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Cigar Life Guy

Terence Reilly Breaks Down All Things Cigars

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Terence Reilly has been living the cigar life since his twenties. Spending one formative summer with his Uncle Manuel (of Quesada Cigars) in the Dominican was all it took. Now the VP Sales. & Marketing at Aganorsa Leaf,  Reilly talked with Cigar Life Guy about the logistics of blending, what makes a brand distinct, and how, amidst all the contemporary isolation, sharing a fine cigar  is one of the few ways for people to connect.

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Terence Reilly: Terence Reilly is about as gringo a name you can have but I have family in the industry through my Grandmother (my father’s mother).  She was a Quesada and I spent a summer once in my early twenties working for my Uncle Manuel Quesada at his factory (Matasa at the time, now Quesada Cigars).  I didn’t smoke but thought spending a summer in the Dominican Republic would be fun. So I worked during the week at the factory.  On Sundays, my uncle would have me over  to the house and everyone would be playing cards, eating, having a drink, and, except for me, smoking cigars.  After a couple of weeks, I decided to join in and I smoked a Fonseca Vintage Petite Belicoso as my first cigar.  It was a perfect first smoke because it was short, light, and smooth.  The rest is history.

The Cigar Industry: Blending and Branding

Cigar Life Guy: How did you first get involved in the cigar industry?

Terence Reilly: After that summer a few years went by and I was having dinner in Miami with my Uncle and he asked if I was interested in working for the family full-time in the U.S.  I would have to move back to the Dominican Republic for a while to learn the business but once I got through basic training I would move back to Miami and work for the distribution office of the company there.  I took him up on the offer and relocated to Santiago for about 6 months or so before returning to the U.S.

Cigar Life Guy: What should the average cigar smoker know about cigar blending? How can it help them appreciate a premium cigar?

Terence Reilly:  I think most people who enjoy cigars have an appreciation for the blending aspect itself but not the logistics involved.  Nearly anyone who works at it long enough can put together a fairly good blend either by luck or by skill or a little of both.  The key is being able to produce that exact experience on a large scale, year after year.  That is where the real talent is found.  Having adequate inventories of tobacco, constantly validating crops to ensure the tobaccos used in the blend maintain the same characteristics, and making adjustments when needed- those are the real skills.  

Cigar Life Guy: What is the most important thing to convey about a brand? How do you want the cigar world to perceive Aganorsa Leaf?

Terence Reilly: The most important thing to convey is what makes the brand special. That can be a lot of different things but whatever it is it must be genuine. In the case of Aganorsa, our tobacco has a signature flavor you can’t find anywhere else. The combination of the seeds we grow–specifically Corojo 99; the farms we grow our tobacco on in Jalapa, Condega, and Esteli; and the fact that we are vertically integrated and our team of Cuban Agronomists control the entire process from seed to ash creates a unique style and flavor.  That signature taste and aroma are why so many great companies buy leaf from us or entrust us to make their brands, as well as why consumers choose Aganorsa when they are making their selection in the humidor.  Our Leaf is Our Strength

Cigar Life Guy: What is the biggest challenge facing the cigar industry today?

Terence Reilly: There are a lot of challenges in this business.  Regulation is always a threat.  We are a small industry, so it has been impressive to see what organizations like PCA, CRA, and others have done to protect us from fees and regulations that threaten our survival.

The Cigar Community

Cigar Life Guy: What is your favorite aspect of the cigar community and the cigar life? What makes cigar smokers so unique?

Terence Reilly: In a world where we can’t even work together to get rid of daylight savings, cigars truly bring people together.  Our world today isolates us in so many ways from one another despite how easy technology has made it to connect. Cigars provide an opportunity for meaningful contact with our fellow humans regardless of their political, religious, or social views. That is rare today. I can’t tell you how many lifetime friendships I’ve developed with all sorts of different people through cigars and how many pre-existing relationships have been strengthened through them. For me, a cigar is an essential accouterment to great conversations.

Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars? What would people not know about you?

Terence Reilly: I love to read.  I consume a fair amount of history, biographies, articles on current events, self-help, etc., but literature is my favorite.  After all, in the beginning, there was the word.

Follow Terence on Instagram and check the latest from Aganorsa Leaf here.

Photo Credit: Terence Reilly

 

 

Juan Lugo of Don Doroteo Cigars is Reviving a Legacy

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Many people grow up around cigars, but it takes a special person to revive a legacy which is exactly what Juan Lugo of Don Doroteo Cigars did. He smoked his first “intentional” cigar while deployed in Iraq, but he took the seed of his idea back to his roots in the Dominican Republic. Lugo talked to Cigar Life Guy about how he met his partner through investing in cryptocurrency, the beauty of harvesting tobacco, and why giving back is his primary goal in the cigar industry.

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Juan Lugo: The first official cigar that I intended on smoking- I say “intended” because having cigars in my family since birth I was always around it. So the first time I actually smoked as an adult was when I was deployed in the United States Air Force. I was military police and I was in Iraq in 2009. It was a dry base so you couldn’t drink alcohol which was my vice of choice at the time, but they did have tobacco. So you could chew tobacco, you could smoke cigars, you could smoke cigarettes. I went straight for cigars. When I saw it in this little shop I immediately felt nostalgic. So I gravitated towards the cigars. At the time I wasn’t really an aficionado or connoisseur.  So I just grabbed some Montecristos from Cuba. I wound up smoking some gems because there was no embargo like here in the States.

I was nineteen years old. I had one day off a week- usually on Sundays. I would go into this abandoned hut. It was a bunker, but we turned it into a hangout spot. The base was called Al-Assad and it was one of Sadaam Hussein’s primary bases in Iraq. We found this abandoned bunker, took some lawn chairs, and set them up in a circle. That was our go-to spot. We played dominos. We couldn’t drink any alcohol. However, we had non-alcoholic beer- just for the ritual of it- and we would smoke cigars.

Merging New With Cigar Tradition

Cigar Life Guy: You were the lone family member interested in returning to the cigar business. Tell us a little about your decision and partnership with Brandon Dallman and Jeff Moss.

Juan Lugo: After the military, I went into tech. I was stationed in California. I used my GI Bill and got a degree in Business at San Jose State. I gravitated towards the entrepreneurial spirit and mindset. I picked up a gig in cyber security and then worked with AI (Artificial Intelligence) before it was a buzzword. I had no idea what it really was to be honest (laughs) even when I was working with it. Conceptualizing it was kind of nuts back then. I kept hearing other buzzwords- cryptocurrency, Bitcoin- so I wound up dipping my toe into that in late 2017. I worked numerous side jobs, so I could invest in the stock market and crypto in particular. It took a few years but in 2020 I finally started making some money. In the midst of the pandemic, I really had a great year investing. Investing led me to random chat rooms and forums like Telegram, Whatsapp, and Discord. I met a lot of interesting individuals – random investors, one of which was my future cigar partner Brandon Dallman.

It wasn’t until 2021 after we had made some great gains that a few of us were like, “Can we finally meet up in person and not be weird internet chat room people?” (laughs). So we decided to meet in San Juan Puerto Rico at a little beachfront hotel. The group had business there, but we figured we might as well have a little fun. I had no idea that anyone in the group even liked cigars. I was expecting a bunch of typical nerdy-type basement dwellers, but it was a great group of guys from all different walks of life. Brandon, a good old boy from Nebraska, walks out with a box of cigars. He sits next to me and hands out cigars. No one in the group knew cigar etiquette, so I was quick to help with cutting and lighting. Brandon and I got to talking and then he asked if I had any ties to the cigar industry. And I said, “Do I?” I told him my grandfather’s story about how he’d been growing tobacco since 1936 and his connection to La Aurora.

We talked about what was next for us. Did we want to continue the investing game? It’s kind of a soulless industry. I made some great relationships in investing but it wasn’t fulfilling other than the monetary side. It’s the polar opposite of what the cigar industry is. So I decided I did want to make a change. I told him I had been working on a business plan to revive my grandfather’s legacy, and we spent the entirety of that trip smoking cigars talking about what things would look like.

When I got home to my wife, who was pregnant with twins, I told her I thought it was time to make the plunge and quit my secure career in tech. I was going to walk away from the “golden handcuffs” as they call them and pursue the journey of an entrepreneur.

That was the beginning of Don Doroteo. The first thing I told Brandon was that we needed to make sure we were honoring my grandfather and his legacy. It wasn’t cigar-making. It was tobacco harvesting. Harvesting and selling to La Aurora exclusively was what my grandfather did and what I wanted to do. So the cigars were just a byproduct of being in that industry.

Nine months after that trip to Puerto Rico we had our first harvest.

Cigar Life Guy: Tell us how you merge tradition with creating new blends.

Juan Lugo: In other words, what’s your differentiator from a business standpoint? Obviously, there’s passion behind creating a business in this industry especially when you have family ties, but then you have to ask yourself the real tough questions. Is it a viable venture? That is the world Brandon and I came from. We had to assess and vet a lot of companies we were potentially going to invest in. What is the viability of this company? What’s their product? What’s their differentiator? Entering the cigar industry we looked at it with that lens. As much as it was a passion product, we also had to make sure we weren’t just throwing our money into a dumpster fire.

Having talked to a lot of boutique owners and other folks in the industry we didn’t want to come in looking for a blueprint. A lot of people stop where they feel like “this is the road to success. I need to have five different blends.” I think that’s the mindset of the average aficionado who wants to take this on. I didn’t care about the cigar part initially. I wanted to grow tobacco. I’m a city boy from New York (laughs). So it was the next challenge I wanted to take on. I really fell in love with working in the soil and working with the people there. Building something tangible.

When you talk about the fruits of your labor, in the investor world it’s all 1’s and 0’s. There’s no human connection. Whereas in the cigar world, it’s 100% the opposite. There’s so much fulfillment from the harvest. Then the big day is when the buyer from La Aurora shows up and they have to qualify all of your tobacco. You’re just crossing your fingers that you have tobacco in there that makes the cut for binder and if you’re lucky enough you get some for the wrapper-which is easier said than done. We haven’t been able to do that yet, but I’m proud to say that since our first harvest, most of it has been binder quality. That was a feather in our cap immediately. We wanted to make sure we were bringing forth everything we could.

Any schmuck with a wallet can go into a factory and say “Hey I want to make a cigar for my ego and put my name on it”. Any factory will give you numerous blends. It’s business. But I was really serious about this. Putting my grandfather’s name on it held a lot of weight.

Cigar Life Guy: You take pride in doing things the right way. What is the most important aspect of creating a cigar from seed that every cigar smoker should know?

Juan Lugo: The Salt of the Earth took a long time in the storming phase with the team. This is where  Jeff Moss comes in. We started looking online thinking about what the award-winning cigar looks like. Who is the right person to hire for our team? We had no idea, so we started searching online. That led us to a page with a hodgepodge of boxes and ring designs. It turned out to be the award-winning Jeff Moss from Alec Bradley. We just cold-called this guy. We talked for about an hour and he told me flat out, “I don’t make rings. I build brands”. I wanted him to come visit the farm. I brought him there for the harvest in February of 2022 and he took one look and said, “You built this in nine months?”. At that moment, he said, “I’m in. Let’s go.”. He was at a crossroads himself. His contract with Alec Bradley was ending and he was thinking of moving on.

So when it came to the brainstorming phase of what this should look like. It was really like building a brand. Building a story from scratch. Brandon and Jeff would be there alongside me working on the variations of tobacco we wanted to use, but aside from that it was more so what’s the story you want to tell? That’s where Salt of the Earth comes from. Salt of the Earth is what I think of when I think of the type of man my grandfather was. That’s the type of man I am.  That’s the type of man I want to be known as. I don’t want to veer away from his teachings and my upbringing.  So that was the name. That’s the brand. But then I thought now what’s the blend?

I wanted to dig deep into the Dominican roots. One thing that was near and dear was the Andullo. My grandfather used to harvest tobacco and used to process it into Andullo. The beautiful part is, to get a final product you have to let it sit for a couple of years. The typical farmer in the Dominican Republic will probably do it for a year and a half and then they’ll sell them at any local grocery store. That’s what the common man smokes in the Dominican Republic. They chew it as well. So it’s pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco. That’s what my grandfather produced his entire life. In the 50’s he opened up a farmer’s market in Santiago and it’s still there today. Alongside tobacco, he had dairy products, eggs, and produce. My first actual cigar I ever smoked had Andullo tobacco.  My grandfather used to walk around with a little pipe filled with Andullo tobacco and he used to roll his own box-pressed cigars with Andullo.

It’s not a delicacy there. I learned to look at Andullo tobacco in a new way. I never saw it at a PCA. It was never sold to the American consumer in a way that was appealing. I wanted to reinvent that.

We landed on two blends that eventually became the Salt of the Earth: the Cameroon, Piedra Viva, and the Corojo Piedra Angular.

When it comes to blending cigars, we’re not trying to do anything trendy. One of the things Jeff Moss, as creative director, has focused on is making sure we don’t lose that legacy within the brand. So all the visuals, the ring, the booth at PCA, and the advertisements in the magazines all have to resemble the legacy and tradition but with a modern twist.

I don’t want to be a boutique company that feels that it needs to come out with the latest and greatest every year. There are only so many ways to roll a cigar. If we’re here to make money,  we’re here for the wrong reasons. If I wanted to just make money, I’d go back to crypto. This is a passion project for me. I want to make sure that we’re putting everything into every blend. We’re making what we love.

Cigar Farm and the Fair Distribution of Profits

Cigar Life Guy: You take pride in the fair distribution of profits. Can you explain what that looks like?

Juan Lugo: I can say with some confidence that most cigar manufacturers don’t own their farm and don’t harvest their own tobacco. This may sound controversial but you go into these countries, and people can get away with a lot more than they can in the United States. So being merged between both worlds- being a veteran and a citizen of the U.S., but also having close ties to my heritage in the Dominican Republic- we do a couple of things that are a little different. First and foremost, aside from having a fully working farm year-round, we don’t just hire people seasonally. This is something that might be a little controversial with a lot of tobacco manufacturers that have plants in Nicaragua, the Dominican, and Mexico. We hire people year-round. We don’t fire people because the season’s over and let people fend for themselves and their families for six months. I don’t think that’s right.

What I decided to do was farm to fork. We had this extremely fertile land in the Dominican Republic. As it is, we can’t grow tobacco year-round. Mother Nature doesn’t permit it, but crop rotation is good for the nutrients in the soil. So we rotate crops, keep the soil rich, and it also allows me to keep my folks employed. We have been growing squash. I hired my cousin as the director of operations at the farm and he talked to local supermarkets to find out what produce was needed most- something that was not going to disturb the nutrients in the soil for tobacco. We’re on our third harvest of squash. We do our tobacco harvest usually in February.  I have a big ceremonial event. I invite all the local workers. We sit together, throw a feast, and we party. There’s music, food, and obviously cigars. Then we do it again when we have our squash harvest in August. We invite all the families. Our company is a family in and of itself. We have a big cookout with a traditional Dominican stew called Sancocho that incorporates a lot of squash. That’s the first step.

This is something that hasn’t come up with some of these cigar-related interviews, but one of my personal goals is to give back to the community. That’s important to me.  Keeping people employed full-time year-round is step two. Step three is setting up ways that we can help kids in impoverished countries get access to the things that are foundational in the United States, but are not foundational in other places. Everything from auxiliary English to  STEM. Anything that’s related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I’m passionate about it because I’ve seen the difference it makes. I want to do that through our company.

Passions Beyond Cigars

Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars? What would people not know about you?

Juan Lugo: I think I just answered a lot of that in the last question(laughs)! I’m pretty open on social media, so you’ll see all of my announcements there. Shooting a bow or shooting guns- some of the fun things I learned in the military. As it pertains to business, it’s kind of difficult to go into PCA as a boutique guy and make major dents in the universe.  For me, it’s about giving back to my community in the Dominican and family. I was finally able to take my kids to the farm. My twins were born at the same time the company was born. It’s been kind of symbolic of how the company went from its infancy to its crawling phase. I had this dream to take my wife and kids to the farm and have them walk to their grandparents’ house which is just a three-minute walk from the farm. Over the summer we were able to do that. Seeing it in action was so great. That’s what it’s about for me. I truly love the country and giving back.  That’s what our company is about.

Follow Juan on Instagram  and check out the latest from Don Doroteo Cigars here.

photo credit: Juan Lugo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nestor Miranda Keeps on Smoking

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Nestor Miranda’s life and cigar journey began in Cuba. What he lacked in formal education he more than made up for with hard work, perseverance, and business savvy.  His work in sales eventually led him to joining his wife at Miami Cigar & Company, fulfilling the American Dream, and becoming a titan in the cigar industry. A true legend, Miranda talked with Cigar Life Guy about hard work, family, and why it’s a great time to be a cigar smoker

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Nestor Miranda: My cigar smoking experience began in my hometown of Holguin, Cuba. I used to take my grandfather’s cigars and go smoke them in the park near my house. They were Churchill-sized and I remember always getting sick. But it never stopped me from smoking because all the girls would look at me like I was the man!

Starting in Sales and the Miami Cigar Company

Cigar Life Guy: You worked for Southern Wine and Spirits before working full-time at Miami Cigar Company. Tell us what you brought to the Miami Cigar Company back in 1995.

Nestor Miranda: Southern Wine gave me a great training into what it took to be a great salesman. From the moment I started there, I knew that sales was for me. It was in my blood! There was nothing more enjoyable than making that big sale and returning to the office to let everyone know who the man is! All of my accounts knew that when Nestor Miranda walked into the door they were in trouble! (Laughs) I actually couldn’t have done it without them, the relationships that I formed in the liquor industry helped me when we moved forward to the cigar industry.

Cigar Life Guy: You are a legend in the cigar industry. What is your greatest accomplishment and why?

Nestor Miranda: I would say my greatest accomplishment was being able to come from Cuba to the United States with limited education and zero English and live the American Dream. It wasn’t easy, but that’s ok. It makes me appreciate what I have been able to do even more knowing that it took everything I had to make it happen.

Cigar Life Guy: What advice would you give to some of the upstart companies who are looking to make a name in the cigar industry?

Nestor Miranda: You need to find the hardest worker in the industry and out-work them! There is no replacement for hard work in this business. Many people say that they have it in them but when the time comes to do it, only the strong survive, brother!

Challenges in the Cigar Industry

Cigar Life Guy: What are the biggest challenges in the cigar industry and how does it differ from a few decades ago?

Nestor Miranda: The biggest challenge is keeping up with the consumer’s ever-changing palate. We try our best to provide the consumers with what they are looking for but it’s not easy when you have an amazing group of competitors like we do in this industry. They say that iron sharpens iron and this is so true! It is a great time to be a cigar smoker because everyone is constantly innovating and coming out with new wonderful products for the consumer.

Family and Tradition

Cigar Life Guy: Miami Cigar Company is a family business. Your son took on an integral role in the company before he passed away, and now you work with your daughter and son-in-law, Jason. Why is tradition so important to the cigar industry and your company?

Nestor Miranda: Family is the reason we do what we do! At the end of the day when your time is over on this planet, you want to rest easy knowing that you did everything possible to position your family to be successful in the future.

Cigar Life Guy: Your company’s slogan, “It’s not just cigars. It’s a lifestyle.” What is your favorite aspect of the cigar lifestyle

Nestor Miranda: “One Life” is a slogan that we live by here at Miami Cigar. It basically means that in this world you are given one life and it is up to you to decide what you make of it. My wife and I arrived in the United States with nothing and we decided to put in the blood, sweat and tears necessary to be successful and live the American Dream. Now it is up to my daughter and son-in-law to continue this for their children.

Beyond Cigars

Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars? What would people not know about you?

Nestor Miranda: I am an outdoors-man. Fishing and hunting are the things I like to do—while smoking a cigar, of course!

One thing that people do not know about me is that I was enlisted in the US Army and was training for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

Follow Nestor and Miami Cigar & Company on Instagram and keep up with latest at Miami Cigar & Company

photo credit: Miami Cigar & Co.

 

 

Lily Wang smoking a cigar

Lily Wang Brings Her Passion to the Cigar Game

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Lily Wang has come a long way since launching Cigar Ambassador in 2005. Her passion for cigars and respect for the art of creating blends led to the release of Tobacco Queen in 2023. She talked with Cigar Life Guy about her best industry advice, China’s evolving cigar culture, and how cigar life fosters the “simple pleasures.”

 

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Lily Wang: In 1994, I had the opportunity to visit Cuba and the Dominican Republic, where I first encountered cigars and the intricate art of hand-rolling. At the time, my interest was purely out of curiosity.

My real first experience smoking a premium cigar came later during my career at a securities company. I shared a premium Partagás Cuban cigar with company executives. The creamy notes, intertwined with wood and earthy aromas, left an unforgettable impression on me. I can still vividly remember the striking red band on that cigar, which symbolized its craftsmanship and elegance.

 

Cigar Life and Culture

Cigar Life Guy: What drew you to the cigar culture, and what are your favorite aspects of the cigar community?

Lily Wang: What truly captivated me about cigar culture is its profound depth and richness. From cultivating tobacco, blending, and aging to hand-rolling, packaging design, and global distribution, every step reflects unparalleled artistry and craftsmanship. Cigars are not just about indulgence—they are a medium for connection and communication.

What I love most about the cigar community is its inclusivity. Regardless of age, language, background, or profession, people can find common ground in their shared passion for cigars. This culture fosters bonds, inspires camaraderie, and instills an appreciation for life’s simple pleasures.

 

Cigar Ambassador and Launching Tobacco Queen

Cigar Life Guy: You have been in the cigar industry for a while. You have started magazines and lounges and have now introduced a new line of cigars. Which aspect of the business do you like most and why?

Lily Wang: Our journey began in 2005 with the founding of Cigar Ambassador magazine. Over the last two decades, we expanded based on reader demand, launching Cigar Ambassador clubs and shops. By 2012, we organized the China Cigar Culture Festival to support Chinese cigar factories with blending, promotion, and sales. In 2014, we ventured into growing, processing, and trading tobacco internationally. By 2016, we began crafting our blends, eventually creating Tobacco Queen, which officially launched in 2023.

What I enjoy most now is building and promoting brands, especially alongside my son, Ausman. Seeing a product grow from a concept to a recognized name in the market brings immense satisfaction. Launching Tobacco Queen has been particularly fulfilling—it is a culmination of premium tobacco, unique blends, meticulous aging, and the artistry of hand-rolling. We measure success in sales and how well we honor and pass on the cultural heritage of cigars.

 

Lily Wang: Working with Family

Cigar Life Guy: What is it like working with your son Ausman? What is the most important advice you have imparted to him?

Lily Wang: Working with Ausman has been incredibly rewarding. Born in the Dominican Republic, raised in Shanghai, and educated in the United States, Ausman brings fresh perspectives, innovation, and a modern approach to our family business. In 2023, I was thrilled when he officially joined the company, following our shared passion for cigars.

The most important advice I gave him is: “Quality must always come first. Only with an unwavering commitment to quality can we build long-term trust and respect.”

I also reminded him that a deep love for cigars, combined with professional expertise and passion, is what drives success in this industry. Seeing him take Tobacco Queen to the international stage fills me with pride and excitement for the future.

 

Cigar Branding

Cigar Life Guy: How do you want the cigar world to perceive your brand?

Lily Wang: Since founding Cigar Ambassador in 2005, I have learned several critical lessons about the cigar industry. One, a cigar factory’s strength lies in access to premium tobacco. Our CAC INT’L TOBACCO company has made this a priority. Two, time is the best investment for quality tobacco.

Tobacco Queen cigars rolled in 2016, and they were patiently aged until the perfect moment to release them in 2023. Third, creating a great cigar is not difficult—maintaining consistent quality and blend stability is the real challenge. Fourth, no marketing effort compares to the power of word-of-mouth praise from cigar enthusiasts. Lastly, understanding the diverse preferences of consumers in different markets is essential.

If you look at the Tobacco Queen band, you will notice it reads Cigar Ambassador Presents, a mark of excellence under our global brand. We are also the exclusive distributor of Arturo Fuente Cigars in China, and our portfolio includes Tobacco Queen (Dominican Republic), Luz de Masalla (Nicaragua), and Leyenda de Copán (Honduras). Launching Tobacco Queen has been a deliberate process—timing and preparation are everything.

To me, the Cigar Ambassador name is sacred. I have our company logo tattooed on my arm—a daily reminder to cherish and protect what we have built.

 

Women in the Cigar Industry

Cigar Life Guy: Women in the cigar industry are often overlooked. What advice would you give to women entering the industry and women who smoke cigars?

Lily Wang: People often ask me what it’s like to be a woman leading a tobacco group. To me, it’s not unusual. Consider this: in many households, women do most of the cooking, yet professional chefs are often men. Similarly, many men dominate leadership roles in fashion and cosmetics.

My advice is: if cigars truly captivate you, follow your passion fearlessly.

Master every detail of the industry, from tobacco cultivation to consumer preferences. Don’t imitate others—find your voice. Women bring sensitivity and precision that can add enormous value to the cigar world.

 

Cigar Culture in China

Cigar Life Guy: What is cigar culture like in China? How does it differ from other places in the world?

Lily Wang: China’s cigar culture is still developing but is growing rapidly. Unlike in Western markets, Chinese consumers often see cigars as symbols of success, luxury, and social status. However, many enthusiasts are beginning to explore cigars on a deeper level, appreciating their craftsmanship, aging potential, and complex flavors.

Another unique aspect is purchasing habits. Chinese consumers often buy cigars by the box, not by the stick. Many purchase multiple boxes—one to enjoy and another to age for 5-10 years, savoring the maturation process. This cultural emphasis on aging cigars is particularly distinctive.

 

Cigars and the Wonders of the Universe

Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars? What would people not know about you?

Lily Wang: Beyond cigars, I am passionate about gourmet food, travel, art (music, reading, and films), and gardening. I also enjoy exploring topics like the mysteries of our universe, human history, and extraterrestrial possibilities—I believe the universe is vast and full of untold wonders.

I share my life with two beloved cats: Akira, a Bengal, and Zhizhi, a British Shorthair. Although they live in China, I think of them often, no matter where I travel. At our factory, I also care for eight stray cats. Watching them sleep peacefully brings me a sense of comfort and healing.

At nearly 60 years old, I still feel youthful and full of life. I love to work, but I also love to enjoy life—good food, travel, and shopping are simple joys that bring me immense happiness.

I smoke about six cigars every day. While I started by simply enjoying the brands and sizes, I now find myself pondering the blends—which regions and tobacco varieties make up each cigar. This deeper understanding has brought a new level of appreciation to my cigar experience.

 

Follow Lily on Instagram and check out the Tobacco Queen here.

Photo credit: Lily Wang

Douglas Bobcock and brother Bryant Bobcock holding a box of Bobcock Brothers Cigars.

Douglas Bocock Wants Everyone to be Cocky

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Doug Bocock and his brother, Bryant, have lived the cigar life for nearly three decades. Natives of Honduras, it all began at a nightclub with the idea of drawing a crowd in Tegucigalpa. The brothers built a humidor and created a house blend, and the rest is history. Recently, they became the first cigar company to be licensed by a university. Doug talked to Cigar Life Guy about his start in the business, the creative process of blending a cigar, and why he invites everyone to kick back, light up, and be cocky.

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Doug Bocock: I’m originally from Honduras, so we grew up around premium cigars. For us, every cigar was just a cigar — we didn’t even know it was considered premium. A cigar with a label that I remember clearly as an older teenager was a 1999 Vintage Rocky Patel. I loved that cigar at the time. It was nice and mild. A beautiful, decadent cigar. It was at a club in Tegucigalpa called 360, which we owned and managed at the time. We had a humidor and carried that particular cigar, among others. I picked that one up, and I smoked it. At that point, I knew what a premium cigar was. We had obviously smoked cigars from local producers and blenders, but that was my first experience with a premium branded cigar. It drew me into the whole premium cigar experience, including its marketing and lavishness.

Discovering Cigars as a Business

Cigar Life Guy: Your brother discovered cigars while managing a nightclub. How did he get you involved in the industry?

Doug Bocock: As I mentioned, we are originally from Honduras and had a humidor in Tegucigalpa in the 2000s. It was an event center that included a nightclub. To be honest, we needed something different to bring folks in to keep the lights on. Honduras is a huge tobacco producer and the hub for people traveling to Danli, so we decided that a humidor would be a good solution to add additional revenue to our event center. So, we built a walk-in humidor on the 18th floor of the tallest building in the city. At the time, there was a lot of turmoil in Honduras. The humidor and event center was the only place where U.S. embassy folks and military personnel could go and enjoy a cigar.

We learned a lot about the U.S. palate — what the U.S. customers liked. Do they want a flavor-forward or mild cigar? Do they like heavy-smoke cigars? We started to understand and cater to that market, which was more of an international U.S. market. We understood at that point that we had something special only an hour and a half away from Danli. That lit a spark. We realized we could create a blend of our own.

In 2001, we created a blend for our humidor. That was the first time we put something together on our own, but we didn’t really think we were going to create a full-throttle brand of our own. We did something locally and then fell in love with that process.

Bobcock Cigars Blending Process

Cigar Life Guy: Tell us about your blending process. Why should the average cigar smoker at least have some knowledge of how a cigar is made?

Doug Bocock: I can’t tell you what the average smoker should and shouldn’t do. Honestly, what’s important about what we do is being big advocates of what our country produces. The biggest difference is we don’t look at what everybody else is doing. We created our “lane”. When we created our cigars, we visited Danli and found a really good producer and manufacturing facility — San Judas Tadeo (SJT). They opened the doors for us when we were only producing batches of fifty cigars.

At the time, the blender wanted to have fun and create. He understood that we were from Honduras and could potentially take this product into the international market. He believed in our passion and knew we would return. That’s been the most critical part of what we do. We’ve stayed loyal to the factory, to the master blender, to the process. We’ve grown together. It’s not only the tobacco leaves but also our box and label makers. Those are all folks we have worked with from the start.

We are the largest tenant of SJT. He is the cousin of Nestor Placencia, so we get most of our products from Nestor. Our security supply is backed by the Placencia family. For us, that is very special.

Lighting up and Being Cocky

Cigar Life Guy: You have a distinct logo and a catchy slogan. “Be Cocky!” How do you want cigar smokers and consumers to see your brand?

Doug Bocock: Of course, our last name is Bocock. We honor our last name with our logo and slogan. It’s more of a call to action to be yourself. To not be afraid. To grab a stick, smoke it, and enjoy where life takes you! In this world, we’re constantly told what to do — where to smoke and not to smoke. But being cocky, grabbing a cigar, and lighting one up is what embodies our nature. And it has nothing to do with arrogance. It’s mostly about just being yourself. If you’re a badass and you’re working for the man, and you want to kick your feet up in the office and light up a cigar, that’s your “be cocky” moment. We encourage people to light up. Be cocky. Post it on our site. That’s the essence of it: a call to action.

LSU and Cigars

Cigar Life Guy: Your family has a long connection to Louisiana State University, and your latest endeavor is the LSU line. How did that deal come about, and were there any concerns about affiliating the university with a premium cigar line?

Doug Bocock: Talk about creating your own path. We’re not looking to make any noise. We’ve been working with LSU on many different events and fundraisers. Cigars have been part of the day-to-day and many college events in the past, including Joe Burrow’s signature smoke and the College World Series. So, cigars are a way for LSU and other schools  to celebrate championships.

Before us, it was already a trend in collegiate and professional sports.

The university embraced what we were doing as a company and decided we were the right partner to represent them. LSU is not the first school to celebrate with cigars, but they are the first school to license with a cigar company.

The Cigar Community

Cigar Life Guy: What is the biggest challenge facing the cigar industry today?

Doug Bocock: The biggest challenge is opposition. By that, I mean folks always looking to feel offended by cigar smoke. In general, the opposition from folks who are against smoking cigars without understanding what it’s about. There is a very special bond between smokers. People that don’t smoke and don’t understand it don’t understand that love. That’s the biggest thing. “Live and let live” is what should be enforced when it comes to smoking cigars (laughs). I understand if you’re in a cafe and blowing smoke at someone who doesn’t smoke; I get that. But those folks that try to shut down humidors and lounges because they’re in the vicinity of a place or smokers not being able to have a cocktail in a lounge. You see those things more and more. That’s an issue. That’s the tough part.

Douglas Bobcock: Favorite Part of Cigar Community

Cigar Life Guy: What is your favorite aspect of the cigar community?

Doug Bocock: When you start a business like this, you never know where it’s going to go. We started with our Legacy Bocock Brothers and moved on to our Collegiate Division. We’re excited about the next chapter. It’s been a great year for us, launching the football centennial box to commemorate 100 years of Tiger Stadium, along with our two LSU Purple and Gold Cigars.

We realized Louisiana is so supportive of their school that it is an emotional purchase for them. They want to try out a product that has their logo. When they try it for the first time, they realize how good a premium cigar is. When they pair it with their favorite drink, or when the weather turns nice, or when they’re with good company sharing stories and tailgating, the cigar enhances their experience.

For some, it may be something they never thought of doing. You have your day-to-day smokers, but we may be turning someone who was vaping or smoking cigarettes into a cigar smoker. Someone who says, “I’m going to give this LSU cigar a try because it represents my school.” It builds community. It’s a big win not only for us but for the whole cigar community. So I feel we’re providing good service to our industry. But it has to be with a cigar that offers an experience. If the cigar is not up to par, it won’t give the desired experience, which is why we’re so meticulous about the quality of our products.

Douglas Bobcock’s Passion Outside of Cigar Life

Cigar Life Guy: Cigars aside, what is the one passion you have that most people don’t know about?

Doug Bocock: I really enjoy sports in general. That’s a huge passion. I love playing golf and racquetball. When I say sports — I’m a big college football and baseball fan. And we just signed and secured a deal with LSU’s baseball coach, Jay Johnson, making it the first-ever deal of its kind! We’re currently making a limited release, and it will be called the Jay Johnson Signature Series. It’s pin-striped, and the coach’s signature is on the box itself. So, for me, it merges two passions.

 

Follow Doug on Instagram and check out the latest from Bocock Cigars here.

Photo credit: Bocock Brothers Cigars

David Swinburne on Sans Pareil, smoking a cigar

Sans Pareil’s David Swinburne is Doing His Best to Create a Cigar Experience Without Equal

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As an investor and cigar lounge owner, David Swinburne has seen almost everything in the cigar world. However, his experience in the supply chain served him best in his role as CEO of Sans Pareil Cigars. David talked with Cigar Life Guy about the “intriguing” problems in creating a cigar from beginning to end, the beauty of simplicity, and his plans for Sans Pareil to go global.

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

David Swinburne: My first premium cigar experience was right after college when I started my supply chain career. It was a cigar shop in Midland, Michigan, and the owner handed me a Padron Natural 1964 Anniversary Series Torpedo. So, start me off with something fantastic (laughs). One thing that was extra special about this one was the age of the cigar. It was a box that had been aging for about five years. There was no turning back after my experience with that cigar. The nutty flavor and wood notes were remarkable. Age on a cigar allows flavors to come out while continuing to remove imperfections. The tasting notes of the cigar are no longer individual attributes but nuances of blended flavors. That cigar gave me an unforgettable smoking experience. I continue searching for cigars with unique and rare characteristics.

The Wide World of the Cigar Business

Cigar Life Guy: You’ve worked in various roles in the cigar industry. How did you get your start?

David Swinburne: I’ve been an investor in multiple ventures. I’ve done one in pipe tobacco, a supply chain consulting firm. Still, I immersed myself in the cigar industry while investing in a cigar retail lounge in Kansas City, La Cultura Cigar & Social. My business partner, Ben Gardner, and I wanted to provide Kansas City with a cigar lounge experience not found anywhere. We wanted to bring various tobaccos and not just legacy brands. There is a whole world of cigars that many cigar enthusiasts don’t know about. We also wanted to get a certain level of entertainment, rarely found in lounges. That includes billiard tables and an indoor putting green. You wouldn’t believe how many lounge members take conference calls while smoking a cigar and sinking a 10-foot putt (laughs).

The lounge opened in late 2018, and we just acquired a second shop, so there are two shops in Kansas City. The benefit of owning a lounge is understanding the customer journey firsthand. The lounges and retail shops are the foundation of our industry, and Sans Pareil truly values these relationships.

The venture that brings me the most joy is Sans Pareil. We have complex challenges like any cigar brand faces, but we have solved the most difficult one: making a fantastic cigar. The other challenges we face are supply chain, marketing, etc. The main reason I took a larger role in the company was my background in the supply chain. I have traveled globally, creating solutions for manufacturing plants to efficiently and cost-effectively bring products to market. It was the right time to become CEO when I heard feedback from customers explaining how much they enjoyed our cigars. I knew it was time to bring this cigar experience to more people.

David Swinburne: Sans Pareil Vision

Cigar Life Guy: You were recently named President and CEO at Sans Pareil. What is your vision for the company?

David Swinburne: COVID was difficult for all cigar makers, and Sans Pareil was no different. We had significant momentum, and then COVID hit stalling growth. Now that we’re out of COVID and in a better position with the supply chain, we are fortunate to expand the number of retailer partners.

The vision for the company is to continue growing in the United States, as it is the largest cigar market in the world. Sans Pareil’s goal is not to be in every retailer but to be in the right retailer who aligns with the goals and passion of the company and the cigars we create. We are growing our sales team to allow us to grow appropriately without compromising the quality of the cigars. Sans Pareil will grow selectively in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). When right, we will also expand in Asia Pacific (AP).

We are also looking to make a few changes on the marketing side. That will only enhance the smoking experience and allow Sans Pareil to be known more around the world. We will be looking for these changes as we implement them soon.

The Sans Pareil Brand

Cigar Life Guy: The name means “peerless, without equal.” Why is branding important to a cigar line, and how do you want the average smoker to perceive your brand?

David Swinburne: With the name of Sans Pareil, “without equal” means everything to us. Everything we do is to live up to that name. We don’t bring it to market if we cannot blend to the highest standard. It must be unique. It must be of the highest quality in every aspect. For instance, the tobacco Jochy Blanco, who manufactures our cigars out of Tabacalera Palma, reserves the top ten percent of tobacco yields for Sans Pareil. Someone must go through and sort these tobaccos just for us.

The tobacco age is also critical to the Sans Pareil experience. With the supply chain we have been building since 2017, all our tobaccos are aged well beyond 10 years, including the wrapper, binder, and filler, with multiple fermentations required in the processes. We call this putting the tobacco to sleep and only using it when the time is right. That allows us to remove many imperfections in “younger” cigars.

Tabalera Palma has some of the best rollers in the world, and Sans Pareil has access to them. We are blessed with highly talented individuals, which shows in our cigars’ construction. The best part is that the factory is entirely behind the brand. Everyone at the factory working on Sans Pareil projects highly supports what we are building. We cannot do it without them.

The Sans Pareil Portfolio

Cigar Life Guy: Tell us a little about the Sans Pareil portfolio.

David Swinburne: We currently have five lines: the Green, Blue, Purple, Red, and the recently re-released Gold. All these lines have unique characteristics which are pleasing to the discerning aficionado.

One thing Sans Pareil customers will experience with all our cigars is balance. There’s never “too much of this” or “a lot of that.” I compared it to the analogy of a Michelin star chef. If you taste something from a Michelin-star chef and say, “Oh, that’s a lot of garlic,” they probably didn’t do their best work. For Sans Pareil, it’s all about balance and looking for nuances across the entire cigar experience.

Challenges in the Cigar Industry

Cigar Life Guy: What is the cigar industry’s biggest challenge today?

David Swinburne: That’s an excellent question. You can take that question in many ways. When I think about the industry’s challenges, specifically Sans Pareil, it focuses on educating the retailer and their customers. What I mean by that is that there are so many different cigar brands on the market. Why should they select your brand? The number one advocate we have is the retailer and the tobacconist. We want to be able to partner with them so they can share the same experience they have with their customers. I can’t supply every single cigar shop with San Pareil. We don’t have the inventory due to the time required to age and the quality control we need. We select specific retailers who believe in what we’re doing and want to partner with us.

Embracing Cigar Culture

Cigar Life Guy: What makes cigar culture so unique?

David Swinburne: The cigar culture is the most unique industry I have worked in, and I can’t compare it to anything else. Cliché as it sounds, cigars are the ultimate equalizer. You share the same passion, no matter your background. You can if you want to sit down and talk with someone smoking a cigar. These conversations are priceless, and I have made dear lifelong friends because of cigars. I think that’s so important for the industry. We are all together in this group of lovers of the leaf.

Cigar Life Guy: Anything else you’d like the cigar world to know?

David Swinburne: Sans Pareil is exceptional due to the people behind the scenes of the project, the tobacco selected, the fermentation process, and the unique taste profile not found anywhere. If you find Sans Pareil at your tobacco retailer, I encourage you to take time to sit and enjoy the smoking experience. I promise it will be a smoking experience unlike any other you have had.

 

Follow David on Instagram and check out the latest from Sans Pareil here.

Photo credit: Sans Pareil

Christine Morgan smoking a cigar

Going Mobile With Christine Morgan

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Christine Morgan is the owner and founder of Lips Sticks and Fingertips. She has been living the cigar life and breaking barriers in the cigar industry for nearly a decade. Ever the businesswoman, she has learned she can’t be in two places at once. However, that hasn’t stopped her from sharing insights and welcoming newcomers to the cigar world. She talked to Cigar Life Guy about the draw of the camaraderie of cigar smokers, her thriving mobile lounge business, and how there’s room for everyone in the world of cigars.

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Christine Morgan: My first premium cigar experience was in 2013 in New Orleans. I was with a client, celebrating a successful business connection. The atmosphere was vibrant, with the sounds of jazz music. We chose a cigar lounge that had an impressive selection of cigars. I remember the anticipation; my first cigar was Rocky Patel Sungrown, and the unique ambiance of New Orleans enhanced my experience even more.

The Cigar Community

Cigar Life Guy: What drew you to the cigar culture, and what are your favorite aspects of the cigar community?

Christine Morgan: The cigar culture drew me to it with the opportunity to make business connections while enjoying a premium cigar. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate the camaraderie within the community and the wealth of cigar education available, which has deepened my appreciation for cigar culture overall.

Mobile Cigar Lounges

Cigar Life Guy: You are one of if not the first owners of a mobile lounge. What gave you the idea, and have you found that competitors are catching on?

Christine Morgan: While I’d love to claim the title of the first mobile cigar lounge owner, I drew inspiration from a few existing lounges that motivated me to create my unique concept. Since launching, I’ve seen numerous other mobile lounges emerge and had the pleasure of helping many of them along the way. It’s great to see others catching on to this trend—there’s plenty of room in the industry for everyone, and I’m always happy to share insights!

Christine Morgan: Cigar Events

Cigar Life Guy: You advertise wedding packages. Tell us a bit about what it’s like blending two niche markets.

Christine Morgan: Blending cigars with weddings has become increasingly popular, as it offers a unique experience tailored for the groom and his friends. While weddings often focus on the bride, incorporating a cigar element makes the groom feel included and appreciated. It adds a special touch to the celebration, ensuring that everyone feels considered and can enjoy a memorable moment together.

Cigar Life Guy: What other kinds of events do people book the mobile lounge for?

Christine Morgan: Our mobile lounge is versatile. You can be it for a variety of events! People often choose it for birthday parties, retirement celebrations, family reunions, graduations, and just-because parties. It’s also perfect for girls’ nights out and bachelorette and bachelor parties, providing a unique experience for any occasion.

Cigar Life Guy: Women in the cigar industry are often overlooked. What advice would you give to women entering the industry and women who smoke cigars?

Christine Morgan: Women in the cigar industry bring a valuable perspective others often overlook. I advise those entering the field to embrace their passion and confidence. For women who smoke cigars, I encourage them to connect with others who share their interests, whether through lounges, events, or social media—our voice and presence in the industry matter. Together, we can help foster a more inclusive environment for everyone.

Challenges in the Cigar Industry and Passions Outside of It

Cigar Life Guy: What is your biggest challenge in the cigar industry?

Christine Morgan: The biggest challenge I’ve faced in the cigar industry is limitations — not being in two places at once. With so many events and opportunities to connect with customers, it can be tough to juggle everything effectively. However, I’ve learned to prioritize and delegate when possible, ensuring that I can still provide the best experience for everyone involved.

Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars that people would not know about you?

Christine Morgan: One of my passions outside of cigars that people might not know about is arts and crafts. Whether it’s painting, DIY crafts, or other artistic endeavors, I love expressing my creativity through various projects. It’s a great way to relax and unwind while exploring new ideas and techniques.

 

Follow Christine on Instagram and check out the latest from Lips Sticks and Fingertips here

 

Photo credit: Life Print Photography | Miranda Malone

Steve Bartell smoking a cigar

Molon Labe’s Steve Bartell is “All-In”

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People called Steve Bartell crazy for getting into the cigar business. Still, when you have lived the cigar life since childhood, it’s anything but crazy. Bartell — owner and president of Molon Labe Cigars — is all in and has an “intent” to make his brand global. He talked with Cigar Life Guy about his start in the business and how he went from selling cigars on the Internet to building a line that has perfected the “trifecta” — pairing in-house coffee and whiskey exclusively to Molon Labe’s cigar portfolio.

First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience

Steve Bartell: It’s funny because I was telling this story to one of my customers. My grandfather was a cigar smoker and used to sit under grapes — he had a grape arbor in the back of his house — with a cigar and homemade wine. And I remember loving the smell as a little kid. He’d let me puff off his cigar as a kid, so I learned to love it.

Fast forward to when I was about 18 years old and in college, and I was fortunate enough that my first real cigar experience was smoking an authentic Cuban cigar, a Romeo and Julieta Vintage III. One cigar and I was hooked. From that moment on, I loved smoking excellent cigars. So, I started smoking cigars at a reasonably young age.

As I got older, I joined a cigar club. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, in my twenties. I don’t know if you know Varton of Ambassador Cigar in Scottsdale, but I joined the VIP program and was the youngest guy by twenty-five years. He took me under his wing with all the old-timers in the backroom in the VIP lounge. So I got to smoke a lot of great cigars as a young man. I was introduced to some rare limited-edition cigars and started working through the premium brands in the humidor. That was the beginning for me.

Getting into the Cigar Business

Cigar Life Guy: You have been smoking cigars for a long time. How did you get into the cigar industry? What did you do before, and how does it help inform what you do now?

Steve Bartell: I was in the tech business for 35 years, so I never intended to get into the cigar business. I love cigars, and I got to smoke many great cigars with my customers while in tech and traveling worldwide. When I was fifty, I ran into a family that owned some land and was growing and making these fantastic cigars. I had been smoking the cigars for five years and loved them so much I went to the family and told them I’d like to make a brand out of it — a limited edition, reserve brand. So, it started as a pet project — a passion project for cigars.

That’s what got me into the business. That was Molon Labe. The Molon Labe brand started eight years ago but entered the market five years ago, and it was a limited reserve. We had five vitolos, all the same blend — a true puro.

Nowadays, that word is a bit bastardized. “Puro” to Cuban means it all comes from the same field, not the same country. So I found a true puro that all came from the same field. It was a fantastic cigar, and I built a brand around it. So now it’s Molon Labe. We only sold it over the Internet, and we only made 500 boxes of each Vitolo. Every year, we sold out. People loved the cigar. And that’s what got me into the next generation of where I am today.

What Sets Molon Labe Apart

Cigar Life Guy: You never intended to have your own brand. What makes Molon Labe different?

Steve Bartell: There’s a lot of things that make it different, so I’ll give the top five. One, it’s a puro. So, all of the binders and fillers of that cigar come from the same field. Second, the wrapper is anywhere between a twelve and fifteen-year Habano out of Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

What makes it unique is that it’s Habano and Connecticut because it’s grown in the U.S. The third thing is it’s one hundred percent organic. So there’s no pesticide in the leaves and no fertilizer in the ground. The fourth thing is the experience you get from smoking a cigar. It’s unlike any cigar in any humidor you walk into.

The last thing is that it’s a limited reserve. We only make 3,000 boxes yearly, and that’s it. It’s very old-school. It’s very artisanal. When you look at them, they’re not beautiful. They’re not perfect. They don’t replicate each other. They’re all unique.

Challenges and Regulation in the Cigar Industry

Cigar Life Guy: What is the biggest challenge facing the cigar industry?

Steve Bartell: The first thing is regulation. The industry is constantly under attack. It makes it harder and harder for retailers to survive. The other thing is that I don’t think people realize what goes into bringing a cigar to market. It isn’t easy. It’s not a matter of slapping your band on a cigar and having a box. That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting the cigar to the market and getting the market to respect it. That’s why we kept Molon Labe as our legacy. It really ties back to the Cuban legacy from which it was born.

It’s a complex industry. I always thought it was a huge industry, but it’s not. It’s small. Compared to most industries, it’s small. It’s global in nature, but it’s a small industry. It takes a lot to grow your business. It takes a lot of evangelizing, trial and error, and intestinal fortitude to overcome all the obstacles thrown at you when bringing a cigar to market. There’s production, boxes, pricing, marketing, and then just getting the cigar out there.

The Molon Labe Portfolio

Cigar Life Guy: Tell us a little about the Molon Labe Portfolio.

Steve Bartell: We sold out our Molon Labe Reserve over the Internet. We were an internet-only business for the first three years. Last year, in 2023, I acquired a company from a friend who owned a cigar business. He was a Cuban gentleman who lived in Miami.

My friend did something similar: He had a pet project that turned into a passion project that allowed him to sell cigars in about 80 to 85 stores in Miami, and he made a great cigar — two lines of cigars. Additionally, he had a factory in Nicaragua and a factory in the Dominican Republic. The brand was called Fuera de Serie — FDS is what we call it for short. It means “out of this world” in Cuban.

My friend grew the business about as far as he could. He did it all by hand-to-hand combat in probably the most challenging market in the United States. He became a very good friend of mine. I loved his cigars. I opened a lounge up here in New Hampshire and started carrying those cigars because you couldn’t find them North of Miami. They just took off. I couldn’t keep them in stock. Everybody loved them. Even today, two years later, it’s the number two-selling cigar in my lounge.

We have a Dominican line, and an Ecuadorian Connecticut with Dominican binder and filler that we grow in Tamboril on our farm. We have an Ecuadorian Habano with a Dominican binder and filler that we grow in the Dominican Republic. Then we have a San Andres Maduro that we also grow in the Dominican Republic. We released those in a toro and robusto. Then we created a mini figurado in a Habana and Maduro, unlike anything on the market. It’s very similar to the Short Story in looks, but we have it in a Maduro, which is unusual.

Then, for our Nicaraguan line, we buy tobacco. We have great relationships with our tobacco growers due to personal relationships between our master blender and his father — Ostvani and Luis Hernadez. Ostvani was one of the original farmers and overseers of Aganorsa Farms. So we procure our tobacco from Aganorsa Farms — EJ Fernadez and Placencia. We only use Grade A, pick the very best tobacco from those farms, and we hand-select everything that we buy.

Our Nicaraguan cigars only come in Toro. It is a USA Connecticut. It’s an Ecuadorian Habano and it’s a San Andres Maduro. We call the Nicaraguan Maduro “Chocolate Cake,” and we call the Dominican Maduro “Chocolate Brownies” because the Nicaraguan is light and airy.

The Dominican Maduro is very heavy — thick and chocolatey with a back note of pepper spice. We released our Nicaraguan Habano in January as a 60-guage Gordo. I would put that Gordo against any Habano on the market. It is absolutely fantastic.

We acquired the company in November of 2023. My partner was retiring from the business but didn’t want to just turn the company over to anybody. I offered him to buy the company, and he told me I was the only person he would sell to. So, I bought the company in November of 2023 to take the entire line global.

In January of 2024, we launched Molon Labe Cigars, including Molon Labe Reserve, our Dominican line, and our Nicaraguan line. We currently have 106 stores in six countries, and we are growing. I would say that we are the fastest-growing brand in America right now.

The cigars do very well, and I think that‘s because of several things. The quality of the tobacco is amazing, the construction is second to none, and the price point is fantastic. The retail price of the Dominican cigars is $10.50. The retail price of Nicaraguan is $11, the Gordo is $12, and the mini smokes is $7.50. I would put that up against any $15 or $20 cigar for the quality of the cigar you get.

Coffee, Cigars, and Spirits

Cigar Life Guy: Molon Labe also makes organic coffee. Why does coffee pair so well with cigars?

Steve Bartell: Part of my journey with Molon Labe was creating a cigar experience. I had the Reserve Cigar, and it was phenomenal, but I didn’t want to go out and sell a cigar on its merits. I think a cigar should stand on its own, but I didn’t want to generalize and say, “This cigar goes great with coffee.”

Coffee is like cigars — they’re not all good. So, I went on a journey to source coffee. I worked with 120 different coffees to get to five that explicitly paired with our cigars. Our website talks about perfect pairings, and those perfect pairings are our cigars with our coffee and our whiskey. We did the same thing with whiskey.

Our cigar company is New Hampshire-based and Miami-based. All of our coffees are roasted locally, and we select the top one percent of coffee beans and grow organically. We have the Soprano, which is a dark Italian roast. We have Death by Chocolate, a dark Italian roast with a back flavor of dark chocolate. The Sumatra is an Indonesian coffee-French roast with very low acid and goes excellent that cigar. We have a Nicaraguan blend, grown an hour from our factory. Then we have a Creme Brulee, which is a flavored coffee.

Toward the end of 2023, we went through a similar exercise to find a reasonably sourced distillery that could make five blended spirits that go specifically with our cigars. Not just a general — “This is Whistlepig or Woodford Reserve.”

All of the products that go in the bottle are organic and grown in New Hampshire. So all the corn, all the wheat, all the rye, everything that goes into that bottle is locally grown. We’re launching that spirit line officially at the end of this month. They’re amazing. They’re taking the market by storm. So when we do a cigar event, we bring the trifecta. We bring the cigars, coffee, whiskey, and rum. We start with the whiskey and rum, go to the cigars, and finish with the coffee. The response is overwhelming.

The ASH Cigar Lounge Difference

Cigar Life Guy: You also run the ASH cigar lounge. What sets it apart from other lounges?

Steve Bartell: A couple of things set us apart. One is service. We provide incredible service — whether at the bar or in the humidor — for pairing cigars with people’s palates and with the right drink. Additionally, we also serve my coffee. In fact, we have a full-service coffee bar in the lounge, and we pair a lot of coffees.

Looking Ahead with Steve Bartell and Molon Labe

Cigar Life Guy: Anything else you’d like the cigar world to know?

Steve Bartell: If you haven’t tried Molon Labe, you definitely need to try it. As I said, we are the fastest-growing brand in the U.S. We have reps up and down the East Coast. We’re in Florida, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and New England. Soon, we’ll also be in other major markets down the East Coast.

We come to market with something that nobody else in this business comes with. There are a lot of cigar companies that have a coffee or coffee “partner” or a whiskey “partner” or do a pairing with a particular whisky company. Nobody has done it with intention. In other words, nobody has it all together as a package and says, “Hey, try these things together to elevate your experience.”

For us, it’s about the experience. We put a lot of thought into manufacturing our products. Many cigar companies come out with whiskey, but it’s a whiskey that they’re putting their label on and calling it their own. These things are all ours. We control all of it. It’s done with intention, and that’s what sets us apart. I don’t think anybody in the cigar industry is doing that.

We help lounges sell cigars, whiskey, and coffee, promote it on our own site, promote it nationally, and promote with as many events as needed to help that lounge be successful. If you’re successful, we’re successful. And we support the communities that we serve.

We try to tie to local events and charitable organizations in our marketplaces. We raise money for drug addiction, hospitals, veterans, and underprivileged kids getting into business. That’s the thing I’m most proud of. People tell me I’m crazy for getting into this business at my age, but my goal is to build a company that gives back. My goal is to be successful enough to devote resources to the people most need it.

 

Follow Steve and Molon Labe Cigars on Instagram and check out the latest from Molon Labe Cigars here.

Jon Simons smoking a cigar in a car.

Jon Simons of Warfighter Tobacco Co. is Having Fun

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Jon Simons tasted his first premium cigar as a teenager, and after eight and a half years as Vice President of Warfighter Tobacco Co., he has never stopped learning. He and his partners are ex-military; today’s Warfighter remains their primary focus. Simons spoke to Cigar Life Guy about the company’s recent rebranding, the similarities between the military and the cigar community, and how the Warfighter Cigar Co. is here to stay.

Jon Simons’ First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Jon Simons: This one might get me in trouble (laughs). My first premium cigar experience was when I was thirteen or fourteen. It was my good buddy’s older brother, who drove a Buick Grand National. I thought that was the coolest car in the world at the time.

He said he was going to the local cigar shop to get some cigars and asked us if we wanted any. So we scrounged our dollar bills and quarters together and gave him some cash. We had no idea what we were getting. He ended up getting me a Montecristo. I don’t remember the actual cigar, but I remember the brand. So we sat in his driveway next to his Buick Grand National, and I smoked the cigar.  I had no idea if it was good or bad or if I did it right(laughs). That was my first experience with a premium cigar.

I didn’t learn anything until probably my early twenties. Then I realized there’s more than just a cigar. All different sizes and regions are where tobacco is grown. That’s when I started to figure it out.

The Military and Cigars

Cigar Life Guy: How did you get into the cigar industry? Aside from being ex-military, what did you do before, and how does it help inform what you do with Warfighter Tobacco Co.?

Jon Simons: We were all military guys, but Warfighter Scott owned a gun store immediately before we started. I worked there with him, and we sold retail cigars to supplement the gun store. A lot of “gun guys” are “cigar guys.” That gave us more knowledge from the retail side. We looked at all the brands we carried — what they did great and what they didn’t do.

We incorporated much of the branding into what we do now — packaging, how it displays, UPCs, and everything else. Before that, I dabbled in many different industries, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Throughout everything I’ve done, I’ve learned bits and pieces from each sector I was in and brought that into cigars.

Cigar Life Guy: You have a great rapport with your partners. How is the camaraderie of the military similar to the cigar community?

Jon Simons: It’s very close. The reason I say that it’s close is that you can walk into a cigar lounge, not know anybody there, and within ten minutes, you could be cracking jokes. People are talking trash back and forth. None of it is malicious. It’s more about having a good time. In the military, it’s similar to that. You don’t know who you’re talking to at first, but you’re joking together after ten minutes. So it’s a direct correlation.

Warfighter Branding

Cigar Life Guy: You are a proud veteran-owned company. What do you want the cigar community to know about you and your products?

Jon Simons: We created a new sign we’re sending out to all our shops. The sign says, “Probably the best cigars”(laughs). We focus on getting the highest quality tobacco to put out the best blends we can do, but we also like to have fun with it. If you can’t have fun with what you do, what’s the point of doing it?

Cigar Life Guy: You have distinct branding. How do you want consumers to perceive your brand?

Jon Simons: The easiest way is what we put on the website when we started the company. We’re not heroes, but we got to serve with some of them. We got to stand in the shadows of giants. We could have named it “Scott Jansen Cigars” or “Jon Simons Cigars,” but we wanted to build something bigger than us. That’s why it’s “Warfighter Tobacco.”

Today’s Warfighter is the focus of everything that we want. Whether it’s them using that cigar to break that barrier and open that conversation or talking with other people and feeling a sense of community, we also do some charity stuff. We help out the active duty guys and the veterans. So, in both senses, that’s the essence of what our company is.

Warfighter Tobacco Co. Portfolio

Cigar Life Guy: Tell Us a little about the Warfighter Tobacco Co. portfolio.

Jon Simons: Right now, we technically have nine blends out. We had ten, but we are rebranding one of them right now. Hopefully, that will be out by the end of this year, if not next year.

Outside of that, we have our Field and Garrison lines. That’s our core six different blends of cigars.  In the Field line, we have a 5×6 Field Connecticut, a 7.62 Field Sumatra, and a .50 Cal Field Maduro, which is more of a medium-bodied maduro. We have a Corojo, a Rosado, and an Oscuro Maduro on the Garrison side. That Oscuro is going to be our boldest cigar. Out of our offerings, it’s the boldest. Then we do specialty cigars.

We just released a cigar called The Night Shift, which has gone over phenomenally. It has very different flavor notes than anything we’ve ever done. We put a little Candela ring on the cigar cap as a bit of homage to the green glow of the night vision. We have our Victory Cigar, a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper with Nicaraguan filler. That’s our super premium. It retails for $17.76 because that’s the price of freedom.

The last one we call The Dumpster Fire Cigar. We believe in truth in marketing (laughs). So, our Dumpster Fire is our version of a Cuban sandwich. We use the trimmings from our core line. We add a couple of long pieces — more extended filler — inside to help with its construction and a nice Habano wrapper. It’s more of our everyday smoke, economic cigar, or whatever you want. It retails for about six dollars, but it’s a phenomenal cigar for a Cuban sandwich or mixed filler. We have people tell us all the time how much they love it, and I’m like, “Dude, if you smoke two back to back, you might feel a little different” (laughs).

The Future of Warfighter and Cigar Accessories

Cigar Life Guy: Warfighter Tobacco Co. sells humidors, apparel, accessories, and cigars. What else can the cigar world expect from Warfighter in the future?

Jon Simons: We’re constantly working on new blends, and we do have a rebranding in the works right now. We started about eight and a half years ago, but we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Over time and learning, we realized our original band designs worked well, but they didn’t have all the information we wanted. We did a slight redesign, kept all the blends the same, and didn’t change the tobacco blends or anything like that. We just changed the bands and the boxes. It’s a little more clarity for the consumer. Now, it has the leaf on the band, whereas before, it was only on the box. The boxes have a little more information on them as well. We’re finalizing everything, and they should start trickling out to dealers soon.

Jon Simons: Final Words on the Future

Cigar Life Guy: Anything else you would like the cigar world to know

Jon Simons: We’re not going anywhere (laughs). The cigar industry is exciting. When we first started and we were going to trade shows, we had people that would ask, “How old are you guys?” Then, in our second year, they would say, “Ok, after year three, talk to us, and we’ll start picking up your line.” They were like, “Cigar companies come and go. We don’t want to get behind a brand that isn’t going to be around.”

At this last show, I told a retailer that it was our eighth year in business, and he said, “Alright, two more years and it’ll be ten years in business, and you’ll be an overnight success in this industry.”(laughs). We’re infants in the cigar world. Some companies have been around for 80, 100, 150 years.

We’re eight and a half and have no plans of going anywhere. Being on the prior military side of everything, once we started going down the rathole and started learning about things that piqued our interest, it was something we loved and wanted to keep doing. There isn’t anything that’s going to prevent us from learning and making the best product we can make.

Follow Jon on Instagram and check out the latest from Warfighter Tobacco Co. here.

 

Photo credit: Jon Simons

Reinier Lorenzo holding a cigar

Reinier Lorenzo of HVC Cigars is Always Learning

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Growing up in Cuba, there is probably no avoiding the cigar culture, but Reinier Lorenzo, founder of HVC Cigars, studied medicine before he studied cigars. After nearly twenty years in the cigar business, Lorenzo continues to create new blends and pay homage to Havana City. He spoke to Cigar Life Guy about getting his start, the recipe of a perfect cigar, and his plans to keep HVC Cigars selling like pan caliente.

Reinier Lorenzo: First Premium Cigar Experience

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.

Reinier Lorenzo: I was living in Havana, Cuba. I was probably around eighteen or nineteen, and it was the Cohiba Siglo VI. I wasn’t in the cigar business when I was in Cuba — I was in medical school. It was at a family friend’s party. The Cohiba Siglo VI came out around 2004, and a guy passed a box around. I knew nothing about cigars, but when I smoked it, I was like, “That feels good”! (laughs)

Cigar Culture and Blending the Perfect Cigar

Cigar Life Guy: You are originally from Cuba, so there was probably no escaping cigar culture, but tell us how you got your start and what drew you to the cigar industry and culture.

Reinier Lorenzo: When I left Cuba in 2008, my family worked for Tropical Tobacco in Miami. In 2009, the owner of Aganorsa (Eduardo Fernandez) invited me to Nicaragua. He showed me the process and what they do with the cigars from start to finish. That was the moment that grabbed me. When something makes you say,  “This is incredible.” Little by little, you have something inside of you. I stopped and said, ”I must do something because I enjoy this so much.” That’s when I started my business, HVC Cigars, in 2011.

Cigar Life Guy: What should the average cigar smoker know about blending? How can it help them appreciate a premium cigar?

Reinier Lorenzo: People have to know. For example, I love to cook, right? When you cook, you have a recipe. If you don’t have a recipe, making a really good dish would be impossible. Cigars are the same thing. It’s a recipe. It’s not just putting in tobacco because you want to put in tobacco. You have to know the family and the leaf. You have to know what farm gives you more flavor. When you have the perfect recipe for a cigar, you get a cigar that’s really, really good. When you know the tobacco for a blend, you get a winner. You have to know tobacco, and that takes years. I was blessed and fortunate to be around guys with much experience. I was always learning.

Keeping Cigar Tradition Alive

Cigar Life Guy: Why is keeping the cigar tradition alive vital, and how do you merge it with new ideas and blends?

Reinier Lorenzo: When you think about cigars, they are relaxing. Cigars are my business, but it’s really a leisurely thing you want to share with friends. You want to sit down. You want to have a drink, and you want to have a cigar. Let me relax. Let me have a conversation. That’s why I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. When I started smoking, I started smoking cigars. It’s also the culture around cigars. Let me share it with friends. It’s a beautiful thing.

For the blending process– I don’t blend cigars for people. I blend cigars for myself. What I mean is when I blend a cigar, I’m looking for four things: flavor, balance, construction, and a clean finish. If you give me a cigar with those four characteristics, I will love it. How can I create something I don’t love? I always want to share something that I really enjoy. We came out with new packaging in the last year and a half. We were thinking about how to gain more attention in the humidors -humidors are like real estate.  The packaging is a minor detail for us as a new cigar company on the way up. You can have the best packaging in the world, but if the cigar is no good, people won’t rebuy it.

Reinier Lorenzo and HVC Cigars

Cigar Life Guy: Tell us about the HVC portfolio.

Reinier Lorenzo: We’ve been around for thirteen years now. Our cigars had to be attached to where I come from, Havana City. You can’t find a really mild cigar with our blends. Everything is medium or medium-full-bodied, rich with a lot of flavor- that’s the most important thing for me. It’s flavor. You give me something with flavor, I’ll be smoking all day long.

With our portfolio, many people said, “You’re crazy! How can you come out with ‘Hot Cake’?”. I said, “What do you mean? It’s going to be a hit”. That cigar got made because we owned the name “Pan Caliente.” When a product sells really fast in Cuba, they say, “That sells like pan Caliente (hot cake)”- selling like hot cakes. When I trademarked the Pan Caliente, we trademarked “Hot Cake” as well. That’s the best-selling cigar in our portfolio. People love it.

The other crazy product that we have is Black Friday. In 2015, I called my lawyer and asked if I could trademark “Black Friday.” The concept behind Black Friday is that I give you a unique product every year. We never replicate those blends.  It’s always a new blend in a new size. We sell that blend for less than ten dollars. So what does that mean? That’s my way of saying thank you to all the consumers and retailers who have supported us. It’s something so unique and so special at a great price point.

Reinier Lorenzo: Favorite Part of Cigar Life

Cigar Life Guy: What is your favorite aspect of cigar life?

Reinier Lorenzo: That’s a really good question. The most essential part of cigar life is the people around you- those with whom you share cigars. But sometimes I want to be by myself. I want to be intimate with the cigar. Just yesterday, I was smoking a Hot Cake Robusto by myself. I was enjoying that moment. It was a moment with just me and the cigar. I was paying attention to all of the flavors. All the beauty of making a cigar was there, right? There was nothing but me and the cigar.

As I said before, the other part is when I am with friends, conversing and sharing a cigar. It’s a beautiful moment as well.

The Future of HVC Cigars and Reinier Lorenzo

Cigar Life Guy: Anything else the cigar world should know, and what can we expect from HVC in the future?

Reinier Lorenzo: We are always working. There’s a new blend that we’re testing out, and we want to bring it out soon. For us, it’s always about working and improving. We try to put out the best we have. It’s a family business. When people buy HVC Cigars and say, “Hey, I love your blends,” To me, that’s the jackpot.

Follow Reinier and HVC Cigars on Instagram

Photo credit: HVC Cigars

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