The Mozambican employees that the two men hired were also \u201cvery quickly\u201d up to speed. \u201cI had allowed six months to produce a commercially acceptable cigar. It generally takes one year \u2013 some say five years \u2013 but the girls picked it up extremely quickly,\u201d explains Kamal Moukheiber.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dressed in a Cameroonian wrapper<\/h3>\n
Apart from the two managers, the Bongani team is exclusively female. The two boncheras,<\/em> Eugenia and Sonia, were the first to be hired. Then four rollers \u2013 Salom\u00e9, Rosa, Tina and Adriana \u2013 joined them a few months later. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if their productivity is half that of comparable teams in the Dominican Republic,\u201d asserts the director. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking for volume; we\u2019re more interested in quality. Labor costs in Mozambique are low \u2013 the minimum wage is under \u20ac100 per month \u2013 we could hire more staff if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cigars\u2019 filler is made up of mostly Mozambican tobacco, with a little Dominican tobacco for strength, flavor, and to improve the burn. Everything is covered with an African wrapper, grown in Cameroon, whose know-how in this field is well established. Kamal Moukheiber preferred not to say any more about where his tobacco comes from.<\/p>\n The boncheras<\/em>, divided into teams of two working behind their desks, sort the tobacco leaves before rolling them into the required shape and length and then placing them in the molds. When the molds are full, Anthony Padilla puts them in the press for 2 to 3 hours, after which they are ready to be covered with the Cameroonian wrapper.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cigars spend two weeks in a fumigation refrigerator \u2013 a completely natural process, without the use of chemicals, Padilla assures us \u2013 then at least 21 additional days in the company\u2019s escaparate<\/em> (maturation cellar), which is also 100% African, being made of Ghanaian wood.<\/p>\n The packaging (boxes of 10 or 20 units) is also made on site. \u201cThe production of cigars is just one of the company\u2019s facets,\u201d reveals Kamal Moukheiber. \u201cThe most difficult part is the rest: the logistics, the packaging\u2026 It took six months to find the right box. Everything must be at once perfect and future proof, and the logistics are crucial. How do you export cigars from Maputo to Nairobi? Cigars aren\u2019t just any product: tobacco is regulated everywhere. You can\u2019t just send it by mail or by transporter, you need loads of authorizations.\u201d<\/p>\n At this stage, most of their sales are still in the continent\u2019s largest countries \u2013 South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria \u2013 but Bongani cigars are now available in around 10 countries, with negotiations ongoing for more. \u201cAs well as the United Kingdom and Switzerland, European markets like France are much more strongly regulated, so they are not easy to penetrate for now,\u201d notes Kamal Moukheiber. \u201cBut we sent a big delivery to the USA at the end of 2020, and we even have sales in Japan!\u201d<\/p>\n With around 10,000 cigars per month, Bongani is a small manufacturer on the global scale. \u201cObviously, compared with the Dominican Republic\u2019s big manufacturers, it\u2019s very small, but it\u2019s not negligible. We\u2019re on the radar; we\u2019re just a small dot for now, but we\u2019re there. The company is already profitable,\u201d Kamal adds. \u201cBut the bulk of the work remains to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Particularly oily and sleek, the Cameroonian maduro wrapper makes a good first impression. After some woody and earthy notes in the cold draw, this African robusto kicks off with very smooth woody exhalations after a somewhat laborious start (the cigar is difficult to light). The draw is perfectly adjusted, and it burns smoothly. Spicier flavors soon appear, underpinned by meaty and silky smoke. The strength is constant at this point. The cigar then takes a turn, with earthy and animal notes (leather) while the strength builds gradually. After the halfway point, the progression of flavors is less spectacular, but it becomes more intense and the strength remains moderate. A satisfying finish with hints of cocoa and spices. A great quality cigar, full-flavored and aromatic, which makes us regret that they are not available in France. A word of warning, however; there are some rolling defects on certain cigars.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rating: 4\/5<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first cigars to be produced in Africa are starting to arrive on other continents. Made essentially with African tobacco, and rolled by an all-African team, they come from Mozambique. Tom Bowker, our correspondent in Mozambique, reports from Maputo. Africa\u2019s first cigar manufacturer is starting to export. After a first batch of Bongani Cigars landed at London Heathrow Airport at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":12744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1051],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-en","category-the-world-of-cigars-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.cigars-connect.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_5515-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA maturation cellar in Ghanaian wood<\/h3>\n
The ADC\u2019s Opinion<\/h2>\n
![\"Bongani](\"https:\/\/www.cigars-connect.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/BONGANI-Robusto-scaled-e1631101501124-49x300.jpg\")
Bongani Cigars
\nRobusto
\nMade in Mozambique
\nWrapper: Cameroon
\nBinder: Mozambique
\nFiller: Mozambique, Dominican Republic
\n127\u00a0mm x 50 (19.84\u00a0mm)<\/p>\n