The Man Behind the CIgar

Lee Iacocca is generally considered Detroit's No. 1 salesman. Now Moro Cigar Co., one of the distributors of Don Diego cigars, which are made in the Dominican Republic, has picked the Chrysler chairman as the face to launch thousands of shipments of a new line-- of cigars.

Last fall Moro's advertising agency, Manhattan-based David, Oksner & Mitchneck,. started a campaign to sell Don Diego smokes. Called "A Man and His Cigar," the ads are testimonials from stogie-chomping chairmen of the board.

They include, in addition to Iacocca, William Fine, head of the cosmetics firm Frances Denney, and Robert Brockway, the boss of Olympus Camera. Fashion Photographer Richard Avedon took a picture of Iacocca that has already begun appearing in ads in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Iacocca, however, struck a hard bargain. He did not receive any payment for posing,, but demanded that the cigarmaker name its newest product after his Chrysler Imperial, which was relaunched last year (current price: $18,311). Moro every now and then sends the Chrysler chairman a few boxes of the jumbo-sized, 7 1/4-in. Imperial cigars (cost: $46.25 a box). But Iacocca has not changed his taste in cigars even for the extra publicity. His longtime favorite brand is Cuban Montecristo No. 1.

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