News - JM Tobacco

JM Tobacco Intoduces Their Own Line of Hookah Tobacco

JM's Hookah is offered in 250gr and 100 gr tins that have a simple and clean look. We are sure you will enjoy the thick and smooth smoke of JM's Hookah.

If desperate times call for creative minds, Anto Mahroukian may have a solution for the hard times facing the tobacco world today.

Mahroukian explains, “We’re just now breaking the news on a totally new and exciting line extension for our family-owned tobacco business. For fifteen years, our premium cigars ... especially our JM’s Dominican line ... have been popular for their top quality at bargain prices. They have proven especially profitable for JM Tobacco, now that smokers are moving toward value-priced premium cigars.

“Now, we have introduced ‘JM’s Hookah’ line of tobacco, in 33 new and exotic flavor blends. We’re offering several fruit flavors ... our Double Apple and Tangerine mixtures are favorites with smokers ... and Chocolate is another strong seller. The aromas of the various packaged blends themselves are seductive ... reviewers have said that opening the Chocolate package is ‘like standing in a chocolate shop.’ For younger smokers, we’ve also added some exotic ‘cocktail’ blends, like Mojito, Margarita, and Tequila Sunrise.”

Hookahs are the latest discovery by the smoking world ... though being used widely in the Middle East for centuries ... with the university crowd leading the way. Hookah bars are popping up everywhere ... in Los Angeles, the weather and casual lifestyle encourage people to get together in a friend’s home, smokeshop or a hookah bar. There, they spend up to 1-1/2 hours in spirited or meditative discussion, centered around their communal smoking experience. A number of the 1,200 retailers now selling JM lines of premium cigars have added hookah rooms, with great success. The Internet has many sites that are devoted to hookah smoking, with reviews appearing regularly on YouTube.

JM Tobacco’s lineup of flavors are all based on Virginia tobacco, specially cut for hookah usage. The tobaccos are moistened with honey and glycerine, the latter being used to facilitate the absorption of the flavors into the tobacco. Mahroukian claims, “Hookahs are popular, because they offer a very smooth smoke, thanks to the honey. Their nicotine content is only about 0.5% compared to other tobaccos, which contain up to 20% nicotine.”

The company has just opened www.jmhookah.com, devoted to their tobaccos and the art of hookah-smoking. It is an information-only Web site; JM Tobacco doesn’t sell direct to smokers.

Mahroukian states, “JM’s Hookah tobaccos have a competitive edge over the Middle Eastern manufacturers’ products. Because we use domestic tobacco, and prepare and blend the tobaccos here in Los Angeles, they are exempt from the new SCHIP tax, which applies only to imported tobaccos. We introduced all 33 blends, because we wanted to make a significant splash in the marketplace, and we plan to add 15 more flavors in the future. The preparation and blending of hookah tobacco isn’t simple ... it took us 3 years, before we were ready to introduce them. The real challenge was getting the right cut of tobacco ... described by some as looking like coffee grounds ... so the flavoring agents would infuse the tobacco particles properly. It is also important that our tobacco has no stems in it, as this is unacceptable by hookah smokers.”

JM’s Hookah tobaccos are now available, packed in 250-gram tins, with suggested retail pricing in the $15.00 range. All 33 blends bear labels that are color coded for flavor identification ... yellow for lemon, red for cherry, etc. ... and consistent with JM’s recognizable font and nomenclature.

Company Profile:Family-owned JM Tobacco Company was founded in 1994 by John Mahroukian. The company manufactures natural and flavored premium cigars, as well as its new line of JM’s Hookah tobaccos, through retail tobacco stores across the United States and Europe. It is based in Los Angeles, California, with a factory in the Dominican Republic. Mahroukian’s son, Anto, currently serves as company president.

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