Tag: golden leaf awards

Tobacco Reporter announces 2014 Golden Leaf Awards
Tobacco Reporter presented its 2014 Golden Leaf Awards on Oct. 2 during a festive ceremony at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA. The event was part of the Global Tobacco Networking Forum, which brought together hundreds of industry representatives and other stakeholders from around the world. Five companies were recognized for their achievements in areas such as innovation, corporate social responsibility and commitment to quality. The Golden Leaf Awards are sponsored exclusively by BMJ of Indonesia.
Alliance One International won a Golden Leaf Award in the Most outstanding service to the industry category for its Grower Management System (GMS), a standardized real-time global data capture system.
The industry faces rapidly expanding reporting requirements, driving mainly by manufacturers and anticipated regulation. The source of much of this data is at the primary producer level.
AOI contracts more than 250,000 growers. Using mobile devices, GMS allows the company to instantly gather information about location, scale of operation, cultural practices employed, crop inputs, curing management and reforestation, among other parameters. In doing so, GMS underpins the industry’s focus on Good Agriculutral Practices and Agricultural Labor Practices.
Having access to such information in real time reinforces sustainable and compliant tobacco production. Through back-office functions, GMS will link with grower accounting systems, product-integrity programs and support traceability in the packed product. A derived benefit has been improved allocation of management and field staff time.
GMS was developed in house. Microsoft certified the GMS app to be included in the Windows Phone Store in October 2012.
It is anticipated that GMS will also lend greater visibility to debt recovery, a critical parameter of the integrated production system, as a leaf supplier bears the principal risk with direct financing of growers.
GMS in current form is tobacco-centric, but readily lends itself to a much broader application in agriculture at large.
The Tobacco Board of India won a Golden Leaf Award in the Most impressive public service initiative category for its implementation of an electronic auction system, which has made the marketing of flue-cured tobacco in India more transparent and accountable.
With production of about 800 million kg, India is the world’s second-largest producer of tobacco, exporting leaf to more than 100 countries. The Tobacco Board is responsible, among other things, for ensuring fair prices to tobacco growers and establishing auction platforms for the sale of Virginia tobacco.
For more many years, tobacco was auctioned manually in India. Despite its obvious success, the auction system had certain shortcomings, including susceptibility to human errors, lack of traceability and scarcity of information for stakeholders.
The Tobacco Board realized these problems could be eliminated only through quality communication aids, electronic auctioning and effective information management.
The e-auction solution was developed on a high-performance and reliable platform to effectively manage the automation process. The system has not only simplified the administrative procedures but also removed any ambiguity by ensuring that, once recorded, the winning bid cannot be tampered with.
Not only farmers have benefited from the new systems. The large amounts of data generated allow buyers to make quicker and better-informed decisions.
Tomra Sorting Solutions won a Golden Leaf Award in the Most promising new product introduction category for its Opus Tobacco Sorter, which helps tobacco processors address a negative side effect of the increasingly popular mechanical harvesting.
Rather than relying on manual labor, tobacco growers are increasingly using machines to harvest tobacco. Among other things, this allows them to clear larger fields, thus increasing efficiency and productivity.
But mechanical harvesting also has a downside. Machines are less effective at removing leaf from its stalk than humans are. This can present a problem for tobacco processors and cigarette manufacturers. Because stalks are woody, they behave complete differently than tobacco stems when processed.
If not removed, stem stalks can turn to slivers during cutting, which in turn can pierce cigarette paper. The result is efficiency losses, drops in yield and possibly lower product quality.
Presented with this problem, Tomra capitalized on its experience in multiple industries, combining technology already used for tobacco applications with solutions it had developed for the food industry.
Taking advantage Tomra proprietary camera and laser technologies, the “tobacconized” Opus sorter detects and rejects both traditional NTRM and the woody stem stalks, allowing the customer to avoid production stoppages, reduce waste and minimize energy consumption.
Shishapresso was recognized with a Golden Leaf Award in the Most exciting newcomer to the industry category.
While the cigarette industry has witnessed many innovations over the years, including mechanized production, the introduction of filters and special papers, the shisha business has remained largely unchanged. Today’s shisha smokers consume their tobacco in essentially the same way they did centuries ago.
Shishapresso is determined to change that. The company has developed a solution that eliminates the mess and hassle involved with the preparation of a hookah. Involving only three easy steps and a hookah, Shishapresso’s capsule and specially designed shisha ceramic head ensure a consistent smoking experience.
The Shishapresso capsules are filled with the finest shisha tobacco molasses, made from quality European Virginia tobacco leaves that are infused with quality flavors. Each capsule contains exactly the right amount of tobacco, the right texture and a unique foil-hole pattern. Smokers can select from 20 different flavors.
Shishapresso capsules are available in the U.S. and will be launched globally.
White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes won a Golden Leaf Award in the BMJ Most committed to quality category. While most e-cigarette manufacturers rely on Chinese manufacturing, which is cheaper due to lower labor cost and less-stringent government regulations, White Cloud is committed to setting up fully automated, U.S.-based operations.
In a major step toward that goal, the company relocated production of its e-cigarette cartridges entirely to the United States in May. Prior to that, the company was already sourcing and manufacturing its White Cloud e-liquid in the U.S.
The move to automation was made possible by the development of the company’s new proprietary cartridge, Cleardraw 2, which allows for automated production rather than the traditional hand filling techniques typically used by companies in China. Automated filling in the end market promotes not only greater quality control and better regulatory compliance, it also ensures fresh ingredients.
White Cloud’s development in quality and innovation comes on the heels of the recent FDA proposal for more stringent regulations within the e-cigarette industry. While the proposal was largely focused on marketing and age-restriction, it signaled a shift toward increased FDA control over e-cig production and manufacturing standards, which White Cloud believes makes automated production in the end market more important moving forward.

October 6, 2014
And the winners are…

Tobacco Reporter hands out its 2013 Golden Leaf Awards.
TR Staff Report
Tobacco Reporter presented its 2013 Golden Leaf Awards on Nov. 7 during a festive ceremony in Simon’s Restaurant at the famous Groot Constantia Vineyard near Cape Town, South Africa. The event was part of the Global Tobacco Networking Forum, which brought together hundreds of industry representatives and other stakeholders from around the world. Six companies received trophies in five different categories—with British American Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. tying in the Most exciting new product introduction category.
Cigarette paper manufacturer BMJ, the exclusive sponsor of the Golden Leaf Awards, took the opportunity to introduce its new CEO, Omar Rahmanadi, and officially launch its new corporate logo and slogan, Eureka Everyday. Wine flowed generously during the evening, and Fred Vandermarliere of J. Cortès Cigars lifted the spirits even higher with a humorous speech about the cigar trade. The ceremony concluded with a performance from Hot Water, a South African band that has become an international sensation with its exhilarating mixture of blues, kwela, maskandi, rock and sakkie sakkie music styles.
Following are the winners of the 2013 Golden Leaf Awards, by category:
Most impressive public service initiative
Alliance One Kenya won a Golden Leaf Award in this category for its work in reducing deforestation in Kenya. Kenya’s new constitution requires that forests should cover 10 percent of the country’s territory by 2030—the figure currently stands at 1.7 percent. Alliance One is playing its part by running an afforestation project with a target of 4 million trees per year. In addition, the company has been actively researching and developing alternatives to wood fuel for tobacco curing. Among other initiatives, it has invested in a briquetting plant.
Most promising new product introduction
British American Tobacco (BAT) and R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR) tied in this category.
BAT won a Golden Leaf Award for its BAT Toxicants iPad application. The app, which describes the results of BAT’s first clinical study of reduced-toxicant prototype cigarettes, aims to raise awareness of tobacco science in general and the research carried out at BAT’s U.K. R&D center in particular. It fits in BAT’s objective to be transparent about its research. Given the detailed background in the app regarding how toxicants are formed in smoke, BAT believes the app could also serve as an educational tool.
R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. won a Golden Leaf Award for its Vuse digital vapor cigarette. Examining the e-cigarette category, RJR observed a high level of trial but a low rate of adoption, which the company attributed to poor product performance. RJR set out to develop an e-cigarette that would truly meet the needs and expectations of adult tobacco consumers. Equipped with a digital microprocessors and smart memory chip, the Vuse delivers the consistent and realistic smoking experience that has been lacking in other e-cigarettes, says RJR.
Most exciting newcomer to the industry
White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes won the Golden Leaf Award in the Most exciting newcomer to the industry category. Disappointed with the quality of existing e-cigarettes, the founders of White Cloud set out to develop a product using better design and technology, with quality control as the focal point. Since then, there have been five generations of batteries and four generations of cartridges. The company takes great pride in the quality of its products. Rather than focusing only on the initial sale, White Cloud seeks to build a strong, enduring relationship with its customers.
Most outstanding service to the industry
Andromeda Forwarding and Logistics won a Golden Leaf Award in the Most outstanding service to the industry category. Established in 1998 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the company has evolved from a traditional international freight forwarder to a global provider of integrated supply-chain solutions for a comprehensive range of industries. Andromeda’s solutions combine air freight, ocean freight and trucking operations worldwide. The company specializes in warehousing, handling, sampling, storage and fumigation requirements in Antwerp. Andromeda Forwarding also offers customs clearance and brokerage, warehousing and distribution, insurance, rail transportation and barge transportation services.
BMJ most committed to quality
Seke took home the BMJ Most committed to quality category for its efforts to reduce the cost of oriental tobacco production in Greece. In 2010, the company pioneered sand seedbeds, which require little irrigation and no cultivation. Taking advantage of existing curing structures, this approach reduced the cost of production by 30 percent. Seke also invested in mechanization, introducing modified machines for the efficient hoeing of tobacco. Mechanization reduced labor costs associated with hoeing by 90 percent. It also decreased the quantity of fertilizer used.
November 8, 2013
And the winners are…
Tobacco Reporter hands out its 2012 Golden Leaf Awards.
TR Staff Report
Tobacco Reporter handed out its 2012 Golden Leaf Awards on June 14 during the Global Tobacco Networking Forum. The ceremony took place on a conference ship plying the Belgian and Dutch coastal waters. Four companies received trophies in five different categories. Mane Flavors took home awards in two separate categories. The Golden Leaf Awards are sponsored exclusively by BMJ, a global supplier of cigarette papers headquartered in Indonesia.
Alliance One International received a Golden Leaf Award in the most impressive public service initiative category. The company was recognized for its support of U.S. tobacco growers. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and the retreat from the market of U.S. Tobacco Growers Direct (USGD), AOI helped stabilize the U.S. flue-cured market by taking over the USGD contracted tobacco.
The tobacco business unit of Mane, a global flavorings house headquartered in France, received a Golden Leaf Award in the most outstanding service to the industry and most committed to quality categories. For the past 15 years, Mane’s tobacco business unit has been a world leader in new flavor technology innovations for the global tobacco industry. The company has been at the forefront of major innovations such as filter-flavor technologies as well as side-stream smoke amelioration technologies.
Perten Instruments received a Golden Leaf Award in the most exciting newcomer to the industry category. The company has put itself firmly on the tobacco map with its new generation of on-line NIR instruments, among other equipment.
Heinen-Koehl received a Golden Leaf award in the most promising product introduction category for its Twister multipurpose unit. Capable of conditioning and expanding different types of tobacco product, the Twister eliminates the need for soaking silos, saving the customer time and money. The Twister also offers remarkable increases in filling power.
The 2012 ceremony marked the seventh edition of the Golden Leaf Awards. Established in 2006 to recognize outstanding accomplishments by the industry and its suppliers, the previous events took place in Bali, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, Bangalore and Prague.
To enter into the 2013 competition, please visit www.tobaccoreporter.com.

August 1, 2012
Golden Leaf Awards
Tobacco Reporter, in association with our exclusive sponsor, BMJ, has presented the industry’s only annual awards for excellence since 2006, recognizing companies, products or individuals for performance in the following categories:
Most impressive public service initiative
Most promising new product introduction
Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Most outstanding service to the industry
BMJ Most committed to quality
Complete the latest Golden Leaf Awards entry form here
Trophies have been presented and winners recognized at an awards banquet, hosted by BMJ, each year. Our 2012 winners will be unveiled at Tobacco Reporter’s 2012 GTNF in June in Antwerp, Belgium.
Enter your company, products or co-workers in our next Golden Leaf Awards by submitting the appropriate forms, found here.
2012 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Antwerp, Belgium
Alliance One International                        Most impressive public service initiative
Heinen Koehl                                                    Most promising new product introduction
Perten Instruments AB                                 Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Mane                                                                     Most outstanding service to the industry
Mane                                                                     BMJ Most committed to quality

Previous winners include
2011 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Prague, Czech Republic
Alliance One International                          Most impressive public service initiative
Reconex                                                              Most promising new product introduction
ECO2                                                                     Most exciting newcomer to the industry
NDC Infrared Engineering                            Most outstanding service to the industry
Vrijdag Premuim Printing                            BMJ Most committed to quality

2010 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Balgalore, India
Universal Leaf Africa                                       Most impressive public service initiative
Iggesund Paperboard                                      Most promising new product introduction
Manifattura Italiana Tabacco                       Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Godioli e Bellanti                                             Most outstanding service to the industry
EDAPS Consortium                                         BMJ Most committed to quality

2009 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Bangkok, Thailand
Sopariwala Exports                                          Most impressive public service initiative
Filligent Ltd.                                                        Most promising new product introduction
Arabian Nights                                                  Most exciting newcomer to the industry
U.S. Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers            Most outstanding service to the industry
Bimo Italia SpA                                                  BMJ Most committed to quality

2008 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Universal Leaf Tobacco Co.                          Most impressive public service initiative
U.S. Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers            Most promising new product introduction
Tobaccotoday.info                                          Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Universal Leaf Tobacco Co.                          Most outstanding service to the industry
ITC Printing & Packaging                                BMJ Most committed to quality

2007 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Paris, France
ILTD (ITC)                                                            Most impressive public service initiative
GCH                                                                         Most promising new product introduction
Uncommitted Tobacco Auction                 Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Colin Mear Engineering                                Most outstanding service to the industry
ILTD (ITC)                                                             BMJ Most committed to quality

2006 Golden Leaf Award winners, recognized in Bali, Indonesia
Lakson Tobacco Company                            Most impressive public service initiative
Titan Adhesives                                                 Most promising new product introduction
TobaccoPeople                                                  Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Celenese Acetate                                               Most outstanding service to the industry
WinterBell                                                        BMJ Most committed to quality
March 30, 2012
Best in class

Golden Leaf Award winners accept trophies in Prague
TR Staff Report
Representatives of Alliance One International, Reconex, Eco2, NDC Infrared Engineering and Vrijdag Premium Printing accepted Golden Leaf Awards during the TABEXPO gala dinner on Nov. 16 at the famous Restaurant Francouzska in Prague. Andromeda Forwarding took home the People’s Choice Award due to the sheer number of client recommendations it submitted.
Tobacco Reporter’s publisher, Noel Morris, recalled the history of the Golden Leaf Awards, while George Hendrata, CEO of cigarette paper and packaging manufacturer BMJ, praised the quality of entries received. The Golden Leaf Awards are organized by Tobacco Reporter and exclusively sponsored by BMJ.
Companies received awards in five categories.
Alliance One International’s agronomy team received a Golden Leaf Award in the most impressive public service initiative category for its efforts to promote farmer sustainability and food security in one of its major sourcing areas, Malawi.
Malawi has played a leading role in the world burley market. Alliance One felt that for this to continue it was necessary to address the issues of farmer sustainability and food security.
The Alliance One agronomy team in Malawi was tasked with finding a solution to these challenges, and as a result of a dedicated and professional approach, they have produced the required results.
The team focused on contract growing, modeled on an integrated production system (IPS) that provides for a sustainable and fully compliant crop that also affords a contribution toward food security.
Through IPS, the Alliance One agronomy team was able to improve the quality of the tobacco as well as increasing farmers’ yields. The higher leaf quality enabled the farmers to attract significantly higher prices—up to $0.40 more per kg—for their tobacco.
The agronomy team’s efforts helped efficient farmers managed achieve yields in excess of 1,600 kg per hectare, compared to the average of 700 kg per hectare for noncontracted farmers selling through the auction system.
Reconex, made by HT Agro, was recognized in the most exciting new product introduction category for its unique properties.
Most existing reconstituted tobacco products fall into two categories—reconstituted sheet tobacco, made using mostly stems and produced on a paper machine, and drop caste sheet, which tends to be less expensive and of lower quality.
Reconex, by contrast, is an extruded product, which gives it unique properties, including considerably higher fill value and the flexibility to produce exactly each customer’s requirements.
The process can use any type of waste or scrap tobacco products. These are milled into a fine dust and then a suitable binder, along with some moisture, is added and fed into the extruder. The resulting product can be directly shipped to the customer.
Reconex can be used directly in cigarettes or machine-made cigars. The product is stable and has a long shelf life. It does not easily turn to dust and has good aroma and burn characteristics. It can be added at the end of the primary process as it does not require additional processing. Flavors can be added if required.
In this way, a small primary’s capacity can be effectively enlarged simply by the addition of Reconex at the final process.
Tests show Reconex blends well and homogeneously. It stays in the blend until the final cigarette. Weight and density are similar to cut rag, allowing it to become an integral and permanent part of the cigarette blend.
EcO2 accepted a Golden Leaf Award in the most exciting newcomer to the industry category.
The company was established in 1996 when the Dutch government requested that an alternative method be found to methyl bromide, which was formerly used in the food and tobacco industries as a fumigant to kill stored-product insects.
EcO2 researched the issue until the end of 1999, at which point it was confident it had a method that worked and was ready to be launched as a commercial undertaking.
Its first commercial project came at the beginning of 2000, when it installed a controlled atmosphere (CA) treatment facility at a large international warehousing company in the port of Rotterdam.
Next, it built a complete container fumigation center in the port. The project earned the company a Best Life Environment Project award from the European Commission.
In 2003, EcO2 struck out for Asia and other parts of the world. By January 2011, it had a presence in 18 countries.
After gaining experience with food commodities, consumer goods, furniture, artifacts, packaging and other materials, EcO2 has recently started applying its treatment to tobacco beetles, which are increasingly resistant to the prevailing treatment, phosphine fumigation.
The CA treatment involves storing tobacco in an airtight room and then lowering the oxygen level to 0.5 percent for a certain period of time. In this way, all the stages of the beetle are killed—the adults and the larvae, which are relatively easy to deal with, as well as the eggs and the pupae, which normally present more of a challenge.
EcO2’s approach has generated considerable interest in the tobacco industry—and for a good reason: Tobacco beetles cost the industry an estimated $800 million per year.
NDC Infrared Engineering received a Golden Leaf Award in the most outstanding service to the industry category.
A supplier of on-line near-infrared (NIR) moisture gauges and quality assurance bench-top analyzers, the company realized early on that the tobacco industry’s requirements are unique. As a natural product, tobacco shows huge diversity in color and chemistry. Simple NIR moisture measurements required frequent instrument recalibration, while traditional laboratory moisture analyses by oven testing was/is slow. NDC also knew QA labs would benefit from rapid measurement technology.
The company embarked on two major projects to address these issues—Infralab and the TM Series.
Infralab provides a secondary method to relieve labs of the quality testing burden. It requires only occasional validation against the primary method. Results can be obtained in seconds rather than hours. NDC launched its first Infralab analyzer, Infralab 5000, in the late 1980s. Over the years, NDC has worked to further improve simplicity of operation, ease of data capture and tolerance to conditions in various operating environments. Today the product is in its fifth generation, the Infralab e-Series, which is extremely tolerant to blend variations, reducing calibration maintenance requirements.
NDC’s tobacco-specific on-line moisture gauge, the TM series, is capable of measuring tobaccos from all over the world. It uses a single calibration slope and only requires adjustment on-line by trimming the calibration to the local reference method. For the customer, this means huge savings in time and money. The TM series is currently in its eighth generation. The TM710e is completely Ethernet-based, which opens up a realm of new possibilities, including remote diagnostics.
Regarding the future, NDC is looking beyond moisture. The company already offers nicotine and sugar analyzers and is developing on-line moisture analyzers that are not affected by blend top dressings and flavorings.
The BMJ most committed to quality award went to Vrijdag Premium Printing, which entered two of its products to illustrate its printing skills and technologies.
For the 2011 edition of the annual ProCigar Festival in the Dominican Republic, Vrijdag designed a vertical box in which the upright cigars are visible in a “staircase” arrangement. After the top lid is removed, the box unfolds to reveal both the cigars and the included cutter and lighter.
In producing the box, Vrijdag used advanced printing technologies, such as its gold bronze process and blind embossing. To prevent fingerprints on the box, Vrijdag finished the labels with a laminate. Each box has a high-security foil, a security cut and an individual number.
In addition to the ProCigar Festival Box, Vrijdag entered its I-Box into the Golden Leaf Awards competition. The I-Box showcases not only Vrijdag’s printing and finishing prowess, but also demonstrates what can be achieved beyond the traditional four-color printing process. With two magnetically shutting lids, the box’s contents represent Vrijdag’s four main markets—chocolates, cosmetics, spirits and, of course, tobacco. The interior contains an informational leaflet produced with the various techniques at Vrijdag’s disposal.
Andromeda Forwarding & Logistics once again took home the People’s Choice award. As evidence of the esteem in which it is held by its customers, the company submitted a large number of client recommendations with its entry.
Andromeda Forwarding & Logistics was established in 1998 by Willem Marsé and Bart Brouwerens, former members of Kersten Hunik ABX Group and A.J. Shipping Holmar. Marsé and Brouwerens were determined to offer integrated solutions customized to customers individual requirements; they wanted to offer more than just a logistics service.
Today, Andromeda is one of the most qualified and experienced providers of integrated supply chain solutions, combining air freight and ocean freight operations on a global basis.
Through its network of offices and agents in more than 100 countries, it strives to exceed customers’ needs by offering a range of logistics supply chain logistics solutions with quality, transparency, experience and high level of skills.
The Golden Leaf Awards were created in 2006 to draw attention to outstanding achievements in an industry that had become accustomed more to criticism than to recognition. Previous Golden Leaf Award ceremonies were held in Bali, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Bangkok and Bangalore.
The next event will be held in Antwerp, Belgium, during the 2012 Global Tobacco Networking Forum.
December 1, 2011
Committed to quality
The EDAPS Consortium continues to live up to its Golden Leaf Award in the BMJ most committed to quality category.
By Brandy Brinson
After the Ukraine-based EDAPS Consortium won its Golden Leaf Award last year (See “And the winners are…,” Tobacco Reporter, December 2010), the company said it was ready to prove the quality of its products and solutions on new international markets, and that the award would encourage it to continue raising the bar for excellence in both the quality and security of its solutions for the tobacco industry. And indeed, since last November, EDAPS has been busy innovating to secure the collection of excise duties on tobacco products and protect against counterfeiting.
Formed in 2004, the EDAPS Consortium is a global group of high-tech companies that possesses its own world-level scientific base and a highly technological production and service network. It says it is the only group in the world with in-house capabilities to produce and implement the most highly secure identification documents and corresponding electronic systems.
Having implemented more than 300 major projects, EDAPS combines unrivalled expertise in securing documents and products by using unique proprietary technologies in the fields of lasers, polycarbonate, biometrics, demetallized holograms, electronic systems and contact and contactless chips, says Nataliia Kochubey, vice president of the EDAPS Consortium.
EDAPS has 3,245 staff members, including 110 engaged in research and development. More than $250 million has been invested to create the EDAPS production and R&D infrastructure.
The company is led by Alexander Vassiliev, who serves as chairman of the board. Iryna Obydenko serves as president of EDAPS. She is also deputy chairman of the board of the Commercial Industrial Bank.
Tobacco
EDAPS became involved in the tobacco industry through developing a comprehensive solution that uses forgery-proof tax and control stamps with holographic security elements (HSE), combined with a track-and-trace information system to secure the collection of excise duties as well as to curb tax stamp counterfeiting.
In the production of the HSEs, EDAPS’ member company, Specialized Enterprise Holography, uses state-of-the-art technologies, including electronic lithography and advanced demetallization technology. EDAPS solutions have enabled government agencies to more than double excise tax collections from cigarettes and tobacco products. EDAPS can help the tobacco industry restore revenues being lost through illicit trade.
EDAPS says its tax stamp solution offers:
- superior security—a robust combination of a comprehensive electronic system, encrypted information, Public Key Infrastructure, on-paper advanced security features and enhanced holograms, which makes any forgery immediately and easily recognizable;
- a comprehensive approach—includes proven enforcement methodology that addresses human psychology, regulatory framework ensuring issuance, circulation and verification of tax stamps on tobacco products;
- ease of use—EDAPS tax stamps are printed or applied with no waste using universally available equipment that generally forms an integral part of packaging lines, making tax stamp authenticity easily verifiable and traceable (naked eye, via the Internet and SMS).
Kochubey says the hologram is key for developing secure tax stamps. “The secure hologram is a major overt security element that cannot be reproduced using printing techniques. The employment of secure holograms considerably undermines counterfeit risk. Moreover, visual authentication of such holograms does not require any special skills, making holograms a reliable and convenient tool for prompt product authentication by both experts and ordinary customers, which similar holograms widely implemented in Euro banknotes testify to.”
Tax stamps include:
- Highly enhanced and holography-based security elements
- Advanced security printing features
- Unique number
- Secure barcode technology
- Options of low/no cost—sizable economic benefit.
Along with HSEs, the EDAPS tax stamp embraces a wide range of security printing technologies: antiscanner background grids, pseudo-embossed images, micrographics, microtext, elements printed with visible and invisible UV inks, thermochromic ink and other security features. In addition, the tax stamp number is printed in special ink that changes its color when it is permeated through the entire layer of the stamp and is clearly visible on both sides.
New products
EDAPS recently developed a track-and-trace system that facilitates the monitoring of excise duty revenues, stems illicit trade and promotes legitimate trade of excisable products.
A distinctive and efficient security feature of a tax stamp is its individual serial number that is a combination of a regional and a unique multidigit code. This unique integrated code-facilitating track and trace of tax stamps throughout the supply chain is generated by the sophisticated database system.
The track and trace system offers:
- Tracking of the amount and origin of excisable products throughout the supply chain (from the production line to the point of sale, including options for aggregation assessment).
- On-line and real-time reporting and accounting that reflects data on excisable products/tax stamps/tax revenues.
- State-of-the-art and highly reliable data exchange technologies
- Time and cost-effective solution.
The track-and-trace system’s specificities of authentication include:
- Naked eye: overt secure features not requiring the application of a special tool, skill or knowledge
- Digital: serial number or barcode verification via the Internet, phone or SMS
- Expert: extremely user-friendly detectors for performing forensic authentication
Competitive edge
Compared with its competitors, EDAPS says it is the only enterprise in the world that has in-house facilities and production lines for the issuance of tax stamps with HSEs. It also has a state-of-the-art database and verification technology as well as profound experience in addressing administrative and enforcement issues.
EDAPS has acknowledged experience in rendering expertise and production capacity to automate the revenue tax collection system enhanced with high-security elements. A vital aspect that EDAPS has introduced into the revenue tax collection system is the possibility to deliver tax stamps, accompanying systems and services to ensure technically competent expertise, and software programming and project management, as well as to provide production machinery and tools, if required, and to offer training courses, which in fact represents a true turn-key solution.
The EDAPS technology has a sound track record: One designed and implemented system promptly doubled excise tax collections. For three years from the project implementation date additional tax collections have reached almost $5 billion, which exceeds the amount annually collected through the traditionally applied tax stamp system.
“Recovering billions of dollars in lost tobacco taxes has become possible only owing to a radically innovative approach of EDAPS—a comprehensive solution which integrates forgery-proof tax stamps incorporating various high-security elements into the robust automated tax control system,” says Kochubey.
EDAPS has successfully implemented nationwide projects in Ukraine, with a population of 45 million, and in Kenya, with 39 million citizens. Since 2002, the EDAPS’ member-enterprise SE Holography has rendered technical support for the tobacco tax stamp control system supplied to the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance. Its efficiency was proven by 50 billion collections from tax duties. This system includes the issuance of tax stamps, the creation and administration of the system database, further maintenance and elaboration of enforcement methodology and technology. Consequently, Ukraine has decreased the spread of counterfeit tobacco products and raised the amount of excise revenues. As compared with 2008, the excise collections in 2009 grew by $400 million—an increase of 80 percent.
The quality of the products and the experience of EDAPS on highly secure ID documents and IT systems have been recognized by organizations such as the ICAO, OSCE and Interpol as some of the best in the world. The EDAPS-produced De Beers Diamond Passport provides for the first time a forgery-proof certification of De Beers diamonds and jewelry items.
Future devices
There are many challenges to overcome moving ahead with security. Andriy Tymoshenko, director of production of SE Holograpy, says the global spread of holographic technologies seriously diminished faith in their reliability. “Massive production of counterfeited holographic security features in the Far East and Asia creates numerous problems in brand protection and document security. Thus it is necessary to look for other optical phenomena to create distinctive and easily recognizable features.” Looking ahead, she says the latest achievements in nanotechnology and materials science offer enough ideas to move forward.
There is now a global trend to use more and more complex technological solutions in the development of security devices. Tymoshenko says, “This has to be not a simple aggregation of different proven solutions but creation of new products where components of different physical natures interact with each other. The most promising approach is the combination of RFID tags and diffractive optical elements. In this case the RFID antenna may be an integral part of the optical security feature.”
February 1, 2011
And the winners are…
Tobacco Reporter and BMJ present their annual Golden Leaf Awards.
TR Staff Report
Representatives of Universal Leaf Tobacco Co., Iggesund Paperboard, Amcor Rentsch, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco, Godioli E Bellanti and the EDAPS Consortium collected their 2010 Golden Leaf Award trophies during a festive ceremony in the ballroom of the Royal Gardenia Hotel in Bangalore, India. The event was one of many highlights of the 2010 Global Tobacco Networking Forum, which took place Oct. 4-9.
George Hendrata, CEO of the Golden Leaf Awards’ exclusive sponsor, Indonesian paper manufacturer BMJ, congratulated the recipients on their achievements in areas such as product quality, customer service and corporate social responsibility.
Tobacco Reporter representatives Noel Morris and Elise Rasmussen then called the individual winners on stage and presented them with their trophies. The event was enlivened by spirited Indian dancers, who moved their bodies to the beats of traditional Indian music and more modern tunes such as “Jai Ho” from the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.
This was the fifth edition of the awards program, which was created in 2006 by BMJ and Tobacco Reporter to recognize tobacco companies and their suppliers at a time when recognition for those working in tobacco is in short supply.
The organizers honor companies and individuals in five categories—most impressive service initiative, most promising new product introduction, most exciting newcomer to the industry and most outstanding service to the industry, as well as most committed to quality, an award sponsored by BMJ.
The previous ceremonies were held in Bali (2006), Paris (2007), Rio de Janeiro (2008) and Bangkok (2009). The 2011 Golden Leaf Awards will be presented in Prague during the TABEXPO trade exhibition and Congress.
Please look for entry forms on Tobacco Reporter’s website and in its print edition as of January 2011.
Most impressive public service initiative
Universal Leaf Africa received a Golden Leaf Award in the most impressive public service initiative category for its community-support programs in Mozambique. The company’s social responsibility initiatives comprise a number of areas based upon the needs of each region, such as health, environmental conservation and education.
Mozambique is an important leaf tobacco sourcing area for Universal Leaf. The company has built, repaired, supplied and furnished schools to provide access to elementary and secondary education. Within the last year alone, Universal has built four new schools, along with two teachers’ houses, in Mozambique. Because villages in rural Mozambique tend to be isolated, the provision of teachers’ houses is as fundamental as the construction of the school itself. Good living conditions attract qualified teachers and encourage them to stay.
Two additional schools have been refurbished, creating a good learning environment for about 3,200 students.
In addition, Universal has provided schools with basic needs, such as potable water and proper bathrooms. This eliminates the need to travel long distances to water sources and protects students from exposure to harmful waterborne bacteria, which in turn improves school attendance.

Most exciting newcomer
Manifattura Italiana Tabacco received a Golden Leaf Award in the most exciting newcomer category. Remarkably, while being the “new kid on the block,” the company claims to be the oldest tobacco factory in Europe.
Founded in 1769, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco was previously owned and operated by the Italian tobacco monopoly.
Today, the company has new owners—a group of Italian investors. The company’s mission is to produce high-quality, tailor-made Italian cigarettes. Its strengths are flexibility, “quality without compromise,” substance and style.
Based in Chiaravalle in Italy’s central region of Marche, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco owns three Italian brands—Futura, 821 and Linda. Its flagship brand, Futura, has recently undergone a redesign, and the company is in the process of developing new brands with international appeal.
The company is well-equipped for this task. In addition to a modern primary department with a capacity of 12 million kg per year, it operates a highly automated secondary department with an annual capacity of more than 5 billion cigarettes.
Going forward, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco’s goals are to strengthen its brands domestically and internationally.
“We are proud and excited about this unexpected award—especially because it comes from such a prestigious organization,” says Luca Cecconi, sales manager of Manifattura Italiana Tabacco.
“Manifattura Italiana Tabacco is the oldest cigarette factory in Europe and the biggest independent in Italy. We want to set a new benchmark for made-in-Italy premium cigarettes.
“Tailor-made products, superior quality standards and creativity lead our day-by-day jobs.”

Most outstanding service to the industry
Godioli E Bellanti received a Golden Leaf Award in the most outstanding service to the industry category. Based in Citta di Castello, Italy, the company has been designing, manufacturing and supplying tobacco machinery to customers worldwide since 1923.
Proud to serve the tobacco industry with its tailor-made processing lines and equipment, Godioli E Bellanti’s sales and service are characterized by reliability, quality and competitive pricing. Thanks to these qualities, the company is able to retain existing customers and attract new ones.
To respond to changing customer requirements quickly, Godioli E Bellanti has a flexible structure that allows it to combine the best of its in-house resources with specialized outsourcing.
The company continues to invest in its people, recruiting qualified engineers and technicians to strengthen its lead. Godioli E Bellanti operates a professional international sales network with agents in all countries where a permanent presence is required.
Godioli E Bellanti is also a good corporate citizen. Among other initiatives, it maintains strong relationships with local universities and supports local cultural and sporting events.
CEO and sales director Lorenzo Curina was ecstatic by the news of the award.
Because he was traveling on business at the time of the ceremony, Curina received news through a text message to his telephone. “We were so excited,” he says. “It has been really emotional, calling shareholders, exchanging SMS [messages] with sincere and close friends.”
Godioli E Bellanti immediately added the Golden Leaf Awards logo to its website. “We wanted the world to know that even a company like Godioli E Bellanti—which is not big like the multinationals, but works silently with continuity, commitment quality and professionalism—is appreciated.”
According to Curina, the people that count noticed. “We felt ourselves repaid,” he says. “Hopes and dreams came true.”
BMJ most committed to quality award
The EDAPS Consortium received a Golden Leaf Award in the BMJ most committed to quality category.
The company said it was proud to have won the most prestigious Golden Leaf Award, and that it was ready to prove the quality of its products and solutions on new international markets.
To secure collection of excise duties on tobacco products and protect against counterfeiting, EDAPS has developed a comprehensive solution that uses forgery-proof tax and control stamps with holographic security elements (HSE), combined with a track-and-trace information system.
In the production of the HSEs, EDAPS’ member company, Specialized Enterprise “Holography”, uses state-of-the-art technologies, including electronic lithography and advanced demetallization technology. EDAPS solutions have enabled government agencies to more than double excise tax collections from cigarettes and tobacco products. EDAPS can help the tobacco industry restore revenues being lost through illicit trade.
The quality of the products and the experience of EDAPS on highly secure ID documents and IT systems have been recognized by organizations such as the ICAO, OSCE and Interpol as some of the best in the world. The EDAPS-produced De Beers Diamond Passport provides for the first time a forgery-proof certification of De Beers diamonds and jewelry items.
EDAPS now brings all this experience and knowledge to the world of tobacco products protection.
EDAPS says the Golden Leaf Award will encourage it to continue raising the bar for excellence in quality and security of its products and solutions for the tobacco industry.
Most promising new product
Iggesund Paperboard and packaging converter Amcor-Rentsch won a Golden Leaf Award in the most promising new product category. Iggesund had asked Amcor to design a pack that would challenge its paperboard to the maximum.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Amcor-Rentsch came up with a complex pack featuring both round corners and unusual curves. Dubbed the “diamond pack,” Amcor-Rentsch’s experimental pack features a whopping 112 crease lines (compared with perhaps 20 for a conventional round-corner pack).
The higher the number of creases, the greater the stress placed on the paperboard. Iggesund’s Invercote paperboard passed the test comfortably.
The diamond pack offers cigarette manufacturers another opportunity to set their products apart in an increasingly crowded marketplace. As regulators restrict advertising and health warnings occupy ever-larger areas of the pack’s real estate, the shape and “feel” of packaging will play an even greater role in establishing brand identity.
“Receiving the Golden Leaf Award was a very pleasant surprise to us,” says Carlo Einarsson, marketing communications director of Iggesund Paperboard. “The award was also a great endorsement of the fact that designer freedom really is important and counts. The Diamond Pack, being round, square and diamond shaped in one, is a great testimonial of an exciting and unconventional packing solution. It looks pretty nice and apparently we are not the only ones who think so!”
Invercote was also used for Tobacco Reporter’s cover this month.
December 1, 2010
And the winners are …
Announcing the 2007 winners of the BMJ-sponsored Golden Leaf Awards
TR Staff Report
Tobacco Reporter is proud to announce the winners of the second Global Leaf Awards competition. The winners are ILTD, the Uncommitted Tobacco Auction, GCH, Colin Mear Engineering and Andromeda Forwarding. Sponsored exclusively by Indonesian paper manufacturer BMJ, the Golden Leaf Awards were created to recognize professional excellence and dedication in the tobacco industry.
We’ve granted awards in five traditional categories—most impressive public service initiative, most promising new product introduction, most exciting newcomer to the industry, most outstanding service to the industry and the BMJ Most Committed to Quality Award. For the first time, we also handed out a people’s choice award.
The judge panel included Rick Lewis, whose company, Winter, Bell, won the BMJ Most Committed to Quality Award in 2006.
The awards were presented on Nov. 27 during TABEXPO 2007 in Paris, in Les Cariatides restaurant. In addition to a commemorative trophy, the winners received $1,000 for donation to a charity of their choice.
This is the second year of the contest. The first ceremony took place last year in Bali Indonesia. The next Golden Leaf Awards will be presented during TABINFO Sâo Paulo in October 2008. Entries can be submitted starting in March 2008.
Following is a series of short descriptions of the companies and their winning entries.
ILTD
ITC’s Leaf Tobacco Division (ILTD) won two Golden Leaf Awards in this year’s contest, a first in the short history of the competition. The Indian company was recognized in the “Most impressive service initiative” and “Most committed to quality” categories.
The judges were particularly impressed by ILTD’s international quality rating system (IQRS). IQRS is a business excellence model designed to steer organizations to grow their maturity levels in total quality management. It has 10 levels, with No. 3 being equivalent to ISO 9000. ILTD has achieved level 7.
IQRS covers all aspects of business, including management controls, primary processes, and feed-forward and feedback loops. Management controls comprise areas such as leadership and strategy, employee involvement and communication and management systems and documentations. Primary processes covers marketing and sales, design and development, purchasing and contracting, etc., while feed-forward and feedback loops include monitoring and measurement, quality audits, and stakeholder satisfaction and relationship management.
The system helps ILTD provide its customers with a common approach to quality and related processes. It also enables company managers to find answers to questions through self-assessment and initiation of actions.
In the ultimate analyses, the system translates into operational excellence, people alignment and cost savings across the value chain, leading to improved quality of ILTD’s products and services.
ILTD’s community projects in Chirala, Andhra Pradesh, were recognized as the most impressive public service. Motivated by its “commitment beyond the market,” ILTD has always felt a larger societal purpose on top of its commercial objectives. Even as the company attains new milestones in wealth creation, it remains eager to enlarge its contribution to Indian society.
As a big employer in Chirala, ILTD takes a keen interest in the well-being of its community. Many of its initiatives have targeted women and children, aiming to improve the community’s overall quality of life. This has had powerful incremental benefits contributing to better nutrition, health and education. Helping to build family incomes and assets, women are emerging as a positive force for social change and community enterprise.
ILTD’s initiatives cover 20 villages, with more than 100 micro-credit groups, 1,000 active members and more than 200 female entrepreneurs.
In addition to the Chirala initiative, ILTD is helping India’s rural communities by campaigning against child labor. The company is also investing in water-conservation and harvesting projects.
UTA
The Uncommitted Tobacco Auction (UTA) won a Golden Leaf Award in the “Most exciting newcomer” category. Like death and taxes, uncommitted tobacco stocks are hard to avoid. Contracts, political considerations and the whims of nature mean leaf traders sometimes end up with more tobacco than confirmed orders. While uncommitted stocks are nothing new, they are increasingly hard to justify. Operating on thin profit margins, leaf merchants are under pressure to control cost. What’s more, with overall business fundamentals deteriorating, tobacco companies no longer enjoy the easy access of credit they once had.
UTA provides tobacco companies with an additional avenue to sell their stocks. By connecting companies who weren’t trading previously, UTA hopes to fill a gap in the system. The company stresses that it’s not out to change the existing leaf trading system but merely to add to it. The first UTA auction took place in late 2006 at the warehouses of Tabaknatie in Antwerp, Belgium. During its most recent auction, in September, customers viewed more than 20 million kg of tobacco from 17 origins. UTA’s mission is to be accepted as a serious cost-effective facilitator and provide a neutral platform to the trade.
GCH
GCH’s fully automated burley harvester won a Golden Leaf Award in the “Most promising new product introduction” category. The machine was developed to eliminate some of the grueling manual tasks that have been a way of life for more than two centuries. The burley harvester can harvest between four and five acres per day and reduces labor requirements by approximately 80 percent—a welcome development in a time when many farmers are facing labor shortages.
The machine cuts, conveys and inverts the leaves, which are then hung down along the stalk to prevent breakage. Because the only mechanical contact occurs near the base of the stalk, the only leaves at risk of detachment are the least valuable ones.
The harvester dispenses and fills portable curing frames, which are offloaded in the field and then moved to a nearby area by tractor. After approximately one week of wilting, the portable frames are covered by waterproof material. The tobacco remains in the covered frames until curing is complete.
In addition to labor savings, the machine eliminates the need for storage and curing barns.
Colin Mear Engineering
Colin Mear Engineering finished first in the “Most outstanding service to the industry” category. In today’s highly regulated tobacco market, creative packaging presents an opportunity to support marketing efforts and boost sales. Changing cigarette pack styles at regular intervals keeps brands relevant and in the forefront of the consumer’s mind but also carries risk. Existing packaging machinery is not always sufficiently flexible to accommodate frequent style changes, creating additional cost and lead times.
CME has structured its business to help its customers develop special pack styles. Using a combination of creative approaches and proven technologies, the company is not tied to one particular solution but has the ability to use whatever is best to meet the customer’s needs. Among other projects, the company’s engineering efforts enabled British American Tobacco to produce its famous wallet pack.
CME is continuously looking for ways to work through its processes more efficiently. By thoroughly analyzing a proposed solution upfront, it can bring ideas and answers into the process early, thereby preventing delays later.
CME believes its technical knowledge, flexible manufacturing capability and willingness to work intimately with customers put it into a league of its own and qualify as “outstanding service.”
Andromeda Forwarding
Competing for the “Most outstanding service” award, Andromeda Forwarding of Rotterdam, Netherlands, was nominated by so many customers (32) that we decided to create a new category—the people’s choice award. Andromeda won handsomely in that category.
With international trade booming, shipping has become a scarce “commodity,” and Andromeda has clearly created a following among its clients. To service its customers in the tobacco industry even better, the company has recently created a specialized tobacco forwarding department, which sets itself apart through its flexibility and attention to detail. While many shipping companies and air freight companies have grown to the point that they are no longer in a position to provide specialized service when necessary, Andromeda retains its personal touch.
When customers contact Andromeda, they will be connected to their dedicated service representative, who will arrange everything. Andromeda provides a one-stop shop for door-to-door delivery, including warehousing, fumigation, customs formalities and other services, allowing its customers to focus on their core business: tobacco.
Andromeda recently moved to a new building in Rotterdam, close to every major shipping company. The move enables the company to obtain solutions quickly and offer even better service.
Rick Lewis, whose company, Winter, Bell won last year’s BMJ most committed to quality award, was one of the judges this year. Commitment to quality starts and ends with people, according to Winter, Bell, which is based in North Carolina, USA. And it’s not a mindset that you can turn on and off; Winter, Bell encourages its employees to think quality day and night. “We don’t ship product out of the door unless we are positive it is what customers ordered in all respects,” a company representative said during last year’s awards ceremonies.
December 3, 2007