Zach Van Ginkel’s cigar journey began in Des Moines, Iowa, when he was a teenager. After serving in the military and studying business, he and his partner, Andray McCuien, intended to open a cigar lounge. COVID disrupted that plan.
Instead, they shifted their focus to creating their own cigar line, and Hermanos de Armas Cigars was born. Van Ginkel talked to Cigar Life Guy about the camaraderie that drew him into the cigar world. He also discussed patience, success, and why paying $10 for a smoke is actually a discount.
First Premium Cigar Experience
Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience.
Zach Van Ginkel: I was 18 years old because, at that time, you could smoke at 18. I was in Des Moines, Iowa, where I’m originally from. I smoked that cigar with my dad at a cigar lounge formerly known as Bars and Cigars. It’s now known as Iowa Cigar Company, a little shop in West Des Moines.
In terms of which cigar it was? I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you (laughs). Chances are, whatever cigar I decided to buy wasn’t extremely memorable. But that was my very first premium cigar.
Starting Hermanos de Armas Cigars
Cigar Life Guy: You had planned on opening a cigar lounge. How did that evolve into starting your own line of cigars?
Zach Van Ginkel: It evolved out of necessity. We were planning to start our cigar lounge right around COVID. The goal was to create a cigar lounge and get heavily involved in blending. We also wanted to make our own house blends — our own brand, if you will.
When COVID hit, uncertainty was everywhere. Everything was closing. Commercial real estate prices in the area where we wanted to open never went down. At that point, it just didn’t make sense for us to keep going down that path.
About a year later, we pivoted and formed HDA Cigars LLC. Instead of starting a cigar lounge, we chose to build a brand. At the time, we thought maybe we’d still open a lounge somewhere down the road.
Now that’s completely changed. Opening a lounge isn’t something we’re thinking about anymore. We’re just focused on the brand.
Business Experience Behind Hermanos de Armas
Cigar Life Guy: Aside from being ex-military, what did you do before getting involved in the cigar industry? How does that experience inform what you do with Hermanos de Armas Cigars?
Zach Van Ginkel: Yep, prior military service, then I spent the next 13 or 14 years working as a government contractor. Last year, and for the first two years of our company, I worked in business development. My goal was to understand traditional business development and traditional business practices. That way, I could utilize those practices in HDA.
I also finished my bachelor’s degree in business during COVID. Again, the goal was to open my own company. At that point, I thought it would apply to a cigar lounge. Instead, I ended up applying many of those principles to my cigar company.
Understanding Cigar Blending
Cigar Life Guy: What should the average cigar smoker know about cigar blending? How can it help them appreciate a premium cigar?
Zach Van Ginkel: I would say the adage, “200 hands touch every cigar,” is something people genuinely underestimate. That becomes especially clear when people get upset about paying ten dollars for a cigar.
Think about all the processes, time, and labor of love that go into a cigar. There’s growing the plant, curing it, rolling it, building the boxes, and designing the bands. After that comes shipping the product, distributing it, and hand-selling it. A lot of people help put a cigar on the shelf.
When you look at it holistically, you realize people make each one by hand. I would say paying more than ten dollars for a cigar is really a discount.
There are not many products here in the United States that people make 100% by hand. Even fewer involve that much labor and sell in that $10 to $20 range.
Building the Hermanos de Armas Brand
Cigar Life Guy: What is the most important thing to convey about a brand? How do you want the cigar world to perceive Hermanos de Armas Cigars?
Zach Van Ginkel: When we created HDA, everything we’ve done has come from a genuine desire to join the cigar industry. It also comes from the place where we create cigars to our taste. By “our,” I mean Andray (Andray McCuien) and me, the two owners. We’re creating cigars for ourselves.
When we launched our cigar brand, neither one of us had retail experience. We also had no cigar rep experience, and neither of us had ever owned a brand before. We were true outsiders in the cigar industry.
Once it came time to make strategic decisions, our ultimate compass was simple. We created cigars we liked and hoped other people would like them too.
Everything we’ve done from a brand perspective comes from a genuine love for the product. It isn’t an exercise in understanding the market or predicting what consumers will enjoy.
Instead, we’re creating cigars that we enjoy. Fortunately, many consumers share that taste.
Camaraderie in the Cigar World
Cigar Life Guy: You are a proud veteran-owned brand. How is the camaraderie in the military similar to that of the cigar community?
Zach Van Ginkel: The camaraderie that Andray and I experienced in the military was something we really longed for after we got out.
We can travel around the country, share stories, share a cigar, and connect with people on a human-to-human level. That brings us back to the feeling of deployments, long hours stateside, or long shifts. Everybody could connect over something as simple as a cigar.
It allows us to connect with people we probably wouldn’t meet in other walks of life. In that way, it’s similar to the military. The military is a melting pot of people from all over the country. People from different backgrounds still came together for a common goal.
Sitting down at a cigar lounge or an event is a very similar experience. Simply meeting people over a cigar can create that same connection. Our desire to enter the cigar industry stemmed from a desire to experience that same camaraderie again.
The Cigar Industry and Beyond
Cigar Life Guy: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started in the cigar industry?
Zach Van Ginkel: I would say patience is absolutely key. We never thought about the hyper-attention to detail and hyper-timeframe expectations we’d grown accustomed to. A lot of that came from both the military and our professional lives. Things are far more fluid when you’re working with Central American countries.
Patience is something I’m still working on every day when it comes to timelines. For projects we’re trying to put into action, we initially looked at one to three months.
We’ve now changed that and are looking 12 to 18 months ahead. That shift has allowed us to be more fluid with our plans, which is really a necessity.
Cigar Life Guy: What is one of your passions outside of cigars? What would people not know about you?
Zach Van Ginkel: I’m a big golfer. I’m not a good golfer, but I am a big golfer. I enjoy golf. Now that I own a cigar company, though, I have far fewer opportunities to play.
Getting out, traveling, and hitting up different courses around the country is something I enjoy.
Follow Zach and all things HDA Cigars on Instagram and check out the latest from HDA here.
Photo credit: Zach Van Ginkel