A true sense of “community” is about supporting each other and giving back. No one knows that better than Ron Smith, founder and CEO of Dallas Leaf LLC. What started as a small cigar club has evolved into several subsidiaries that sponsor events, support Black-owned businesses, and provide for charities. Smith talked to Cigar Life Guy about his start in the industry, the Dallas Leaf Cigar portfolio, the legendary cigar crawl, and having fun living the cigar life.
First Premium Cigar & Starting in the Cigar Industry
Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.
Ron Smith: Partagas Black Label, which was back in 2000. I was on assignment in San Diego, Gaslamp Quarter, and my co-workers took me to lunch. It was a spot that allowed cigar smoking. Back then, places like that were few and far between. I had a glass of port wine with lunch and a cigar. It made me sick. But after that, I was hooked. I still smoke that cigar. It reminded me of one of my favorites.
Cigar Life Guy: How did you get involved in the cigar industry? What did you do before, and how does it help inform what you do now?
Ron Smith: I’ve always loved cigars, but it wasn’t until I branched off from being a co-founder of RawBones Dominoes that I really started thinking,” Hey, I can really get into the cigar culture.” That was back in 2018. In 2019, I began Dallas Leaf Cigar Club with about eight people because we wanted to attend Black Smoke Miami as a cigar club. My vision was always to do more than be in a club. Once I set up the LLC, I created several subsidiaries and attached them to Dallas Leaf LLC. At that time, Dallas Leaf Cigars was our primary focus, but Dallas Leaf Foundation is my true baby. We also have Dallas Leaf Entertainment and Dallas Leaf Mega Cigar Event.
Committed to Giving Back
Cigar Life Guy: Dallas Leaf LLC is committed to giving back to the community by supporting local charities and minority-owned businesses. Can you tell us a little more about this mission?
Ron Smith: Dallas Leaf Foundation is the cornerstone for what we do in the community. Our motto is “Support Is Free”. We give back monetarily and support several community-based activities such as food drives, clothes drives, school backpack drives, and giveaways.
Jaxon “Mr. President” Turner, the proud owner of Never 2 Young 2 Care Charity here in Dallas, changed how I looked at charity and motivated me to help others. Early on, we supported him, and he touched me so much. How could I not feel motivated to give back when I saw this young man, who was only 12 or 13, doing all these charity events at the time? That, along with how Breast Cancer has impacted my family. It was a no-brainer for me to have some charity or foundation to support.
One of the events we do in Dallas is the Susan G Koman Breast Cancer Walk. Here’s another charitable event that is near and dear to my heart. I recently lost a Masonic brother of mine to cancer.
The Dallas Leaf Portfolio
Cigar Life Guy: Tell us a little about the Dallas Leaf Cigar portfolio.
Ron Smith: Dallas Leaf Cigar Company has three blends, and those three blends can be in several different sizes. We have the 1841DL Bishop Double Maduro, our most popular seller. It’s a full-body San Andres and Mexican wrapper, a double-capped Nicaragua filler with an Indonesian binder. You talk about flavor! OMG, it takes you on a ride with oak and a hint of chocolate notes. You can get this in a Lancero, box-pressed, or nub.
We also have the 1841DL Pegasus Habano, which has a mild to medium Habano wrapper, Nicaragua filler with an Indonesia Binder, and double-capped. It has cedar and earthy notes, some coffee, and creamy. It is very smooth throughout.
Also in our lineup is the 1841DL Hamilton Habano. This medium- to full-bodied cigar is a strong mid-range smoke between the Pegasus and Bishop. It has a Habano wrapper, Nicaragua filler with an Ecuadorian binder, and is double-capped. It has some pepper and spice in the first third, but it’s a smooth and very balanced smoke.
We have a few specialty cigars that we bring out at different times of the year, but overall, that’s our portfolio. We have a local roller in the Royse City area, about 30 miles East of Dallas. So everything is hand-rolled by him.
Lately, though, we have focused our energy on other aspects of the company, such as sponsorship, support, events, and entertainment. We only bring the cigar on a case-by-case basis to a special event or cigar week we support or sponsor.
Dalla Leaf Cigar Club
Cigar Life Guy: You also run the Dallas Leaf Cigar Club. Tell us a little about this aspect of your business and what makes the cigar community unique.
Ron Smith: The Dallas Leaf Cigar Club is very special. It started one Tuesday after work at this spot called Vinetti’s, which is owned and operated by the Price Group. Mr. and Mrs. Price had a restaurant, and in the back, there was a cigar lounge. It felt like some mob stuff going on back in the old days. So we would meet back there, play dominoes or spades, and smoke cigars.
One day, we heard about Black Smoke Miami and thought, “Hey, let’s go”. The next day, I was at the county clerk’s office filing for a “DBA” for Dallas Leaf Cigar Club. That was our first formation-not the LLC. The club quickly grew, and people started getting more involved as we added more subsidiaries. We had elections to vote for a president, vice president, sergeant of arms, secretary, and treasurer. I believed in structure, rules, governing, and, of course, having fun. These are all things I learned while serving on the Board of Governors during my tenure at RawBone. What made it fun was that we traveled everywhere.
Our club members love going to other cities and states and meeting everyone in the cigar community. It was educational and a lot of fun. Plus, having a cigar club helped once we established the cigar company. We had loyal customers from day one. The “crawl” actually came out of the cigar club traveling.
Sponsored Dallas Leaf Cigar Crawls
Cigar Life Guy: You also sponsor the Cigar Crawl. Tell us a little about this event.
Ron Smith: Yes, the Cigar Crawl was very exciting. We did several cigar crawls, and regardless of what you may hear out there, Dallas Leaf Cigar Club was the first to ever do one. We were the first to go to another city and do one.
The Cigar Crawl was born from the club’s desire to travel and visit other cigar houses or lounges. So, we did Dallas first. We visited houses such as Blowin’ Smoke and Industrial Cigar Lounge, which won Cigar Lounge of the Year at PCA this year — and Cu’Noma, which won Cigar Lounge of the Year by Black Smoke Miami a few years ago. We also used the Smoking Jacket Mobile Cigar Lounge — Dallas’s oldest female-owned cigar lounge. And it was an epic trip. We visited Little Rock twice. Houston. Austin. Miami. L.A. So, when I tell you we traveled and supported Black Owned Cigar Lounges, we did just that. My good friend Tobacco Kennedy even brought his “Road Show” to Dallas, and guess what? We took them on a cigar crawl, too!
The Future of Dallas Leaf
Cigar Life Guy: So what’s next for Dallas Leaf LLC?
Ron Smith: My wife Chere and I currently own and operate Dallas Leaf LLC. And we have some very big plans. We have been Title Sponsors for Black Smoke Miami for the past five years, and this will be our fourth year sponsoring Houston Cigar Week. We try to support our cigar weeks with sponsorships, and I’m sure that will continue.
I’m proud of all the friendships we made and all the business opportunities created while operating as the CEO. And my wife was blessed to have won Sister of the Leaf of the Year. She has also worked on several major projects, including the upcoming Dallas Smoke Fest. All of this was made possible by Dallas Leaf LLC. We will never forget the people who helped us grow this company. New York, Taz, Tasha, Tersa, Tonya, Cali, Dave, Jerry, and countless others all put their hard work into Dallas Leaf LLC. So, I honor them by keeping Dallas Leaf LLC going.
So what’s next? I aim to purchase land in Dallas and build the Dallas Leaf Club House. I won’t go into details, but it will be more than just a cigar lounge. My wife coined the phrase “Support is Free,” and Dallas Leaf LLC will continue supporting Black-owned businesses and the cigar culture as a whole, forging friendships one cigar at a time.
Check out the latest from Dallas Leaf LLC and its subsidiaries here.
Photo credit: Dallas Leaf LLC