在线雪茄零售商埃托雷·加布里埃莱·莫拉斯基内利（Ettore Gabriele Moraschinelli）自2022年起开始销售其同名雪茄品牌。公司总部位于瑞士靠近意大利边境的地区，他于2017年创立了这项业务，最初通过销售古巴雪茄积累了客户群。
然而，莫拉斯基内利的顾客注意到，他还提供一款引人注目的多米尼加品牌雪茄——EGM，该品牌巧妙地以他姓名的首字母缩写命名。随着古巴雪茄供应减少且价格日益昂贵，越来越多的人尝试了EGM自有品牌。三年后，这款雪茄赢得了极为广泛的国际追随者，促使莫拉斯基内利决定将他的雪茄销往美国。如今，古巴雪茄已不再是他的业务重心，EGM品牌现已获得美国分销渠道。
但这位瑞士雪茄零售商坚称，他创立EGM并不仅仅是为了替代古巴雪茄。相反，他希望打造一个能独立立足的品牌。
"我们并非旨在成为任何事物的替代品，"莫拉斯基内利强调。"我们立志创造属于我们自己的优质雪茄标杆，并以迄今为止最具感染力的方式进行传播。我们的雪茄成功连接了不同国家、阶层和性别的雪茄爱好者。通过遍布25个国家的零售商和分销商网络，全球成千上万的人正在享用它们。"
美国对莫拉斯基内利来说是一片新市场，他计划参加下一届美国PCA贸易展。他的两个品牌——EGM和Empyrean——在美国由总部位于佛罗里达州迈尔斯堡的雪茄分销商City of Palms负责分销，该公司专注于经营小众品牌。
EGM雪茄产自多米尼加共和国的ABAM工厂，该工厂位于圣多明各。雪茄完全采用多米尼加烟草制成，共有11种尺寸——从小型猪尾辫式科罗娜（Petit Encantos）和长矛型（Encantos），到罗布图、鱼雷形的比力高和Diademas（大帝）不等。像Escudos这样的尺寸以54和56环径的更粗环径迎合了现代雪茄客的需求。每支建议零售价从16.49美元到55.99美元不等，大多数雪茄价格集中在20至30美元区间。
Empyrean是一个较小的系列。与EGM核心品牌一样，它完全采用多米尼加烟草，并在同一家工厂生产，只是尺寸有所不同，且使用的烟草陈年时间更长。莫拉斯基内利表示，至少陈化五年。Empyrean系列提供三种大环径规格：Heraldos（5.125英寸，55环径，58美元）；Praxedes（鱼雷形，5.75英寸，57环径，67.49美元）；以及Paraisos（6.75英寸，52环径，60.49美元）。Empyrean比核心EGM系列口感更浓郁醇厚。
"将EGM雪茄引入美国市场，标志着我们家族企业新篇章的开始，"莫拉斯基内利告诉《雪茄爱好者》杂志。"看到我们的雪茄如今出现在美国零售商的货架上，这告诉我们，我们的理念引起了世界各地、各行各业雪茄爱好者的共鸣。"
Online cigar retailer Ettore Gabriele Moraschinelli has been selling his namesake cigar brand since 2022. Based in Switzerland near the Italian border, he started his business in 2017 and cultivated a clientele by selling Cuban cigars, but Moraschinelli’s customers noticed that he also offered an eye-catching Dominican brand called EGM, smartly monogrammed with his initials. As Cuban cigars became less available and more expensive, more and more people tried the EGM house brand. Three years later, the cigar developed an international following so strong that it prompted Moraschinelli to sell his cigars in the United States. Cuban cigars are no longer his focus, and the EGM brand now has U.S. distribution.
But the Swiss cigar retailer is adamant that he did not create EGM merely as a Cuban alternative. Rather, he wanted a brand that could stand on its own.
“We didn’t set out to be an alternative to anything,” Moraschinelli insists. “We set out to create our own benchmark for premium cigars, communicated in the most compelling way to date. Our cigars have managed to connect people across borders, classes and genders. They are enjoyed by thousands of people around the world via a network of retailers and distributors in 25 different countries.”
The United States is new territory for Moraschinelli and he plans on exhibiting at the next PCA trade show. His two brands, EGM and Empyrean, are distributed stateside by City of Palms, a cigar distributor headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that specializes in smaller brands.
EGM is made in the Dominican Republic at the ABAM factory, located in Santo Domingo. It consists completely of Dominican tobacco and comes in 11 sizes—everything from petit pigtailed coronas (Petit Encantos) and Lanceros (Encantos) to Robustos, belicosos (Blecos) and Diademas. Sizes like Escudos address the modern smoker with heavier ring gauges of 54 and 56. Suggested retail prices span from $16.49 to $55.99 with most cigars falling in the $20 to $30 range.
Empyrean is a smaller series. Like the EGM core brand, it’s made solely from Dominican tobaccos and produced in the same factory, only the sizes are different and the tobacco is older—aged a minimum of five years, Moraschinelli says. Empyrean comes in three large-ring-gauge formats: Heraldos (5 1/8 by 55, $58); Praxedes (a belicoso at 5 3/4 by 57, $67.49); and Paraisos (6 3/4 by 52, $60.49). Empyrean is a more full-bodied brand than the core EGM line.
“Bringing EGM Cigars to the United States marks the beginning of a new chapter for our family business,” Moraschinelli tells Cigar Aficionado. “Seeing our cigars now on the shelves of U.S. retailers tells us that our vision resonates with smokers from all walks of life, wherever they are in the world.”
