Tiruchirapalli/Tamil Nadu: A ship destroyed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War brought Winston Churchill’s attention to the small town of Tiruchirapalli or Trichy in Tamil Nadu. It was actually all about how much he missed his Cuban cigars.
That is when cigars from Fenn Thompson & Co in Trichy’s Woraiyur locality made their way to 10 Downing Street. The British PM even appointed a Churchhill Cigar Assistant (CCA) in the office of the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. His duty was to ensure a regular supply of Tiruchirapalli cigars to the British PM. That’s how this sleepy town was transformed into an important stop on the cigar lover’s map. Even British writer Arthur Conan Doyle and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock mentioned the Trichy cigars in their works.
“[Our cigar] is made differently compared to foreign cigars,” says 25-year-old V Rathnavel, the current owner’s son.
The 123-year-old cigar company, founded by Solai Thevar, a resident of Woraiyur, is now the only cigar manufacturing unit in India. It’s also a reminder of Trichy’s British heritage. In the last 20 years, almost all the cigar manufacturers in Woraiyur have shut shop due to the increase in taxation, lack of availability of skilled labour, and cheap machine-made cigarettes becoming popular in the market.
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What makes them unique
On a silent residential street of Woraiyur, in the western part of Trichy, three men are hard at work inside a 400-square-foot room on the first floor of a building. Nizam, 48, holds one end of the fermented leaf between his hallux and second toe and swiftly pulls out the main stem of the leaf. In the well-lit room with open windows, a strong scent makes you heady if you stay for too long. The men are the last skilled labourers at V Vasudevan’s Fenn Thompson & Co.
The father-son duo explain that the fermentation process is what makes the Trichy cigar unique. “The foreign cigars are made by ageing the tobacco leaf,” says Rathnavel. “Our technique is to ferment the tobacco leaves using toddy water, juices from fruits like grape, honey, pineapple,” adds Vasudevan.
The Churchill Special, a tribute to the former PM, is made even to date, its tobacco leaves are fermented for 13 to 14 years.
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Last one standing
At its peak in 1980, the industry had over 4,000 manufacturing units in Woraiyur. The family remembers the golden age of Trichy cigars with a laminated pamphlet listing over 30 varieties that Fenn Thompson & Co used to make. While Half Corona was just Rs 6 or 8 per 100 pieces, varieties such as ‘No. 1 Havana’ was priced at Rs 25 per 1,000 pieces. Now the company has just 8 varieties, and the price depends on the pieces in each box. “Twenty-five years ago, a box of 25 cigars was Rs 400, now per piece cost for cigars ranges from Rs 40-900,” says Vasudevan. From around 70 labourers in a factory with a godown, the unit now has just three skilled labourers who store raw goods in a separate godown.
Vasudevan says three types of tobacco are used — filler, binder, and wrapper. The first two are supplied by specific tobacco farmers from Dindigul, Erode, Aravakurichi, Tiruppur. Wrapper tobacco is specially sourced from Kolkata.
Things have been hard, 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. Next, there is a lack of skilled labourers here to do this job. The government doesn’t support us.” Most of the companies stopped manufacturing 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 had told me to do this till I am alive,” he adds.
In the 1900s, besides Fenn Thompson & Co, there were several cigar companies in Trichy, all of them with English names — Hunter & Co, John Mayer, Johnson & Co, Wilson & Co, to name a few. “None of our cigars had local sales, and since we were exporting to foreign countries, these kinds of names were selected,” says Vasudevan.
Despite the challenges, Rathnavel hopes to take 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.
Premium hand-rolled cigars
Once the leaves are separated from the main stem, Nizam takes a thin rod, pulls the leaves apart to a set size, and holds the bunch together. Next, he takes another set of the tobacco plant, which also has the main stem removed, and diagonally wraps the leaf from the top till the end of the first bunch. The thin rod gives stability to the roll. After completing a set of 5 to 10 rolls, he places them one after the other in a wooden mould. In a machine on his right, he stacks them and hard presses the bunch.
“This process ensures the right shape and size. The extras will be cut off,” explains Vasudevan. Once hard-pressed, the cigar is taken out for the last step. Nizam takes the wrapper tobacco leaf, cuts it with a long scissor, and places it on a wooden plank. Using his index finger, he scoops out some root glue and spreads it on the leaf. In a smooth motion, Nizam rolls the leaf as a wrap for the cigar in a diagonal manner, and finally, using a small rectangular wooden piece, rolls the cigar one last time on the plank.
“That is one Churchill cigar,” says Vasudevan, “To make 15-20 such pieces it will take one and half days.”
Only on orders
In 2001, Nadine Postel from Paris sent Vasudevan an unforgettable postcard. “We tasted your cigars and they are the best we have ever smoked,” he wrote. To ensure Vasudevan and his family remember the two foreigners who came to Trichy to purchase the cigar, Nadine put a photo of himself and his wife on the postcard.
“All my customers are people who have heard about us through someone, or seen a review on social media or read about our history,” says Vasudevan.
In Lucknow, 80-year-old Dr Arshad Alvi came to know about Fenn Thompson & Co at a tobacco shop where he used to buy his cigars. “For the last 7-8 years, I have been directly buying cigars from them and I enjoy smoking them,” he says.
Rathnavel, who now handles the social media page of Fenn Thompson & Co, made sure a recent surprise visitor’s review of the cigar got space on his page. “Mr Richard had come here and said he wanted 20 pieces of cigars to buy immediately,” he said.
The company only manufactures on orders placed a day before. “Personally, the Half Corona is the one that pleased me in terms of the taste most,” Richard says in a Facebook video.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)