Picture choosing your own premium cigar from a fully stocked humidor while you fill your tank. And it's a smoke you want to smoke, not some rocket dog. Think Montecristo, Oliva, Cohiba, Rocky Patel, or other aficionado-approved cigar. CigarBros founder Remon Mansour is making it easier for you to buy cigars where you already go—non-traditional cigar sellers, like gas stations, convenience stores, liquor stores, lounges, casinos, golf courses, etc. The company provides a patented stand-alone climate-controlled humidor, which is how it keeps cigars fresh, then keeps it stocked with premium smokes. Hear all about it in this cigar talk with Boveda's Drew Emmer.

NEW! JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. Check out the affordable Personal Humidor on the CigarBros website. Practical cigar storage for the cigar lover in your life.

What is Boveda? Cigar retailers preserve the flavor and character of their hand-rolled cigars with CigarBros Commercial Humidor. At home, use Boveda in your humidor to keep cigars well-humidified or they can be hard to light, burn to too fast, or get moldy. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll enjoy full flavor from every cigar. Boveda has been keeping cigars tasting great for more than 25 years. Age and store premium cigars with Boveda in your humidor. No humidor? Pick up a Boveda Humidor Bag for easy, portable cigar storage.

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00:00 Never risk your cigars, use Boveda

00:30 This is Box Press

04:54 How retailers can keep cigars fresh

06:27 Stand-alone humidor changes how and where you buy cigars

07:25 Buy cigars from a self-contained humidor in a liquor store, convenience store, gas station, casinos, hotel, golf course, etc.

09:18 How to buy a cigar if you're a new cigar smoker

10:30 If someone has a bad first cigar experience, it's game over

11:25 Getting started with cigars

15:46 Does this take business away from brick-and-mortar cigar stores?

21:01 Try Boveda Humidor bags once to keep your cigars in perfect condition

21:50 Cigar gift bag that's a portable travel humidor

23:36 How to store cigars at home without the hassle—CigarBros Personal Humidor, which comes preloaded with Boveda

(mellow music)

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(mellow music continues)

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(mellow music continues)

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- There's a story inside every smoke shop,

5

with every cigar, and with every person.

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Come be a part of the

cigar lifestyle at Boveda.

7

This is "Box Press."

8

- Remon Mansour, CigarBros.

9

It was fun yesterday

10

walking at the other end of the pavilion

11

seeing this massive display of CigarBros,

12

and seeing you with your team

13

and thinking about the experience.

14

How many years ago at TP would've been?

15

It would've been?

16

- Yeah, I think it's been

four years, about four years.

17

- So before the pandemic and all that?

18

- Yep, yep, yep.

19

- And you had an idea?

- That's right, yep.

20

I remember I walked up,

21

of course, we've distributed

Boveda for a long time.

22

And I saw you at the booth,

23

looking at Boveda, and I went

and introduced myself to you,

24

and had a conversation

and I shared my idea.

25

- Well, and you had diagrams,

26

and you had schematics

of what your idea was.

27

And you said, I think specifically it was,

28

"I want to create a

29

self-contained humidor that can be placed

30

in non-traditional locations

31

to distribute cigars."

- That's right.

32

- And, "I want Boveda to be involved.

33

We wanna have the

preservation aspect of it

34

handled for the consumer."

35

And there's a lot of people

36

that have a lot of ideas.

37

And, I don't know,

38

there was just something

about your earnestness.

39

Yeah, I told Jay [Fifield] about it,

40

and then you started dealing with Jay.

41

And I don't know that

it happened instantly,

42

but you went from that concept

43

to rolling out a beta test, at least,

44

in a relatively short period of time.

45

I mean, you had to order things

46

and deal with all the details.

47

But I think within a couple of years

48

you had started

49

this CigarBros.

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- Yeah, yep.

51

- It wasn't called CigarBros back then.

52

- So me and my brothers own a few-

53

- Cash & Carry.

- Two Cash & Carry's

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in San Diego.

55

And I think when I met you,

56

I don't even think we

had a name for it yet.

57

I wanna say it was early,

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maybe it was February, 2019, I wanna say.

59

And we had just received

our first prototype,

60

and we're still in the testing phase.

61

And remember, we had a humidor program

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in San Diego since 2004, local one.

63

And I've always been intrigued

64

with kind of the challenge

65

of getting cigars placed in

just non-traditional places.

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And when you see, you know,

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the trend in those places,

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it's rewarding for a guy like me.

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Me and my brothers, we launched,

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you know, a ton of stuff

with every category,

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you know, beverage, candy, snacks.

72

And the birth of this idea

73

was, as we were expanding

74

our cigar selection out of Cash & Carry

75

and taking a look at our

current humidor program locally,

76

I said, "Man, it hasn't changed,"

77

since 2004 to 2019, it didn't evolve.

78

So the idea came to me

79

"You gotta have more variety,

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but it's gotta be fresh,

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and there has to be no question."

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But how do you do that?

83

Where do you start?

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That's all I knew.

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That if someone's gonna carry cigars,

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or actually if someone's gonna buy cigars

87

and be happy about it,

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that there has to be enough selection

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to choose from the best brands.

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And then, the freshness

cannot be a question.

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You just gotta know that it's fresh.

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And so that's when I got to work.

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And the birth really,

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in 2018, was an acrylic

version, vertical standing.

95

And we did a prototype and all this.

96

But, just personally, I didn't

pull the trigger on that,

97

because I wasn't comfortable

98

with the idea that

someone is gonna be happy

99

to constantly buy from an acrylic humidor.

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That the freshness can't be a question.

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You just gotta know that it's fresh.

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So I figured there's gotta

be these self-contained,

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climate-controlled units.

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And so we went out and sourced one.

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I actually flew out to China,

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this is the factory, the

best one we can find,

107

that was willing to modify it

108

to be more commercial grade,

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do the vertical, pull-out drawers,

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and everything that's

geared for commercial use.

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And then, got my prototype.

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And then, that's what

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And no intention really

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of going outside of San Diego with it.

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- Right.

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- But just wanted to see if we can change

117

how and where cigars are being sold.

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Like, how far can we push it?

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And, man, you were so gracious.

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Like, you know,

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as a entrepreneur, it's

tough, it's very lonely.

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It's a tough journey when you got an idea

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and you're trying to go after it.

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And you guys were just,

I told you about it.

125

And I said, "Hey, I think

there's a place for us

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where, you know, Boveda and

freshness is hand-in-hand,

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and that's what we're trying to provide."

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And so the teamwork was awesome.

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And we really, really

appreciate it from day one.

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- Well, and it's intriguing,

131

because where my mind went

in listening to your vision

132

was this is really cool

to have the opportunity

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to stand up a self-contained

humidor in a liquor store,

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in a convenience store, at a golf course,

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I mean, depending on the market.

136

But I thought about how many places

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I've seen displays of cigars where,

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or even if I'm wandering around Las Vegas,

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if I see somebody selling cigars,

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today, there's more properly

humidified storage facilities

141

for cigars in the casinos

142

in Las Vegas than there used to be.

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But you used to buy a 15, 20, $30 stick

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from somebody walking around

a vendor in the casino,

145

and you'd light it and

you'd go, "This is awful.

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Because it's not protected,

this is just terrible."

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And I think of those

different liquor stores

148

that have a limited

selection behind the counter

149

because it's an impulse buy

150

for somebody that's coming

in on a Friday night.

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You know, it's just not intentional.

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It's just not right.

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I mean, congratulations.

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I mean, looking at these

beautiful displays,

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substantial, I mean, the

investment that you've made

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in the vehicle that you're

delivering this service,

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and you're selling a service.

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You are the source for these cigars.

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And you're giving people,

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literally giving people,

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the vessel that they're going to use.

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And it has to be durable,

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and it can't just be there for...

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It's not just a self-liquidating display

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that's gonna be thrown out

in 30 days or whatever.

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So what an adventure.

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- Yeah, from the beginning,

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and even till now, my focus has always

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been on kind of the early stages

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in someone's relationship with cigars.

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I remember my own personal experience.

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My first time smoking a cigar

173

was at the Gaslamp District

in Downtown San Diego.

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And it was at a cigar lounge,

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and I'm a college student.

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And, you know, I was always

intrigued with cigars,

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never had one.

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Walked into a lounge,

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walked into their walk-in humidor,

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and I purchased an ACID Kuba Kuba.

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- Which is common for a

lot of college students

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for their first cigar experience.

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- Exactly, exactly right.

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And, with the guys,

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and I just remember enjoying it so much,

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and that's it.

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Ever since then, it's that feeling.

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And that's kind of the

feeling I get when I enjoy it,

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it just takes me back to that every time.

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And so, in the flip side,

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we know this, if someone

has a bad experience

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their first time, it's game over.

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You're so turned off.

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You know, I've heard it a million times-

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- Yeah, "I turned green, I

got sick, I didn't like it.

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I never wanna do that again."

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- Exactly, and so I think

that's a combination

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of the wrong stick

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or the wrong freshness.

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So you gotta have the right

cigar and it's gotta be fresh.

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And then, it's all about the atmosphere

202

and, you know, environment.

203

But when it's done right,

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that first experience is magical.

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And you ask any cigar guy,

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they always remember their first cigar.

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They always remember

that first experience,

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what it felt like.

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So that's what I chase.

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That's kind of what was the birth of this

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and what fuels us to

continue to always think

212

about those early stages.

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My customers, we've learned,

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is not necessarily the seasoned cigar guy.

215

So now that we've expanded to 25 states.

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We're primarily in the liquor store,

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gas station, convenience

store, hotels, golf courses.

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A lot of the guys, it's on the go,

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or it's the guy that never

really thought about cigars,

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never even considered

going to a cigar lounge,

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picking up his bottle of

Jack Daniel's and saying,

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"You know, let me try a cigar."

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And so we, on purpose,

made it approachable.

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Displayed in a way where they

can choose the right cigar.

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So likely we recommend if you're new,

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try a mild, mild to medium.

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A lot of ours we do our own tubing

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so they can see what they're buying

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rather than blind to, you

know, just guessing their way.

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So from the rating, and the

brand, and the flavor notes,

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they could make their best educated guess.

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And then, the beauty is if

they made a good choice,

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the reward, like, no one guided them.

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They guided themself,

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they took it home, they enjoyed it.

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And that feeling, I

experienced it as well in wine.

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- Sure.

- Go to Costco

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and no one's there to help you.

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You kind of make your best

guess based on region,

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and based on maybe some

ratings, and things like that.

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But when you take one home

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and you enjoy it, it's a

rewarding feeling, right?

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And that's kind of the beginning

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relationship with that category.

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So you say, okay, maybe,

you're a Dominican guy,

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maybe you're a Nicaraguan,

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maybe you like these shades

versus others or sizes.

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And that's the birth,

that's kind of the start.

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And that's where my mind is constantly at,

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my mind is constantly at,

what's happening there?

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Who's that guy?

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What is he picking up?

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And what can we learn from

that so that we can continue

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to kind of guide people and

build their relationship?

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When I had this idea,

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and I took it to, you

know, the guys at Altadis,

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I took it to the guys at General,

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the guys at Oliva,

259

the guys at Rocky, the guys at Gurkha,

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they were all open to ideas

261

and welcoming for a young guy, you know?

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And they were all there with

me and with this concept.

263

And so it's crazy

264

how far we've come,

265

but it couldn't have been done without,

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you know, the support of you guys.

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- So how old were you when

we had that encounter?

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- Yeah, so let's say

it was four years ago.

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I was about 36, 35, 36.

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- So, I mean, I'm just so excited

271

to walk over and look at your display

272

and see this map of the territories

273

that you've been able to serve,

274

and the way this has grown for you.

275

Is it exceeding your expectations

276

of what you thought at the outset?

277

Because you were thinking

Southern California, local,

278

because that's where

your Cash & Carry serves.

279

Did you carry all these cigars

280

in the Cash & Carry in the first place?

281

- Yeah, yeah, so we had the relationships.

282

We knew the brands.

- That's significant.

283

- But, you know, when I

approached them with this concept,

284

I said, "This is going to

non-traditional retailers."

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And we bounced around ideas a lot too of,

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what should we place,

how should we place it?

287

And I did not expect

288

a growth like this by any means.

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And it's crazy,

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every territory we've gone

in, we've learned that,

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you know, after about

a year, it just starts,

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you know, this retailer's

brother, or cousin, or friend-

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- Well, and they see it

294

and it's almost like a referral program.

295

- Yeah, exactly right.

296

- So the intriguing thing to me

297

is I would suspect you had

a little bit of pushback

298

possibly from a few people saying,

299

"Oh, you're gonna steal business

300

from brick-and-mortar retail.

301

We can't do this because"

blah, blah, blah.

302

But really you're not,

303

if anything, you're indoctrinating people

304

to an experience that's

gonna perhaps cause them

305

to go to a brick-and-mortar retailer.

306

- Exactly, yeah.

- And that's okay too,

307

because you're serving those retailers

308

that's a part of your service area,

309

at least in Southern

California where you're based.

310

But now you've gone national.

311

I mean, you've gone,

312

how far have you gone?

313

I mean, I didn't study the map.

314

I mean, it's grown significantly.

315

I don't know to what extent, but how many?

316

- So last year, when we were here at PCA,

317

we were licensed in five states.

318

We just started distributing-

319

- Five states last year?

- In the West Coast.

320

And then, based on just

interest from retailers,

321

we would open up distribution

licenses in more states

322

and continue to add.

323

Right now we're licensed in 25.

324

We have humidors in 25 states,

325

and I think we have eight states pending

326

just waiting for distribution.

327

- Massive growth.

- Yeah, unreal.

328

I'm blessed, yeah.

- How fun.

329

- Thank God, it's been-

330

- How'd the brothers take it?

331

That was your pet idea, right?

332

And I can imagine in a family,

333

I used to work with my

brothers and there's all,

334

I mean, no one's harder

on you than your brothers

335

with your ideas.

336

I mean, and nobody's gonna

go to battle with you either

337

and help you like a brother.

338

How did they take it?

339

- You know, since the beginning,

340

fully supportive, man.

341

And we have this relationship

342

where, you know, I can

always go to my brothers

343

and I can discuss ideas,

344

and they just kind of help

me think things through.

345

You know, I've got an idea

346

and they're like a compass, literally.

347

We take an idea and they love it

348

and they've got an instinct.

349

I have three older brothers,

350

so I'm the youngest of the four.

351

And they all have this

instinct where they just know,

352

"Hey, absolutely, we love it, we got you.

353

Maybe tweak it that direction."

354

And so they helped to unlock these ideas.

355

And, man, we still work

together every day.

356

It's a blessing, you

know, it's unbelievable.

357

- It's a really cool story.

358

And I got choked up when I

was talking to you yesterday,

359

because you turned in

front of your whole team

360

and you said, "This is the

first guy that believed in me,

361

or believed in this idea."

362

What an absolute privilege

363

to be in the room to

notice the enthusiasm,

364

the earnestness, the passion

that you had for this idea,

365

to not just blow it off,

to just encourage you.

366

To hook you up with the

right guy in Jay Fifield.

367

I mean, he's the right guy

368

to go through this process with you.

369

I mean, what an absolute privilege

370

for us to be involved in it.

371

And what a great opportunity

for Boveda to be a part of,

372

I mean, you guys are a rock-solid

373

group of people, the family.

374

For us to be involved,

375

for us to be able to share our story

376

and share the freshness

journey with that vehicle

377

going out from five states to 25 states

378

with eight pending, that's wonderful.

379

I mean, it's a great privilege for us.

380

And then, we're standing there yesterday

381

and you point this out and I'm like,

382

"Well, wait, I'd never heard about this."

383

(Remon chuckles)

Right?

384

When did you guys dream this up?

385

- So I've had this idea

for a couple years,

386

and, you know, I like to stick

387

to what I know and stick to my business.

388

- Well, there's plenty.

389

You gotta really focus to do that,

390

to do the remote-located,

391

full-size humidors.

- Yeah.

392

But, you know, the

conversations me and Jay have,

393

every time it's,

394

and I always share this with him,

395

I like simple,

396

I like the simple fixes of life.

397

I like easy.

398

Me and him, the ideas we kind of bounce

399

around and the discussions we have

400

where I constantly say is,

401

especially in the early stages

402

of a guy's journey with cigars,

403

is we gotta guide them,

404

and guide them always the best way we can.

405

And it started with the Boveda small bags

406

and the medium-sized bags where,

407

they buy it once, try it once,

408

and you realize it works,

409

and this is the right way

to keep your cigars fresh.

410

That's it, it's just such

a simple, easy solution

411

that can be more complex

than it should, right?

412

And so for us and our partnership is like,

413

how do we remind guys?

414

How do we remind the people

and how do we encourage them

415

is just don't discourage yourself

416

and don't hassle.

417

Try Boveda, stick your

cigars in this bag, it works.

418

And then, it's, for example,

419

you wanna gift someone some cigars.

420

And I always share this with Jay,

421

it's like, I do it myself,

422

I'm going to someone's party

or, you know, a gathering

423

and I wanna take some

cigars as a gift to them.

424

But there's nothing better,

425

you stick it in a Boveda bag

and now you give it to him.

426

It's like he doesn't have to worry.

427

And he knows it's fresh-

428

- He doesn't have to have a humidor.

429

- Yeah, and it's like, just

that relief that added,

430

just, you feel great about it.

431

And so this is my kind of perception

432

and why I value Boveda so much.

433

And so this product,

434

the birth of this was kind of like,

435

now that we have the humidors growing,

436

the locations growing,

437

and we have the restocks

438

all pretty much automated,

439

they scan a QR code,

440

it takes them to a portal,

441

and it's a easy, easy

purchasing, easy shipping.

442

Ship, you know, same day,

443

we pack and ship all the orders

444

and it's going nationwide.

445

So now that the products are

in the hands of the retailers

446

and they've got an audience,

447

now our focus is continue to

turn towards the end consumer.

448

And what we've learned

449

is a big majority of our end consumers

450

that are picking up the cigars

451

from these retailers are

very new to the industry,

452

just starting their relationship,

453

but are now buying them more often

454

and are ready to start taking them home.

455

And what I wanted to do

456

is have them be able

to store a good amount

457

of cigars at home without the hassle.

458

It's a protected humidor

459

that's just as simple as it can get.

460

And it's affordable.

461

You're brand new to cigars.

462

You're not ready to dish

out a few hundred dollars

463

for a humidor.

464

And then, you have to season

it, and you gotta learn.

465

And then, you know, cigars dry out.

466

And so we wanted that solution.

467

So I had this concept,

I shared it with Jay.

468

I said, "Jay, I'm doing this

and I want you with us."

469

And showed him the, you know,

470

what my design looked like,

471

and where Boveda stood.

472

And no hesitation, he's like, "We're in."

473

And it's like, you know, how cool is that?

474

You know, how awesome is that?

475

And so I got to work,

476

and this was three months ago, you know?

477

And so from the concept, the idea,

478

the prototype, and constantly sharing,

479

"This is the tweaks that we made,"

480

and with a goal of

showcasing it here in time.

481

So we got the samples in just in time.

482

The first order arrives mid-August

483

ready to ship to retailers

and to the public.

484

But it's fun.

485

- Yeah, and it's self-explanatory.

486

It's an 80-stick humidor in a closed cell,

487

what would you call this material?

488

- It's EPP, expanded polypropylene.

489

- So the demonstration

490

that your associate made over there

491

standing on it was brilliant,

492

because he stood on this

to show how durable it is.

493

And then, of course, inside,

494

in addition to a divider,

495

there's a space for a Boveda pack,

496

and it includes a Boveda pack.

497

I didn't know about this,

498

Sean and Tim didn't know about this,

499

Nobody knew about this until yesterday.

500

Brought it back.

501

Everybody's oohing and awing over it.

502

And then, today, one of the

beautiful things that happened,

503

and I'm so glad this went down,

504

it just warmed my heart

to watch Manolo Quesada,

505

one of the finest cigar

manufacturers in the world,

506

guy's been making cigars for 50 years,

507

and his daughter, Raquel,

508

they were here and he noticed this.

509

It was sitting on the counter.

510

He noticed it and he says, "What's that?"

511

And I showed it to him and he goes,

512

"I have to go get one of

these, I need this for my,"

513

he travels back and forth from Spain.

514

And he goes, "I need this."

515

And I said, "Well, Manolo,

I'll give you this.

516

And I tell you what would be fantastic,

517

I gotta tell you the story of this,"

518

and I call you a kid, you're not a kid,

519

you're a middle-aged man,

I hate to break it to you,

520

but I said, "You need to meet this guy."

521

And he said, "Well, I'll go over there."

522

And I said, "Hold on."

523

We sent Mike, Mike came and got you.

524

You came over, you're very gracious.

525

Gracious, means gracious.

526

I mean, this is a beautiful thing.

527

I told Manolo the story of you.

528

I said, "The reason why this worked

529

was because this kid's earnest

530

and he does what he says he's gonna do,

531

and he's decent, and he's consistent."

532

That's you, that's who you are.

533

And I don't know who you

get to blame for that,

534

mom, dad, whoever, but

that's a beautiful thing.

535

And he lit up on this.

536

And he was so touched

537

when he had a chance to meet

the inventor and talk to you,

538

and he's got one of these, the guy,

539

I mean, it's one of the

greats in the cigar industry,

540

and you've got brands talking about you

541

and that big, yellow display over there.

542

And I said something to you yesterday,

543

and I got choked up thinking about it,

544

because my old man, amazing human being,

545

he had a habit of saying to

guys that he hardly knew,

546

"So tell me about your faith formation."

547

This was my dad, old school

Catholic guy that would say,

548

"Hey, tell me about,"

you know, daily mass guy.

549

And he'd ask people that

and you'd just cringe.

550

You're like, "Oh my God, dad,

551

don't embarrass us saying this."

552

I don't know if you can imagine that,

553

I know you come from the same tradition.

554

But he had a hard time saying,

555

"I love you," right?

556

But he could say, "Hey,

Drew, I'm proud of you."

557

You know, something I did in school,

558

something I did in sports, whatever.

559

"Drew, I'm proud of you."

560

That was his way of saying it, right?

561

And I felt that yesterday.

562

I'm standing over there and I'm like,

563

"Remon, I know this sounds

whack, but I'm proud of you.

564

I'm proud of you for that,

565

that idea that you saw through,

566

the ability to plan it, manifest it,

567

fabricate it, get it out

into the marketplace.

568

That's awesome."

569

And this, I mean, it is

an absolute privilege

570

to be included as part of your story

571

about your business that you're building

572

and the way this has gone for you.

573

It's an absolute privilege.

574

And I can't thank you enough for that.

575

- No, man, I thank you, man.

576

You know, I really,

really appreciate that.

577

But, believe it or not, it meant a lot,

578

you know, the encouragement.

579

"Man, you know, I met this guy at Boveda,

580

and he believes in this idea."

581

And so that's fuel,

582

especially, you know, like I said,

583

in those beginning days,

it was very lonely.

584

And so when you got that

kind of encouragement,

585

that fuel, and it really,

really gets you going

586

in that direction.

587

Appreciate you.

588

- What else is there to say?

589

Thank you.

- Pleasure, always.

590

- God bless you, do well.

- God bless you.