Holly Primc, owner of Crown Majesty Cigars, “knows her shit.” The former teacher and Certified Cigar Sommelier has been living the cigar life long enough to know she still loves learning. She talked to Cigar Life Guy about how cigars are the perfect blend of her two favorite things, how cigar memes get it wrong, and how she plans to grow her brand one cigar lounge at a time.
Holly Primc’s First Premium Cigar Experience
Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.
Holly Primc: I can honestly tell you I can’t answer that question simply because I don’t remember (laughs). So, I apologize. I wouldn’t be able to even try. I can tell you this: I’ve been smoking cigars — premium cigars, let me be careful there — regularly for eleven or twelve years. Beyond that, at least another decade where I was smoking once in a while.
I became serious about five years ago. When I say serious, it was really about not just smoking once a week but learning, reading, teaching myself, and getting my hands on everything I could to learn about cigars. So, I don’t have a specific cigar that stuck in my brain or made me say, “Ok, this is it for life.” It was just the smell of cigar smoke. I knew I’d be doing it forever.
Chemistry and Cigars
Cigar Life Guy: You are a Certified Cigar Commelier. Explain the process, what attracted you to the cigar world, and how you started.
Holly Primc: As a sommelier, that was one more step to take because I had my own brand. If that makes sense, I wanted to have the education to back up my brand.
To be honest, being a woman in the cigar industry is a little more challenging. I don’t mind because I love a challenge. But for me, having that certification made me more comfortable. “Yes, I’m a female. Yes, I’m a cigar brand owner. And yes, I know my shit!” (laughs)
Also, I am absolutely in love with education. I love educating myself. I love learning. Every day, I want to learn something new. Recently, I applied — I have yet to start the course — but I will become an official cigar sommelier. So, it’s not just the certified tobacconist sommelier but an actual cigar sommelier. I’m excited about that.
From Chemistry and Biology to Cigar Life
Cigar Life Guy: Your background is in chemistry and biology. How does that help inform your work in the tobacco industry?
Holly Primc: I used to be a teacher, but I did have a career before teaching, and that’s always been in the chemistry science field. As a teacher, I loved implementing the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) mentality — so having art and science meld perfectly. It wasn’t just that, but it was also engaging my students.
Teachers would walk by my class, and my students were dying laughing all the time. Every week, this would happen because we were having fun. That’s what life is all about. It’s about learning and having fun. I apologize for the rambling; there is a reason.
When I look at the cigar industry, it dawned on me one day when I did the Perdomo tour that cigars perfectly blend science and art. It’s all about the flavor profiles and understanding what mixes with what flavor-wise, but you have to know the leaves and the soil. You have to know where it’s being grown and the amount of light and the amount of water. That’s all science. So it’s a perfect mix of my two favorite things. I love that I get to be a part of that.
Holly Primc: Launching Crown Majesty Portfolio
Cigar Life Guy: You launched your company in 2021. Walk us through some of the cigars in your portfolio.
Holly Primc: Absolutely. So, initially, when I started, I had just the four blends. I did everything theme-wise. Of course, I’m Crown Majesty Cigars, so I have the King, the Queen, the Prince, and the Knight.
My goal for my cigars was to have great flavor and phenomenal transitions between each third. One of the keys for me was to keep the Ligero low for obvious reasons, the high nicotine. I just can’t do nicotine. So I found a blender willing to work with me and say, “Yeah, we can stay away from the Ligero; It’s not a problem,” and to work with me through the entire flavor profile. It has been a phenomenal experience.
Now I have five blends. My goal is to have a cigar for every palate. You can tell me, “I love the light-to-medium cigars, and I really like this sort of flavor profile,” I would immediately go to my Prince and Duke. My Prince is a Connecticut shade. My Duke is a Sumatran. They have amazing flavors. That was something I had to have for my brand. Then I have a full body that I do. It’s a San Andres. Then I have a medium-bodied Habano and a Cameroon.
The Cigar Family
Cigar Life Guy: What is your favorite aspect of the cigar community?
Holly Primc: The family. One hundred percent. I don’t even have to think about that. Being able to walk into any lounge feels like I’m home. It doesn’t matter what lounge I’m in. I always feel like I’m home. Some of the more modern “nightclub-ish” lounges may not be home for me, but pretty much all of the rest(laughs).
I love that I can start a conversation with anyone in that room, and they will engage. We’ll talk cigars, and we’ll talk about life. Again, it’s a learning thing for me. I always learn something when I’m talking to people because of cigars.
Cigars are the easiest way to mix an incredibly different mix of humans. They all have one major commonality — cigars. So that’s another thing I love. I love my cigar family. They’re life. They’re everything to me.
Holly Primc on Cigar Industry Challenges
Cigar Life Guy: What is the cigar industry’s biggest challenge today?
Holly Primc: Politics. Excuse me, let’s try that again — politicians (laughs). It’s a mix of a few things, in my opinion.
We have little to no scientific studies done. We have no long-term scientific studies done. But we have politicians saying, “Oh, these are terrible for you because everything else you smoke is terrible for you.“ I just look at them and think, do you know what a scientific study is? Do you know that we don’t have any? I mean no long-term studies, at least to my knowledge. I’ve checked. I check every couple of months to see if anything else has been done.
The problem with ignorance and science is that they believe that simply by smoking, you’re going to hurt yourself in some way via health. I get so frustrated by that because I don’t think that ignorance and science should be making decisions for my life or anyone else’s life in our country. Their ignorance certainly shouldn’t be making the laws that affect me.
I am not throwing all politicians in the ignorant bucket. I apologize if it sounds that way. That’s not my goal, but the lack of science and the ignorant ideologies are a lethal combination to the cigar industry.
Women in the Cigar Industry
Cigar Life Guy: Women in the cigar industry are sometimes overlooked. What advice would you give to women entering the industry and women who smoke cigars?
Holly Primc: Just be yourself. I had a conversation with a friend last night about this exact same thing. It’s about being authentic. Don’t allow anyone to intimidate you. No matter where you go. No matter what you do. Be your true self. Be true to the industry. Always show support, even when it might not be perfect, and support what you can.
I have smoked so many cigars that sometimes I ask, “Wow, how did this get out to the market?“ And then, I quickly remind myself, “Holly, this is your palate. Just because you love a medium to full and you don’t like nicotine doesn’t mean everyone feels the same.“
Every cigar you smoke is going to need to meet your palate. Honestly, not all cigars are going to be good. So, of course, I hold relatively tight to the adage, “Life is too short to smoke shitty cigars.“
We’ll do just fine for women since we are the third fastest-growing group getting into the cigar industry. The more women I talk to and try to quit smoking, the more positivity that I hear. I love that. In fact, I just got a job at my local lounge here in Punta Gorda, and I’m loving it. I feel like when I go to work, I go home.
I’m also part of a women’s group on Facebook. They mentioned doing a book club and needing a venue. I said, “If you’re interested, we have a cigar lounge.“ Now, we’re going to be hosting a women’s book club. So those are just little ways to get women more involved.
My goal as a tobacconist sommelier is to teach them so that they can feel confident. I have talked to women who say, “The only real reason I haven’t tried cigars is because I was so intimidated when I walked into a lounge.“ And I am like, “Girl, let me help you out. Let me teach you everything I know.”
It’s beautiful because we are getting bigger and bigger in the industry. Our money matters. I see anti-female memes all the time. The “My wife takes all the money and only gives me this much for cigars har har har.” I see them almost daily in the cigar industry. So, I tend to politely call that out because it’s my job to fight for the women in our industry.
I will say this: men need to be more supportive of more women joining the industry. They need to pay attention to what they’re putting out there, and they need to pay attention to the fact that we make and spend money.
Women have knowledge and the ability to read and to learn. We are a huge part of this industry. so, the more men that respect and accept us and acknowledge that we matter, the better. That’s a big part of it.
The irony is that in my house, it’s the opposite! My husband always tells me, “Holly, you don’t need any more cigars!“ (laughs). So I look at those memes and think that’s ironic.
Looking Ahead with Holly Primc
Cigar Life Guy: What else can we expect from Crown Majesty Cigars?
Holly Primc: It’s about growing the brand. I’m taking things slowly, mainly because of the move. We took about two months to move, which is pretty insane.
I want to start getting into lounges. Right now, it’s so easy for me to sell directly to consumers, especially where I was living in Central Florida. I was doing events at least twice a month. Now that I’m in Southwest Florida, it’s a completely different ball of wax. I’m trying to find my way here. They don’t have the same event schedules, and they don’t do the same things they do in Central Florida, where I’m from.
I am figuring out a better way to sell directly to consumers. Of course, I have my website, crownmajesty.com. I also want to beef up social media and get into more lounges. So, once I get everything settled here, the plan is lounge, lounge, and more lounge.
Follow Holly on Instagram and check out the latest from Crown Majesty Cigars here.
Photo credit: Holly Primc