Paul Garmirian

Paul Garmirian wrote a book before he made a cigar. The Gourmet Guide to Cigars appeared in 1990; he founded his house the same year, and his first range is called the Gourmet Series.

The intent was precise, and it is a matter of memory: to find again the taste of the Havanas he smoked in the late 1950s. That is not a pose — it is a specification, and it explains the restraint of a house that never followed the fashion for strength.

The cigars are made in the Dominican Republic, at O.K. Cigars — the Davidoff group's factory best known for making Avo. They previously came out of the neighbouring Occidental Cigar Factory. All three workshops belong to the same Tabadom grounds, which this atlas already names on the Davidoff and The Griffin's entries.

An author's house rolled by an industrial one, then — the exact opposite of today's boutique model, which looks for the small workshop. Here it was consistency that was wanted, and a large factory gives that better than a small one.

Range Depth

• PG Gourmet Series

  Wrapper Dominican blend, at O.K. Cigars · Strength Medium

  The 1990 range, born at the same time as the book. It was after the Havana of the late 1950s, and its restraint comes from that.

  Corona · Robusto · Churchill · Bombones

• PG Gourmet Series III

  Wrapper Dominican blend, at O.K. Cigars · Strength Medium-Full

  The third variation of the series, denser than the original. The house marked its thirtieth and thirty-fifth anniversaries with editions of this range.

  Short Robusto · Toro