Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/550331
What Do Oxen and a Glass of Water Have in Common? By providing oxen teams to People like Hadija and her family, access to drinking water is no longer a challenge. In a single journey, the oxen can haul ten times as much water as an individual can carry. It's part of our commitment to unite the world under One Vision of action-oriented social responsibility. See Our Vision for Positive Change AOIsustainability.com ACTION-ORIENTED SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACTION-ORIENTED SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Republic. Their mild taste makes them an excellent choice for all types of cigar smok- ers. "In our opinion, Balmoral is the world's only short filler cigar that provides the experience of a hand-made cigar," asserted Stormink. It is offered in eight different formats: small cigarillo, regular cigarillo, short panatela, small panatela, short corona, regular panatela, regular corona, and churchill. All are manufactured with a blend of various Caribbean and South American tobaccos. "We're also using a Dominican bind- er and Ecuador wrapper for all formats", said Stormink. Some major kudos for Agio Cigars' success in Asia certainly have to go to Hans Ri- jfkogel, the firm's agent for Asia Pacific, insisted Stormink. "Hans used to work for us for many years, but eventually decided to start his own company, Asia Marketing Services, in Taiwan, from where he is supporting us as an agent in the Asia Pacific region." East and West, surely the twain shall meet Interestingly, a few years ago Agio Cigars started collaborating with a Chinese manu- facturer, Chengdu-based China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Co. Ltd., to develop four machine-rolled cigar products under the proprietary Great Wall of China (GWC) brand. Geared towards European consumers' taste preferences, Agio has been selling the brand, which is available in regular, mild, and flavored (vanilla, coffee) varieties, in Europe since 2012, while the Chinese partner continues to cover both the home and the Asian export markets with an extended product range under its own original brand name, Greatwall. "Our main product for export [outside China] is the Greatwall Mini series, with a ring gauge of 21," a company representative told Tobacco Asia under the condition that he would be only identified as "Rafael". "It comes in flavors such as natural, vanilla, coffee, cherry, sweet cognac, and others, using blends of Brazilian, Indonesian, and Chinese tobaccos." Besides, in their home country, Greatwall Minis are also sold in Hong Kong, Ma- cau, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, according to Rafael. "While our main sales channels in China are tobacco shops, chain stores, restaurants, and dedicated cigar bars, we are primarily represented in chain stores in the other territories." On its own accord, the company – which has been crafting cigars since 1918 – also exhibited the Greatwall brand at the China Tobacco Chuanyu booth at this year's InterTabac in Dortmund, Germany. Vasco da Gama images courtesy of Arnold André GmbH & Co. KG