the cigar found a place on his page. “Mr. Richard came here and said he wanted to buy 20 pieces of cigars immediately,” he said.
The company does manufacturing only on orders placed a day before. “Personally, the half corona is the one that pleased me the most in terms of taste,” says Richard in a Facebook post. Video,
(Edited by Hamra Like)