For Vincent McGlone, a longtime aficionado and world traveler, cigar life is about camaraderie and of course the experience of quality premium cigars. McGlone, owner and founder of Vicente Blends, never intended to start a business. He began his luxury cigar line with one goal in mind: to create a cigar with a perfect draw. He talked with Cigar Life Guy about smoking Cubans in Bangkok, why naivete can sometimes be an asset, and why he considers tossing a cigar band in the trash as blasphemous.
First Premium Cigar Experience
Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.
Vince McGlone: My first premium cigar experience was in Philadelphia in the mid-1990s. I was with a few old friends, whom I have lost touch with, but the occasion was let’s smoke these Cubans that “just fell off a truck”. I believe it was a Cohiba, but I do not remember the vitola. I remember hearing a few guys chat about going to Castro’s Cigar Dinner, but I have no idea if it was just banter or not.
My actual cigar journey started in Bangkok, Thailand. Every day, I would walk to the Marriott, Sukhumvit Soi 6, and smoke a Cuban. The hotel has this amazing large lobby bar, a humidor filled only with Cubans, and a piano playing every day for a happy hour. That was my home for 2 hours per day for years.
The Cigar Scene Around the World
Cigar Life Guy: Your cigar journey started in Philadelphia, then Thailand, and finally the Dominican Republic. How does the American cigar scene compare to other places around the world?
Vince McGlone: I can only speak for the countries I have spent time in. Back when I was in Thailand, the only cigars you could buy were Cubans. So I only smoked Cubans for five or six years and became a so-called “Cuban Maximalist”. But now, cigar variety is much different than 20 or 25 years ago. New world cigars are global, providing variety to the world; however, in more so-called sophisticated or high-wealth areas, Cubans are still prevalent. My flavor palate was and still is Cuban, so I focus on the core Cuban flavors with new world accents.
The Dominican Republic is a unique place. I have been spending most of my time there for the last 12 years. I live in Santo Domingo, where the variety of cigars is plentiful. Most of the Cubans you see are fake. The leading brand and more affluent smoke is Arturo Fuente. The Fuente lounge is only about 10 minutes from my home. However, there are small cigar rolling factories all over if you know where to look. Overall, the Dominican Republic is an amazing cigar culture. It is part of the fabric of society. Where else can you go to a restaurant, and the waiters bring you an ashtray if they see a cigar? As for the present U.S. cigar culture, there has been a boom of lounges for the last five years, which is amazing to me. The variety of cigars available in the U.S. is unmatched in my opinion.
In the end, our cultures are cultivated by the abundance of products, so we are all a product of environmental variables.
Being a Disruptor
Cigar Life Guy: You describe yourself as a disruptor, and comfort being the antithesis of growth. How has Vicente Blends “disrupted” the cigar world, and how do you want smokers to perceive your brand?
Vince McGlone: First, Vicente Blends was never meant to be a business. It was my pursuit of creating the perfect drawing cigar. For me, the overall cigar experience starts with an effortless draw. I simply abhor trying to smoke a cigar that is too difficult to draw on. It ruins my experience. Makes no sense to me. So I set out on a mission, being an engineer and living in the DR, to create the perfect cigar for me, that’s it. It just so happened that after years of this passion project, I seemed to have an affinity for blending and constructing cigars. Here we are now with a luxury cigar brand. Amazing journey.
Second, it would be arrogant and naive to think I could disrupt the entire industry. The intent of my disruption was to find like-minded individuals who would smoke my cigars and just say, “Wow”. And it happened. I assumed it would grow from there, and it did, slowly but surely, and hopefully, continually into the future.
Going into this project, I knew the industry had many people of pedigree. I loved the cigar community, but I also knew it was still an old-school mentality, and I felt that mentality could be disrupted. This was confirmed with years of conversations with many aficionados, sommeliers, and connoisseurs within the industry.
In the companies I have created before this passion project, I am addicted to “auto pilot mode” and do not like the stress of high volume growth. To me, in any high-volume growth scenario, quality is always affected. With cigars being meditation for me, I wanted to ensure our growth would be controlled, and it is. I have heard on too many occasions from others, “My favorite smoke was ‘x’ or ‘y, ‘ but I do not like it any more because the quality has changed.” I have heard this countless times. I also believe Covid was great for the brands and manufacturers for making money, but I also believe the aficionados have been affected by higher prices and lower quality cigars. That’s just my opinion. I’m not trying to start a debate. Everything in life is about perspective, and perspective truly depends on what side of the fence you are on. Now, being a brand owner, I have to straddle that line.
I want smokers to perceive our brand as a truly unique experience. I believe we are. It has been confirmed by those who indulge in our cigars, which I continually call masterpieces or my artwork. I truly believe our cigars are art. Every aspect needed to be disruptive and masterful, including our rings.
The most identifiable visual aspect of a cigar is the cigar band. So many are like small pieces of art, and yet in almost all cases, those paper bands are torn off and thrown in the ashtray. I thought of this as blasphemous. It will not happen with our brand. This is the origin of our metal bands. They are works of art in themselves, as they had to be engineered to ensure the necessary aesthetics while maintaining the proper balance of the cigar in your hand. After all, the balance of the cigar while in your fingers is also a part of the perfect experience, is it not?
I want everyone to understand that I contemplated every aspect of the cigar to create the perfect experience for me personally and now our team, but more importantly, you, the reader, the aficionado.
Building the Right Business Team
Cigar Life Guy: You have also said the sign of a good business person is” surrounding yourself with good, knowledgeable, and passionate people in order to build a team of confidence and trust”. Can you tell us a little about your team?
Vince McGlone: All of the team are believers in what I created. Otherwise, they would have never joined the team, I would have never permitted it. In 2023, when I saw the momentum increasing for the brand, I knew I could not and did not want to do it alone, so I wanted to bring people in with vested interest. So I diluted my ownership from majority to majority-minority to give ownership to those who believed in Vicente Blends. I wanted everyone to work as an owner. I did not want partners working for a salary or commission only. I wanted people who may not agree with me at times. I wanted intelligent and passionate people with some naivete about how the industry works. There is always power in being naive because it permits you to ask the simplest questions that hold the most power.
I chose Mike Pickholz to lead the team as CEO so I could concentrate on my passion and artwork. We have a board of directors that meets quarterly, and a handful of investors, as well as independent distributors. I am no longer the dictator. I say this jokingly,
We presented at PCA 2025 for the first time, and I can not express how proud I am of how the team handled themselves, facilitating the brand that I created.
On top of the PCA 2025, we earned a 95 rating for Vicente’s Crown of War cigar, which makes a statement to the industry that Vicente Blends is legitimate and offers an amazing experience.
Camaraderie in the Cigar World
Cigar Life Guy: You are an aficionado. What is your favorite aspect of the cigar community and the cigar life? What makes cigar smokers so unique?
Vince McGlone: One word. Camaraderie. Cigars bring everyone together because it is truly one of the only indulgences where everyone is just common. Race, color, creed, religion, and social status all seem to fade away into commonality upon focusing on one thing: the cigar.
For me, smoking a cigar was the only time in my life I could sit back and focus on one thing: relaxation. The catalyst for relaxing is that effortless experience. I want all Vicente Aficionados to indulge and relax with that effortless experience.
Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars? What would people not know about you?
Vince McGlone: I have been an American living outside the US most of my adult life, so I am just different. And I take pride in everything I do. Passion and creativity are my motivations. This can make me a very difficult person to deal with because I will not waiver on quality for the sake of fame or money.
Living outside the U.S. for most of my life, I learned about many cultures as a young man. So my true passion is educating others with my unique views, which are typically 180 (degrees) from the norm.
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Photo credit: Vincente Blends