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Cigar smokers in the Pacific Northwest, you made this Tampa cigar famous. Try the latest iteration of the Juan de Fuca cigar blended by Serafin de Cuba.

Fourth generation cigar maker Arnoldo Serafin talks with Boveda's Drew Emmer about reviving forgotten cigar brands at PCA 2024, the preeminent event for premium cigar and pipe industry.

00:00 This is Box Press

00:09 Juan de Fuca cigars packaged with Boveda

00:31 What is a Juan de Fuca cigar?

00:47 Strait of Juan de Fuca in Pacific Northwest

01:38 Why smoke a closed foot cigar

01:56 Don Ramon 1917 Series cigar—cigar fit for a BOSS! Created to honor patriarch, Don Ramon Serafin, Jr.

02:18 How did you fall in love with cigars?

04:23 Sweeter cigar, medium that's not too strong, not too harsh

04:34 I'm a sucker for Cameroon wrappers

06:00 How many fourth generation cigar makers are there?

06:31 History of Tampa and cigars

07:04 Prince of Wales cigars (Principe de Gales cigars)

What is Boveda? Generations of cigar makers recommend Boveda 2-way humidity control to protect cigars you store. Boveda preserves the flavor and character of premium cigars by keeping them at ideal humidity. Boveda humidor packets prevent cigars from drying out and mold growth. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll enjoy full flavor and a perfect smoke from every cigar.

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(upbeat music)

- I'm holding in my hand

a Juan de Fuca,

Tampa, Florida.

I'm sitting with Arnold Serafin,

and I'm thrilled

to announce that Juan de Fuca

is the latest

package with Boveda

cigar box partner.

Thank you very much for that.

- Thanks for having me.

- I'm gonna smoke this. Can

you tell me about this cigar?

- Sure, it's an old Tampa label,

hadn't been made for about 50, 60 years,

and it used to belong to a company

called the Morgan Cigar

Factory out of Tampa, Florida.

And they had been out of

production for many years.

And I just, I really loved the name.

I thought the name was really,

really funny and iconic.

And when I did a little bit

of research on the brand,

it turns out that the brand

was being made at the time in Tampa,

but it had a strong distribution

in the Pacific Northwest.

There's a strait, I don't

know if you've seen it,

the Juan de Fuca Strait.

- Yeah.

- It goes from like Seattle

up to, like, Vancouver Island.

So as a matter of fact, we

went through it last year.

We took a trip up to Alaska

and I thought that was really cool.

- Well, this is great

trivia for you kids at home

to ask the question, who is Juan de Fuca?

- He was a Spanish navigator.

Let me say this for my Greek friends,

Greek by birth and, I

guess, Spanish later.

So his real name was

Ioannis [Apostolos] Fokas.

And I'm a history nut, so

I love this type of stuff.

He ended up going to Spain,

changed his name to Juan de Fuca,

which was a really, really

funny name, I thought.

- Hmm.

I like a closed foot.

I got to thank you for that.

- It's romantic, right?

- Well, it just creates a

concentration of wrapper

around the first puff.

- That's true.

- You must love that, too.

- I do.

That was kind of like my little idea

to give it that real Cuban-esque flavor,

taste, you know, look.

I did that with another one that we have,

which is the Don Ramon 1917.

And it's the same thing

with the closed foot.

I just love the way they look.

It's really appealing to me.

- So I have to sit here all day

and talk to people that

manufacture tremendous craft cigars

and I get to try them all.

- What a job.

- It's so great.

- What a sacrifice.

- Tell me how you fell

in love with cigars.

- Well, it's a long story.

I'm a fourth generation cigarmaker.

My father, my grandfather,

my great-grandfather even,

he came to Cuba by way

And he had a tobacco farm.

And then my grandfather

grew up in central Cuba

alongside his father.

And then eventually he had

his own little factory.

So it's been passed down

to me. I'm very fortunate.

But myself personally,

the bug that got me,

when I was about 14 years old,

I went down to Cuba with my dad

and to visit my grandfather,

and he was rolling his own

little cigars at the time.

He was, you know, pretty old at that time,

but he still made his own cigars.

And I was only 14 years old

and I said, "Grandpa,

we gotta get into this again, you know."

I told my dad, I said, "When

we get back to Florida,

we have to get back into the business."

And he said, "Do you

really feel that way?"

I said, "Yeah, I'm very

passionate about this

and I feel like we gotta bring the family,

you know, legacy back."

And my dad helped me.

And he passed away in 2019,

but he was-

- I'm sorry.

- Thank you.

Very instrumental.

- No, it's good.

You know, it's wonderful

to see the emotion.

People don't understand.

- Here's a knife, you want me to cut it?

- Do you mind?

- No.

- So people don't understand

the love and the commitment

that these families have to the craft

of building remarkable cigars.

- Let me go a little bit further.

- You're close.

- Close but no cigar.

- You know, close but no cigar. Yeah.

(Arnold chuckles)

That's the package with Boveda box label.

Did you get it?

Yeah, I think you got it.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, we make those so

you can't get them out.

Look at the beauty of that.

Serafin de Cuba.

Juan de Fuca.

It's a new launch.

Is it announced at the show

or has it been out already?

- Yes.

No, this is brand new for the show.

- So it's at the show.

- Yep.

- It's packaged with Boveda.

This is delicious.

- Thank you very much.

- How do you describe this cigar?

- I would say, you

correct me if I'm wrong.

I would say it's a mild to medium.

It's a Cameroon wrapper,

Nicaraguan filler,

but very rich, very flavorful,

not too strong, not too harsh.

I would say it's got a little

bit of sweetness to it.

- I'm a sucker for Cameroon wrappers.

And I'm impressed that

this is a Cameroon wrapper

that's not showing any

sign of wear and tear

in the Las Vegas air.

- Yeah, I know, in the desert.

Right?

- Yeah, because typically

a Cameroon wrapper

would be a little papery

and subject to disintegration

upon touching your lips

or your tongue or anything.

- Absolutely.

- This is holding its own, it's durable.

It starts out just beautiful.

I don't know if I'd call it a mild.

- What do you think?

- I'd definitely call it

a medium.

- Medium?

- I mean, I'm not feeling

the impact of the strength,

but I'm definitely digging the flavor.

- You know what's funny

is we had never worked with

Cameron wrappers before,

and this is my first time.

And when I originally blended this,

I wasn't really a big fan.

And then I started kind of

tweaking it a little bit

because it was a little strong.

And then I said, "Well, you know what?"

I'm gonna bring it down a little bit,

tweak it a little bit more.

And I think we just got it right

that it's medium.

- I like it a lot.

- Like you said, it's-

- I like it a lot.

- But flavorful.

- Well, and, you know, Dellas [Edmisten]

has a great palate for cigars and-

- What a great friend.

- He's very excited about your

joining the Boveda family.

- As I am as well.

- Yeah.

- So thank you for having me.

- So you're launching at

the show and how's it going?

Where are you set up?

- Oh, yeah, very well.

- We're right by the [Arturo]

- It's a good place to be.

- Great place.

Thanks to my friend Carlito.

I love to be here, you know,

in Tampa, man, you know.

We help each other out.

- Well, but how many guys can

say they're fourth generation

cigar manufacturers?

Carlito can say that.

- Carlito can say that.

- The Padróns can say that.

- Yes.

- There's maybe a few

others, but not a lot.

- Not too many of us out there.

- Yeah.

- My son will be the fifth

and he's here with me, too.

- Oh, that's great.

- So I'm honored. You know?

- How old's your son?

- He's 22.

- Oh, so he's in.

He's working with the line.

- Oh, yeah.

And he's actually the person

that is involved in like, you know,

the packaging of the boxes.

And he was actually helping us

with the order now with Boveda.

So he's instrumental-

- So a lot of people

don't understand the history of Tampa

and the impact that Tampa

had on the cigar industry.

Can you riff on that

for a minute?

- Sure.

Tampa at one time made 500 million cigars.

They actually made more cigars at one time

than Havana, Cuba.

And it was mainly because of the Cuban

and Spanish influence of the time.

You know, there really wasn't

an immigration law at the time.

So a lot of the folks would come over,

you know, they'd come and work in Tampa,

and then they'd gravitate back to Havana,

and do the same thing.

And then a lot of them

ended up staying there.

But it all started by Mr.[Martinez] Ybor.

We, actually, a couple years ago,

we brought back Mr. Ybor's brand,

which is, in English, Prince of Wales.

In Spanish, Principe de Gales.

This is the label here.

- It's pretty.

- And that was the first

cigar that was made in Tampa.

Well, let me go back a minute.

Mr. [Ignacio] Haya, who

was a friend of Mr. Ybor's,

he actually has Cigar Factory,

had Cigar Factory Number One

and the [J.C.} Newman

family brought that one

back, coincidentally.

But I was already working

on Prince of Wales

and was like, "Well, I'll

have Mr. Ybor's brand,

they'll have Mr. Haya's brand."

- Well, and all these legends

- So that's really cool.

- are connected and they come

through generations later

in the revival of a brand Juan de Fuca

with a brand new cigar by Arnold Serafin.

And Serafin de Cuba

is your company.

- Yes, sir. Thank you.

- Yeah, it's awesome.

- Thank you very much.

- It's a tasty little critter.

(Arnold laughs)

Dellas [Edmisten] was right.

- He really enjoys it. He

does have a very good palate.

- Yeah. Yeah, it's great.

- Well, I thank-

- And a great friend.

I appreciate what you guys

have done here for me today.

- Well, and I'm grateful.

We're with you all the way.

We'll keep them fresh.

You keep producing great sticks.

- Thank you, sir.

- Thanks a lot. Appreciate

you having the chat.

- Thanks for having me on the show.

- Yeah, thanks, Arnold.

(upbeat music)