Dr. Helmut Romé has a doctorate in law, and has for many decades been an active journalist. Initially a business journalist for various Austrian newspapers, he teamed up with his fellow-journalist Hans Dibold in 1980 to found Falstaff, the Magazine for Dining, Wining and Travel.. In 1994, this enthusiastic cigar smoker had the idea of launching a new type of magazine, with a main target audience of lovers of a fine smoke, the European Cigar Cult Journal. Thanks to the expert reporting under the direction of Helmut Romé, the European Cigar Cult Journal soon became a must for aficionados.
Reinhold C. Widmayer
After studying music and a few years in the field of artist management, Reinhold C. Widmayer switched to journalism, working for Austrian and foreign newspapers and radio stations in the culture, politics and business departments. Since 1994, he has also given expression to his passion for smoking as an author in specialist magazines. It was in 2001 that he wrote his first story for the ECCJ, and in November 2004 joined Dr. Helmut Romé to manage the magazine as editor in chief.
Mag. Wolfgang Hametner
Art director and production manager Wolfgang Hametner is responsible for the graphic design of the European Cigar Cult Journal. After finishing his training as a graphic designer, he studied journalism and art history from 1993 to 1998, working as a self-employed graphic artist for a gourmet magazine during his studies. This was followed by work for such institutions as the Vienna Technical Museum, the Austrian Statistical Office and the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna (now the Vienna Museum). In 2004 he was involved in the relaunch of the European Cigar Cult Journal with the aim of giving a visual expression to the high level of the magazine’s contents.
Mag. Katja Gnann, MAS
Katja Gnann joined the editorial office of the European Cigar Cult Journal in April 2004, working as service head with additional responsibility for the magazine’s marketing and PR. Her previous activities had been with a regional newspaper followed by a time with the Rome editorial office of “Der Spiegel”. She studied art history and Italian in Heidelberg, Palermo and Rome.
Katharina Tepe
Katharina Tepe joined the European Cigar Cult Journal team as part of her summer work experience project for her studies in business administration in 2002. She recently took over the marketing field, as well as having responsibility for the Lounges, Events Calendar and Cigar Clubs columns.
She is also the administrator of our home page and responsible for the Marketing.
Frank Hidien Germany - South Region
Nach dem Studium der Germanistik arbeitete Frank Hidien bei einer Tageszeitung sowie in Öffentlichkeitsabteilungen großer Konzerne. Von 1997 bis 2005 war er Chefredakteur des deutschen Genussmagazines PIPE & CIGAR. Seitdem hat ihn die Begeisterung für gute Zigarren sowie hin und wieder einen natürlichen Virginia-Pfeifentabak nicht losgelassen. Besondere Vorlieben bei der Herkunft von Zigarren hat Frank Hidien nicht. Nach der Devise, “andere Mütter haben auch schöne Töchter“, genießt er die braunen Schönheiten querbeet – die entsprechende Qualität vorausgesetzt. Bei Pfeifen bevorzugt er die schlichten, aber edlen Kunstwerke von Ingo Garbe.
Jens Tausch Germany - Middle region
For thirty years now Jens Tausch’s passion has been for the sensory perception in all its aspects. Starting with the analysis of the fragrances of perfumes and a passion for cooking in his youth, he was only 18 when he discovered the variety of the Scottish water of life, whisky. This led to a fascination with the high-quality products from the world of indulgence, and his encounter with cigars was just a matter of time. A few years later, now a qualified merchant and professional musician, he redefined the concept of crossover in the field of drinks and cigars, and as a free-lance journalist presented this format for the first time in the summer 2003 edition of the ECCJ. His motto - Crossover your senses!
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Bruno Bötschi, Switzerland
Following training at the school of journalism, Bruno Bötschi joined Edition Salz&Pfeffer in Winterthur (Switzerland), where he worked for almost 12 years, first as journalist for “Salz&Pfeffer, the Magazine for Dining, Wining and Enjoyment”, and later as its editor in chief. In 1993 he was one of the founders of “Cigar, the European Cigar Magazine”, which he served as publisher and editor in chief until 2001. Since autumn 2001, Bruno Bötschi has been working as free-lance journalist for various publications, including the Zürcher SonntagsZeitung, for which he writes a cigar column every three weeks (Fumoir) and the fashion magazine Bolero. Since spring 2003, Bötschi has been a journalist with the "Schweizer Familie" illustrated magazine in Zurich. He keeps an eye on the scene in Switzerland for the European Cigar Cult Journal as its Swiss correspondent.
Gisbert Brunner, Germany
Colin C. Ganley, Great Britain
Colin C. Ganley is a researcher at Saint Antony’s College, Oxford University. His background is in Economics, Finance, Trade, Business, and History. Recently he developed a system for rating and reviewing cigars called the Independent Cigar Rating System (ICRS) which has been adopted by several independent reviewers and websites. Current projects include a book on the history, social meaning, and value of cigars and a doctoral dissertation on seventeenth century international trade. The Dogwatch Social Club podcast regularly features segments based on his research. He does freelance writing on the topic of cigars and teaches economic history in Europe, Asia, and North America..
Gabriela Greess, Germany
Gabriela Greess studied political sciences & Romance studies in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg and underwent training as an editor. After beginning in local journalism, she worked for the political and business magazine of "Europa", centering on France and Spain. She then moved to Munich where she was employed in the press department of the air and space exploration division of what is today the DaimlerChrysler Corporation. Since several years ago, Gabriela Greess has been a free-lance journalist & photojournalist working on assignment for German and international publications. Her focus concerns reporting on foreign countries, interviews and lifestyle. The multilingual Swabian has lived and worked in France, the USA, Brazil and Cuba. Topics concerning the cigar have belonged to her portfolio since 1994, when she stayed in Havana for one year, working for an international newspaper and discovering her passion for puros. The journalist who now lives in Munich likes to portray people from the world of tobacco. By her commentaries and photos she is proving that Harley Davidson riders as well as female fashion designers are enjoying the cigar as a vital stimulation.
Richard Carleton Hacker, USA www.richardcarletonhacker.com
Richard Carleton Hacker is an internationally recognized writer and
keynote speaker on wines, whiskeys, cognacs, pipe smoking, cigars, and
related luxury lifestyles. He has authored eleven books in the United
States, Great Britain, and Germany, including The Ultimate Cigar Book,
Die Welt der Zigarre, Pipesmoking ⎯ A 21st Century Guide, Das Handbuch
Des Pfeifenrauchers, and Rare Smoke ⎯ The Ultimate Guide to Pipe
Collecting. Mr. Hacker also produced and hosted “CigarQuest,” the
world’s first audio cassette program promoting the enjoyment of cigars,
and “The Ultimate Pipe Video,” the first VHS (U.S. format) home video
on pipesmoking. He is a contributing writer on whiskeys, wines, pipes,
and cigars for numerous lifestyle magazines, including European Cigar
Cult Journal, Robb Report, Playboy, Smoke Magazine, Ritz-Carlton
Magazine, and The Quarterly Review of Wine, as well as the San
Francisco Chronicle. In addition, he is a judge for the
highly-acclaimed San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and the
Critic’s Challenge Wine Competition in San Diego. He was the first to
hold cigar smoking seminars for women, and the first author to pair
cigars with spirits according to taste and strength. The author has
been inducted by the Scotch whisky industry as a lifetime member of the
Keeper of the Quaich, elected to the honorary French pipe smoking
society of the Confrérie des Maîtres-Pipiers de Saint-Claude, honored
as a member of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, and has been
knighted in Germany by the Internationales Tabakskoliegium. Christened
“The Cigar Czar” by the American news media, his numerous television,
radio, and newspaper appearances have made Richard Carleton Hacker the
ultimate author and spokesperson for “the good life.” Website:
www.richardcarletonhacker.com
Gerhard Heimsath, Germany
Born in 1954. First (clandestine) experiences with a cigar at the end of the sixties. Law studies along with some studies in economics at the University of Kiel in the 1970s. Cigar smoker since 1978. After 2½ hectic decades of being self-employed in the software industry (80s, 90s and 00s), there is now by far more time for every good cigar. Editor of the online magazine www.artofsmoke.de for the last several years. Motto: Poisons, enjoyed in moderation, have been serving human health for thousands of years.
Tobias D. Höhn, Germany
Tobias D. Höhn, Graduate Journalist
Resides in Leipzig and is at home all over the world, where he reports on art, culture and the beautiful sides of life.
Works for, among other things, the largest German news agency and several online sites, in addition to being regularly present on the web with his columns. Founder of the network of Leipzig journalists. Teaching position at the University of Leipzig. Media coaching.
Also does moderating and organizing of events on the topics of culture and lifestyle.
Enjoys the savoir vivre and relaxes at the Baltic Sea during his limited leisure time.
Sits at the computer keyboard, preferably with a freshly-filled pipe, and possibly smokes a cigar in the evening, always according to this motto: Life is too short to be smoking bad tobacco.
A regular contributor to the ECCJ since 2005. Considers himself an ambassador for the centuries-old tradition of tobacco enjoyment and would like to encourage young people, above all, to appreciate the enjoyment. Motto: Can smoking be a sin?
After years of free-lance activity for magazines and journals, daily newspapers and news agencies, came the establishment of his own journalists office, the textoase, in 2004.
Presently pursuing his doctorate at the University of Leipzig.
Graduate studies in journalism and political sciences at the University of Leipzig.
Born on June 12th, 1978 in Coburg (Bavaria)
Manuel Isla, Cuba
James Leavey, Great Britain
James Leavey is Britain's most smoker-friendly freelance journalist and
broadcaster, and lives in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. He has written on
smoking and cigars for many publications, including the Daily Express,
European Business, Whisky, Wine, SquareMeal, Midweek, London Evening
Standard, Time Out, Motor Boat and Yachting, Classic Cigar, Stuff for
Men, World Tobacco, Tobacco Europe, Harrods magazine, Peterson's
magazine, JJ Fox's The Humidor, Cigar Style, and the UK's Cigar Buyer
(for which he is currently chief cigars taster). He is best known as
editor of The FOREST Guide to Smoking in London and The FOREST Smoker’s
Guide to Scotland – the world’s first travel books for smokers, which
sparked off worldwide media coverage, including Time magazine, CNN,
Playboy, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, and Die Welt. Leavey has also
broadcast on smoking on television and radio around the world, and was
featured in BBC Horizon's major documentary 'We Love Cigarettes'
earlier this year."
Stephan Nolden, Germany
After working for the police and studying law, Stephan Nolden fulfilled his dreams and worked as a photo-reporter in south-east Asia. His passion for writing soon became apparent, and after working with various media companies Nolden opened his own press office in 1995, writing for such media as Focus, Bunte and Der Spiegel. He also teaches at the Journalism Academy in Hamburg. A passionate pipe smoker, he joined the ECCJ as author in 2000 and now communicates to his readers his long-standing enthusiasm for high quality tobacco, aesthetic pipes and their makers.
Richard B. Perelmann, USA
Mag. Fritz W. Sommer, Austria
This enthusiastic pipe smoker worked in the wine trade, through which he came into contact with the Falstaff magazine, the ECCJ’s parent publication. Delighted by the many common features between wine and tobacco, he began to write articles about pipes following the launch of the ECCJ. In the meantime he has written dozens of articles about raw tobacco and about all the main pipe tobacco producers, as well as about many pipe makers. He is particularly proud of his collection of almost 1,000 different types of pipe tobacco.
Samuel Spurr, Austrialia www.inlumino.com.au
With a background in education, Samuel Spurr has pursued his interest in writing, focusing on cigars and similar lifestyle pursuits. A native of Sydney Australia, he has hosted cigar soirées, travelled to Cuba and along the way, gained valuable knowledge about cigars. Samuel contributed to Cigarwise Magazine’s online editorial in 2004 and currently writes for The Epoch Times’ ‘Bon Appétit’ section. Recently completing a post-graduate degree in Communication Management and launching his own company - Inlumino Communications, he brings a youthful energy to the world of cigars.
Drs. Marian S Sucha, Czech Republic
Originally a social scientist and today a bon viveur, born in Czechoslovakia and brought up in Germany and France, he has worked for years as author, journalist and photographer for various European publishing companies, life-style and travel magazines. For the European Cigar Cult Journal he provides photographs and reports on Cuba and the Czech Republic, the countries where he has preferred to be over the last few years.
Dr.Sebastian Zimmel, Austria
After studying law, Sebastian Zimmel began in 1975 as assistant to a future director general of Austria Tabak, his responsibilities including cigar exports, marketing and work in the secretariat general. At the same time, from 1984 on he coordinated all Austria Tabak’s cigar activities. In 1995 he founded his own company Cigar&Co, which since 1999 has also had a state licence to import cigars and cigarillos directly into Austria. Alongside these activities, he works as a journalist for various tobacco journals. For the European Cigar Cult Journal, he writes a regular column under the heading “Zigarrendoktor”, as well as passing on his 25 years of experience in the world of tobacco to his readers in a variety or reports.
