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Cigars for Wine Lovers | Somm Cigars | Vlad Stojanov | Box Press Ep. 128
Episode 1283rd May 2024 • Box Press • Boveda Inc.
00:00:00 00:43:22

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Missing something from your cigars? Learn what humidity has to do with cigar flavors, click here to get Boveda emails: https://hubs.la/Q01BLsBF0

Connoisseurs of fine wines who love cigars, this cigar talk is for you. Get in the know on Somm's limited-release boutique cigars.

Somm is short for sommelier. Somm's lines are named after wines and blended to tap into your palate for wine and cigars. BDX is Red Bordeaux. BDX Blanc is White Bordeaux. Rioja Blend is inspired by the eponymous Spanish wine region. And the Premier Cru - Limited Edition is a rarified 3,000 release of cigars for wine lovers.

Who knew sommeliers (pro wine experts) are also schooled in cigar tasting? Pick up 3 tips on how to taste your cigars better from Vlad Stojanov, founder of Somm Cigars.

Hosted by Boveda's Drew Emmer at PCA 2024, the preeminent event for premium cigar and pipe industry.

00:00 This is Box Press

00:22 How to correctly light a cigar AKA toast the foot of your cigar

00:37 Light the edges of your cigar first

03:33 First cigar? Cuban Punch Punch

05:37 Somm Cigars has 3 limited-production cigar blends

08:24 Great gift for cigar lovers: THE CIGAR, FROM SOIL TO SOUL by Didier Houvenaghel

10:29 Why you retrohale a cigar

17:18 Train your palate to taste cigar better

23:25 5-pack cigar bundle

25:40 Is a big cigar better than two shorter cigars?

27:49 Somm Cigars use rare Honduran Broadleaf

34:19 Which RH is right for your cigars?

35:08 Does a cigar's humidity affect how it smokes?


What is Boveda? Premium cigars like Somm Cigars protect their blends with Boveda 2-way humidity control—that brown pack that you find in the box with your cigars. Boveda preserves the flavor and character of premium cigars by keeping them at ideal humidity. At home, continue to 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 and a perfect smoke from every cigar.


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Transcripts

Speaker:

(upbeat music)

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- Hi.

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Do you need a cut?

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Come on in.

Speaker:

(indistinct talking)

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- First time.

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- First time?

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Don't put it in your mouth yet.

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There.

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This should be great.

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There you go.

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- This is how I actually lost my hair.

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Ma'am, may I prepare it for you?

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Okay, so what do you wanna do

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is you want to get the outside lit first.

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So you gotta make sure that

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you don't wanna put the flame

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directly on the on the cigar.

- Oh I see, really?

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Oh, great.

- So he is toasting the foot.

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- Right.

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- Right, is that how you say it?

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- Yep, yeah you can toast the foot.

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You basically want to

get the edges lit first.

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You can rotate it lightly.

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Obviously this is a single torch

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that gives you a lot of,

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a very focused and very precise flame.

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So since this is your cigar,

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I'm gonna introduce a little bit of oxygen

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to make sure that it's actually lit.

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And when it makes this, whoop,

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when it makes this little yellow,

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or sorry, gray circle around it,

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it means that it's ready to be lit.

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So I'm going to pass it to you.

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You're gonna take two puffs

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and don't worry, the

flame is gonna jump up.

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Take two short puffs.

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One more, exhale.

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One more.

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Perfect.

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- Okay, so then I want you,

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Kevin, I want you to do this.

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Look in that camera right there.

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Lean in a little bit.

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Look in that camera and smile.

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This is a gentleman that's

enjoying his first cigar.

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Don't inhale the smoke, just

let it linger in your mouth.

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That's doing enough.

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He's from Somm Cigars,

I'm Drew from Boveda.

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We're happy to have you on

board as a cigar smoker.

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And now you have to get up

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and get out of our interview.

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- Okay, sorry.

- Thanks, Kevin.

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- No, I wish you well.

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- Thanks for enjoying your first cigar.

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- I wish you well.

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Yeah, welcome aboard.

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Cheers to you.

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- That was great.

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- That's--

- I love it.

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- Did you plan that?

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- I wish,

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you can't pay for that

kind of advertising.

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(Drew laughs)

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That's incredible.

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I actually had someone,

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now that you bring it up.

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About two years back at TPE,

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I was being interviewed

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and a guy randomly walks into

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the interview and goes,

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"These are really, really great cigars.

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In fact, I brought a bunch

of them into my store."

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He's like, "He's a great guy."

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And he just leaves.

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It was just a random--

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- Just a cameo.

- Yeah.

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And,

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(Drew laughs)

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I just stood there and the guy goes,

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did you pay for this, right?

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And I'm like, no,

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I like, this is completely unplanned

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and incredible

- Spontaneous promotion.

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- Correct.

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- All right, well thank you.

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Now back to our original broadcast.

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Sitting with Vlad

Stojanov from Somm Cigars.

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Let's go to the name Somm.

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- Sure.

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- Okay, sommelier.

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- Correct.

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It kind of relies heavily on

my background in hospitality.

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I got into cigars through wine

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back in 2009 when I was still in Europe.

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I did my introductory training,

which took about six weeks

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and we had two full days of cigars.

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One day was just pure theory

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and then the second day

was, you didn't have,

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you know, one of my earliest mentors

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basically started off,

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you do not need to smoke

cigars to pass this,

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this is part of your tool set.

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You should be aware of it.

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Here's six or eight Cuban brands

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that were present at the market,

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that was about 90% of it back home.

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So you need to know where they fall in,

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what are the general

profiles and what they pair,

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because this is part of your,

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this is a revenue stream for you,

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this is a potential profit center,

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so you need to be aware of it.

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Unbeknownst to me, I had

a phenomenal first cigar.

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It was a Cuban Punch Punch.

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- This was your

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very first cigar?

- First cigar,

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very first cigar.

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- In a class.

- 15, yes, 15 years ago.

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It was actually about

this time, it was March.

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I could actually look up the date.

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I don't think it's too

far from where we are now.

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- The beginning of a relationship.

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- Correct, a love relationship.

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Absolute love relationship.

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So,

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that Punch Punch was a medium bodied,

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medium finished cigar.

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Anything fuller than that

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is fuller, which at the time

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I think was like Bolivar, Ramon Allones,

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some of the Cohiba stuff,

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I'm probably forgetting something.

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And then, anything lighter than that,

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or in that same term was,

it was Partagás at the time,

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Montecristo, and then anything

lighter was basically,

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Hoyo de Monterrey and something else

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that I can't remember now.

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And then I tried my first cigar.

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My dad's been enjoying cigars since '92,

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so I've, it's not, it

wasn't foreign to me.

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I've just, I've never smoked anything,

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never smoked cigarettes.

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And,

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I went from one cigar every six months

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to one cigar every three months,

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to one cigar every month,

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to one cigar a week,

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to one, however many I smoke now.

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And--

- However many.

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- Correct.

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- It's personal preference.

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- It is, it is.

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And of course, my love

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of wine continued to grow.

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2015, I moved to the States.

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I did my sommelier

certification here as well.

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Before that I did my Habanos training.

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I competed in the European

Somm Championship.

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I competed here in the under 30, the,

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Chaîne des Rôtisseurs,

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which was a young sommelier

competition, under 30.

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Placed third on the West Coast, which,

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all right, not bad.

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I was happy with it.

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And in 2017, I ended up bringing

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a European brand on board here.

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I worked with them for

about five, six years.

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I expanded that business,

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brought it from zero shops to 180,

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did 100s of events,

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met thousands of great people

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and built some relationships,

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which is what this

business is truly built on.

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And then refined my palate,

I wanna say a little bit.

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- So this is

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very limited

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quantities in my perception

from reading about it.

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- So yes and no.

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It is all three,

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all three blends are regular productions,

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regular production.

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But like all fine things,

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they're produced in limited quantities,

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which were actually put on each box.

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On the bottom of most of the boxes

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you can find when they were made,

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how many were made, how many were rolled.

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And this is probably gonna be,

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I always like to highlight my partners.

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So this is some of the old stock

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that does not have barcodes.

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- 250 boxes rolled December 2022.

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- So I brought some old stocks

specifically for the show,

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primarily because they

do not have barcodes.

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And retailers love barcodes,

makes their lives easier.

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So all the new stuff has barcodes.

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I decided to use them for the,

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for PCA, typically bring

those out for events.

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Now the Rioja, this is named BDX.

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So after Bordeaux, shorthand for Bordeaux.

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- Ah, okay.

- It used to be--

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- And the color.

- Correct, as well.

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- Yeah.

- And then,

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if you actually look outside,

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it truly captures my love of both.

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It is a grape bunch

transforming into tobacco leaf.

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Very, very emblematic of it.

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And a lot of the things translate

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almost one to one from the

cigar world to the wine world.

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Right, we mentioned

the terroir side of it.

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The blending piece, the artistry,

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the

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skill, influence of Mother Nature.

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And then obviously depending

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on where you grow those certain varieties,

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you can end up making

something completely different.

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- Right.

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- Going back to that Honduran broadleaf,

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a Honduran broadleaf versus Connecticut,

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two completely different flavor profiles.

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- Right.

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- This gives you a beautiful--

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- This is really exceptional.

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- Very, thank you, thank you, Drew.

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Very,

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it gives you, if you're a bourbon lover,

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you'll know exactly what I mean when I say

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bourbon mash or like cereal grain,

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like sweetness undertones.

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And then raisin and plums.

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We don't really talk about

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fruit flavors in cigars often.

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But this is a very jammy--

- But you had me,

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when I took that cold draw,

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the raisin and plum was like,

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oh, there it is.

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- Really, and how

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often do you run into that?

- But you gave me

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the word as I was experiencing it

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and it registered, I was like,

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yeah, that's what it is.

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Raisin and plum.

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But in the burning of the tobacco,

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it's different.

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- It is.

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So,

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okay, I'll have to,

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I'll just touch upon

it very, very briefly.

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But when you light up a cigar,

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multiple cold fermentations.

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So two cold fermentations happen,

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and then two warm fermentations happen.

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There's different,

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I won't

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bog, I don't want to bog down your viewers

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with a bunch of these numbers but,

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if you ever wanna learn more,

there's a phenomenal book.

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And in my opinion is one

of the greatest books

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written on tobacco from

Didier Houvenaghel,

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"THE CIGAR, FROM SOIL TO SOUL".

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And he'll break down the

actual fermentations of how--

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- Cigar from Soil to--

- To Soul.

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Soil to Soul.

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- Sold.

- Soul.

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S-O-U-L, yes.

- Soul, okay.

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- Absolutely beautiful.

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It gives a rich history in

the tapestry of the world.

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And then in the second book,

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it actually dives into the,

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the perception and how do

you perceive those flavors.

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And you touched upon

on one of those notes,

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so you said the words.

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Our ability to perceive

flavors is incredible.

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Where we mostly lack,

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and a lot of this is

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to a point, it is also culturally driven.

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We can perceive flavors,

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but we have a hard time

connecting to the actual word.

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- Right.

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- And that is just a skill that you're,

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you develop over time.

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Visual aids are really good.

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- I don't know that I would've

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arrived at those words unless you

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said them at the moment

that I was experiencing it.

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- But you knew there

was sweetness in there,

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right?

- Yeah.

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- There was something that

was very, very pleasant.

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But you were,

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you couldn't quite put your

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finger on it.

- But I've always

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been challenged to,

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I listen to people like

Charlie [Minato] from halfwheel

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will talk about cigars,

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and he'll rip through

a bunch of descriptors

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and I'll be like, yeah,

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that's, but that's not my

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translation.

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It's almost as though

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this is the language

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and there's a translation going on

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sensually in here.

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- There is, so,

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okay, we're gonna take a step back.

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And from an actual

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physical perception,

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your sensory plate, your

bulb is located right here.

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So when we're trying to perceive

these chemical components,

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like the molecules that

actually carry the aromas,

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we're lucky that when

we're enjoying cigars,

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it's in a gas form.

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And gas expands to occupy whatever--

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- Space.

- Space it's located in.

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Right, if I remember my

sixth grade chemistry.

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So with this,

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what you want to do,

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you want to use your retronasal passage,

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which is just a very fancy way to say,

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this is how you push it through

the back of your throat,

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up your nose to hit your

sensory plate up here.

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Now we're lucky because in gas form,

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it's a lot easier to do it than it is

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with food or wine or spirits,

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because they're solids or in liquid form.

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So when you do it, you want to,

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the way I suggest, so,

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you exhale about 85 to 90%,

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you close your mouth

and then slowly exhale.

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You wanna exhale slowly through the back,

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through your nose for a couple of reasons.

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A,

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tobacco or smoke in

general is going to be hot.

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So it's gonna be a little

aggressive on your palate.

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Going back to my mentor from 15 years ago,

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I still remember his words.

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We probably all smoke cigars a

little faster than we should.

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- Right, I know I do.

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- As just as, just part of life.

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And the way he put it

very romantically is,

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you should be smoking it on the edge

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of it almost going out.

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If you've ever smoked hookah--

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- Oh, no, that's a great,

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that's a great piece of advice, oh.

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- Very, very,

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if you've ever smoked hookah,

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the philosophy behind

it kind of translates.

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So you take hot smoke, it

goes through cold water,

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and then you're enjoying

colder room temperature smoke,

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which you should be really

trying to do with this.

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Retronasal, experiencing it retronasally

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increases it probably

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20, 30%,

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20 to 30% at least to what you're,

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people say up to 80%.

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Sure, I won't go into

percentages just because

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it increases your perception,

we'll leave it at that.

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- Yeah, but it's a totally different way

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of thinking about smoke.

- It is.

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So, and then you'll be able to

pick up a lot of these things

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that you won't be able to

pick up just using your palate

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for perception.

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Aside from that,

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you experience palate fatigue to a point.

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So your body, your palate gets used

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to sensing these flavors.

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So it starts, I don't

wanna call muting them out,

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but kind of tuning them out

and looking for extra stuff.

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So after a while,

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and, of course, cigars

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provided their blended to be complex,

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they'll experience a transition.

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And this started off with,

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and correct me if I'm wrong,

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I'm going from--

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- No, this is great.

- My personal, so.

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- This is awesome.

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- When you first lit it up,

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the dominant or more apparent

notes were the dark chocolate.

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- Yeah.

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- The earthiness from

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the San Andrés.

- Right.

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- The milk chocolate,

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and then baking spice in it.

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And I'll go for the spice rack.

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So it goes cinnamon,

nutmeg, clove, allspice.

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That's really where it's going.

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It's going in that baking spice rack,

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but then, about,

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four, five puffs in,

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quarter of an inch, half an inch,

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now it's going into the

plum and baking spices.

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The earthiness really isn't as apparent.

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- That's true.

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- And, as the cigar progresses,

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it'll gradually change.

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That sweetness will probably be

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the most apparent in the second third,

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about halfway through.

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And then once you hit that last third,

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it'll actually change to spice driven one.

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But when I say spice,

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now I'm going into black and white pepper.

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- But this, you're describing a level

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of cigar consciousness

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that transcends the

average smoking experience.

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I mean,

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to think about it that way,

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it's inspiring.

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It's,

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I have,

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I love cigars,

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but I love cigars

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with a different set of descriptors

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and experience than you do

because of your training.

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- Thank you, Drew, that was a very nice

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way of saying that I'm a nerd.

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I appreciate it--

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- No dude--

- From the bottom of my heart.

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- I, and I--

- I kid, I kid, I kid.

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No, but really, really,

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that's--

- No, you are a total nerd,

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I love this.

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- So really that,

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that comes down to our tasting,

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our way of perceiving things and

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remembering all those flavors.

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Think of it as a Rolodex.

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And for all those younger listeners,

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it's something you flip through

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and there's like an actual

address book, right?

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The contact card of our times.

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Think of it as you--

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- It's a catalog of experiences.

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- Yes, that's actually a

great way of putting it.

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- Yeah.

- Phenomenal.

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So the more adventurous you are with food

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and the more you actually

pay attention to it,

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the larger your Rolodex of

flavors that you can recall.

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So Charlie [Minato]

has a fantastic palate.

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And, I did a tasting with

one of my other cigars

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and I said, pencil shavings.

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And because it's one of the calling cards

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of an aged Bordeaux, a graphite.

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And people started laughing and I go,

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they're like, "Well, pencil shavings

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what does that mean?"

- Well like it was pejorative.

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They look at it as

though it's a criticism.

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- Yes.

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And I go, "Well, no this is--"

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- But there is a certain smell.

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- There is.

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- If you, when you think

about back in the day

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when we used to grind those little pencils

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and you'd smell the cedar and

you'd smell the lead together.

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- That's exactly

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what I told them.

- It's a very unique

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sensory experience.

- And I told them,

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"Remember guys,

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#2 pencil."

- But everybody said,

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you even remember the way

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the eraser smelt.

- Yes,

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yes.

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I still love that

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smell by the way.

- Yeah.

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- But I'm like, "Look,

there is that note."

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And they're like, "Oh

my God, I remember it."

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So our sense of recall is

one of the most powerful

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senses that we have.

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And you know, to mention

Charlie again, when he goes,

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you know, grandma's pie on a window sill,

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that's a very powerful--

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- Very powerful.

- Sense of recall

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that he has of a very, very distinct note.

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I, for example, love finding jasmine

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and floral notes in cigars.

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And it's few and far in between.

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But I remember the smell so distinctly.

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We had it in the backyard

in our summer house.

Speaker:

We had a jasmine tree

that when it would bloom

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the entire,

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you know, neighborhood would smell

Speaker:

beautifully from these floral notes.

Speaker:

So when I pick it up, I can

nail it from a mile away.

Speaker:

Almonds, marzipan, right?

Speaker:

Almonds and sugar paste.

- Mmm.

Speaker:

- So,

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I had a sweet tooth as a kid, I still do.

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My mom came back home

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and I was probably like six or seven,

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for whatever reason,

Speaker:

her and dad went next

door to the neighbors

Speaker:

and she brought marzipan back home

Speaker:

from a trip to Germany or somewhere.

Speaker:

So I got into it and ate about

two pounds worth of marzipan.

Speaker:

Oh, that must have felt good--

- Went, I mean,

Speaker:

- During a coma.

- It felt really, really,

Speaker:

yes, a full on sugar coma,

Speaker:

I was sick for like three days.

Speaker:

But again, it was exceptional.

Speaker:

I can smell, if someone

was four booths over

Speaker:

and there was marzipan--

- You can smell

Speaker:

marzipan?

- I can

Speaker:

pick it up.

- Yeah.

Speaker:

- I did not have marzipan

Speaker:

for like 15 or 20 years

Speaker:

after that.

- But you entered it into the

Speaker:

central processing unit

Speaker:

and it remains resident there for recall.

Speaker:

- Exactly.

Speaker:

- Yeah.

- It,

Speaker:

etched itself into my brain.

Speaker:

So if you ever wanna practice

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your ability to pick up things,

Speaker:

I suggest either you can download

Speaker:

like a cigar flavor wheel.

Speaker:

A visual aid really helps.

Speaker:

Okay, now I got myself into a corner.

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So,

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in order to create

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great

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ways of remembering things

Speaker:

and creating memory pathways,

Speaker:

you should assign

multiple attributes to it.

Speaker:

By being able to look at something

Speaker:

and then look at and say,

Speaker:

let's say roasted

walnuts, roasted almonds,

Speaker:

having a visual moment where

it says roasted almonds

Speaker:

with a sensory perception,

Speaker:

with a cigar on top of

engaging multiple senses

Speaker:

at the same time creates

a stronger neural pathway,

Speaker:

which ultimately helps with recall.

Speaker:

So it's a very, very,

Speaker:

think of it as a muscle.

Speaker:

You exercise it, and my God,

does the exercise feel good.

Speaker:

- Right.

Speaker:

- The other thing is,

Speaker:

be adventurous with your food.

Speaker:

If you're mostly eating

Speaker:

chicken and asparagus,

you're gonna have a slightly

Speaker:

smaller Rolodex than someone who is

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cooking all the time and experiencing

Speaker:

Thai food and Indian food,

Speaker:

and any of the other cuisines

Speaker:

that heavily rely on spices.

Speaker:

You know, Northern African cuisine,

Speaker:

I mean Middle Eastern cuisine.

Speaker:

Like these are all things that are,

Speaker:

that will help your sense of recall.

Speaker:

And then lastly,

Speaker:

and this might require

Speaker:

a little bit more effort,

Speaker:

is paying attention.

Speaker:

So how often do we really give something

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100% of our attention?

Speaker:

- Rarely.

Speaker:

- Exactly, so,

Speaker:

when I did my blind

tastings during the tests,

Speaker:

one of the tricks that they

told me is, before you start,

Speaker:

so they will always

ask you, are you ready?

Speaker:

And you can buy time by saying,

Speaker:

I just need, you know,

Speaker:

I'm not ready yet, which

gives you a 30 second bump.

Speaker:

So in those 30 seconds, they

say you do the following,

Speaker:

you focus on the sensation of

your feet within your shoes,

Speaker:

and I don't just mean

you're standing there.

Speaker:

I mean the actual sensation.

Speaker:

How is your arch touching the actual sole?

Speaker:

Give it 15 seconds of undivided attention.

Speaker:

And when you have that,

Speaker:

then you switch that focus to the wines.

Speaker:

And you can have just an,

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like laser-like precision and attention.

Speaker:

So if you try to do that with the cigar,

Speaker:

I guarantee you will pick up flavors

Speaker:

that I'm probably not

picking up right now.

Speaker:

Someone actually said

mint in one of these,

Speaker:

and I thought about it and he goes,

Speaker:

"Mint, like you find in rye whiskey."

Speaker:

And I'm like, "I see it.

Speaker:

I can see where you're going

with that spiciness of the rye

Speaker:

and the herbal/minty flavor.

Speaker:

I can see where you're coming from it."

Speaker:

Until they mention it,

Speaker:

I've smoked thousands of these,

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I did not pick it up.

Speaker:

So a very, he was in a better,

Speaker:

he was a better tester

than I was at that moment.

Speaker:

- So,

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this is

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just a remarkable

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expansion of

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consciousness around

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flavor, around--

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- Are you a movie buff by any chance?

Speaker:

- Yeah, I love movies.

- Okay.

Speaker:

"The spice expands consciousness."

Speaker:

I just watched Dune 2, and I'm a big nerd.

Speaker:

So this was great.

Speaker:

- Yeah.

- I love that.

Speaker:

It really is a fun,

super, super educational,

Speaker:

it enriches your life

Speaker:

ultimately.

- It's an experiential

Speaker:

embellishment

Speaker:

to life.

Speaker:

One of the

Speaker:

more overly simplified expressions

Speaker:

that's come up numerous

times in conversations

Speaker:

with people that have

been in the cigar industry

Speaker:

for a long time is, this

isn't really a cigar,

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"This is a moment in time,

shared with a friend."

Speaker:

- Beautiful.

- And now you take that

Speaker:

as the frame,

Speaker:

and then in that frame

Speaker:

you start putting colors on a canvas

Speaker:

and,

Speaker:

and it starts to come alive.

Speaker:

Your descriptions of this from cold draw

Speaker:

to initial light, to I'm

still in the first third,

Speaker:

and I tend to,

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I'm smoking this a lot

slower than I normally do

Speaker:

because I'm a more

aggressive cigar smoker.

Speaker:

And I don't know why that is.

Speaker:

It's consciousness,

Speaker:

I'm not really paying attention.

Speaker:

- So I trained myself,

Speaker:

and my girlfriend actually

enjoys cigars from time to time.

Speaker:

And, when I told her you should take,

Speaker:

you know, aim for like

a puff every minute.

Speaker:

So textbook, this is a

45- to 60-minute cigar,

Speaker:

that's a Robusto.

Speaker:

That means 45 to 60 puffs.

Speaker:

I try to slow it down to

maybe a minute and a half,

Speaker:

and it'll stay lit.

Speaker:

From a combustion standpoint,

Speaker:

it'll stay lit and it'll

get you closer to that,

Speaker:

you know, dancing on the

edge of it going out.

Speaker:

She put a timer on her phone.

Speaker:

She went, "Siri put a

timer for a minute 30."

Speaker:

whenever that timer went off,

Speaker:

she would take a puff.

Speaker:

And I watched her and I loved

Speaker:

how she approached it in

a very meticulous manner.

Speaker:

- Well it's almost a zen kind of a--

Speaker:

- It is.

- Of an approach to--

Speaker:

- It was a reward.

Speaker:

- Yeah.

- I did it the

Speaker:

other way around.

Speaker:

So I love reading.

Speaker:

- Yeah.

- I would treat myself

Speaker:

for every, depending on,

Speaker:

depending on how fast I was reading,

Speaker:

every,

Speaker:

every page and a half or

two I would take a puff

Speaker:

and it was my little reward for

Speaker:

finishing those two pages.

Speaker:

And it was, it gets you

into a little rhythm.

Speaker:

But to your point, we don't really,

Speaker:

we don't consciously do it.

Speaker:

We enjoy it, it's great,

it's in the background.

Speaker:

And

Speaker:

that is also one of

the things I love about

Speaker:

all three of these blends.

Speaker:

Especially the Rioja

blend and our Robusto.

Speaker:

And this is a little--

Speaker:

- I got all distracted from your--

Speaker:

- We got distracted,

Speaker:

I'm sorry about that.

- These wonderful

Speaker:

representations of your craft.

Speaker:

So,

Speaker:

okay.

Speaker:

This is the first of a

series of conversations

Speaker:

that we're gonna have together, I hope.

Speaker:

- I hope so, too.

Speaker:

- Because I'm fascinated

Speaker:

and I want to continue

to unwrap this present.

Speaker:

Let's go back to

Speaker:

the imaginary bundle.

- Yep.

Speaker:

- And talk about the presentation

Speaker:

and the opportunity

Speaker:

for people to interact with your craft.

Speaker:

- Absolutely, so the

imaginary bundle holds five,

Speaker:

five of the new,

Speaker:

the five cigars from the newest line,

Speaker:

which is the BDX Connecticut

Speaker:

or White Bordeaux, BDX Blanc.

Speaker:

White Bordeaux is a style of wine that is

Speaker:

not as widespread as the

Red Bordeaux varietals.

Speaker:

And when I say Red Bordeaux,

Speaker:

and it's in its widest definition,

Speaker:

it would be a Cabernet Merlot blend.

Speaker:

- Mhm.

Speaker:

- And then in its truly,

Speaker:

you know, proper definition,

Speaker:

it would include all of the other

Speaker:

permitted Bordeaux varietals.

Speaker:

So with this,

Speaker:

the White Bordeaux typically

has a lot of creaminess

Speaker:

and offers those previously

mentioned almonds,

Speaker:

which is really a calling card.

Speaker:

Almonds, peanuts, and walnuts,

Speaker:

like roasted nuts really.

Speaker:

That's like one of the

calling cards of the profile.

Speaker:

And it is present in there.

Speaker:

We'll go back to that

scale from one to five.

Speaker:

It is a 4.5 or five in terms of flavor,

Speaker:

but in terms of body and

strength, it is 1.5 or two.

Speaker:

Ethereal in its lightness.

Speaker:

It's just purity of flavor

Speaker:

owing to its actual blend composition.

Speaker:

So Ecuadorian, Connecticut on the outside,

Speaker:

Ecuadorian Habano for the binder.

Speaker:

And then in the filler you have

Speaker:

Jalapa Estelí, Jamastran,

and then Piloto Cubano.

Speaker:

All aged for three years at least.

Speaker:

- Sounds delicious.

Speaker:

- And it is.

Speaker:

I just went through all of them

Speaker:

when we were, when I was

in Honduras blending this,

Speaker:

actually let me rephrase that.

Speaker:

When I was in Honduras,

losing eight Dominoes games

Speaker:

in a row,

Speaker:

I ended up going through eight,

Speaker:

6.5x54s throughout the day

Speaker:

trying to get bored of the profile.

Speaker:

My question, when it comes to a larger

Speaker:

size, and again this

is completely personal,

Speaker:

I always look at a larger size and go,

Speaker:

will this size deliver the experience

Speaker:

that is going to be better than

smoking two shorter cigars?

Speaker:

- Mhm.

Speaker:

- And I wanted to see if I

will get bored of the profile.

Speaker:

I did not, I gave up after the eighth

Speaker:

because we lost eight

Dominoes games in a row

Speaker:

to two incredibly well-versed Cubans.

Speaker:

And it was a fun experience.

Speaker:

Now this is available in two sizes.

Speaker:

In a 5.5x52

Speaker:

and a 6.5x54.

Speaker:

Comes in a beautiful pack of five

Speaker:

and the actual outside label

is meant to evoke a wine label.

Speaker:

- Yeah, no, I see that.

Speaker:

It's a bottle of,

Speaker:

like all fine things produced

in limited quantities.

Speaker:

- And I gotta be honest

about that little tagline.

Speaker:

So,

Speaker:

it was kind of an,

Speaker:

an homage to my previous life but,

Speaker:

back home I grew up in Serbia so,

Speaker:

for those of our, you know,

Speaker:

geographically challenged

people among us it is,

Speaker:

you look at Italy, you

cross the Adriatic Sea

Speaker:

and you'll have Croatia,

Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Speaker:

So Montenegro has the largest single

Speaker:

continuous vineyard in Europe,

Speaker:

which is 1,000s upon 1,000s

of acres like in one go.

Speaker:

And on one of their

regular production wines,

Speaker:

to give you an idea, it is

commonly produced something,

Speaker:

you know, think of like Kendall-Jackson,

Speaker:

something you can find everywhere.

Speaker:

On one of their bottles,

Speaker:

they actually wrote that in Serbian,

Speaker:

"Like all fine things produced

in limited quantities."

Speaker:

And all the bottles were serial numbered,

Speaker:

then it would say bottle

X of whatever it was.

Speaker:

So I turned it around

Speaker:

and I found bottle 127 out of 1 million,

Speaker:

700

Speaker:

34

Speaker:

something.

Speaker:

And I looked at it and said,

Speaker:

well, they're not lying.

Speaker:

- It is a limited quantity.

- It is a limited quantity.

Speaker:

I mean the quantity is in the millions,

Speaker:

but still.

- Yeah, it's finite.

Speaker:

- So I really,

Speaker:

I took it to heart and just

made it as a good little laugh.

Speaker:

So when I was putting the design together,

Speaker:

I thought of that and

I said, you know what,

Speaker:

I think that would be a little

Speaker:

inside joke between me and like

Speaker:

six other people on the planet.

Speaker:

But it truly does inform everything I do.

Speaker:

The Honduran broadleaf is rare.

Speaker:

It's not widely available,

it's only used in three cigars.

Speaker:

And I think it'll be,

Speaker:

it'll just get rarer and rarer.

Speaker:

I enjoy it immensely.

Speaker:

And I think this blend

really highlights it.

Speaker:

For the blue one, which is Rioja,

Speaker:

named after the Spanish

wine region of Rioja.

Speaker:

It's meant to evoke

the Gran Reserva wines.

Speaker:

The Gran Reserva has spent five years

Speaker:

before their release,

Speaker:

typically three years in oak

Speaker:

and then two years in the bottle.

Speaker:

This has at least,

Speaker:

all the tobaccos in there are

Speaker:

between three and four years.

Speaker:

Actually some are older,

Speaker:

but I didn't want to

go into the months, so.

Speaker:

This is made it Eladio Diaz's factory,

Speaker:

and is my ode to Dominican Republic.

Speaker:

I am a huge lover of Corojo,

Speaker:

but I know it's a polarizing tobacco.

Speaker:

People either love it or

hate it, which is fantastic.

Speaker:

So I blended a little bit around it.

Speaker:

You have a Mexican Sumatra binder,

Speaker:

which gives you a ton of this

Speaker:

beautiful, beautiful nuttiness in there.

Speaker:

I truly love it.

Speaker:

So we go back to those

almonds and roasted nuts,

Speaker:

and flavors like that.

Speaker:

And then inside you have

four different fillers.

Speaker:

So Habano 2020, Ligero '98, '99,

Speaker:

and I won't disclose the fourth one

Speaker:

because the factory asked me not to.

Speaker:

- Okay.

Speaker:

- It is something very special and rare.

Speaker:

And it really is the star of the blend.

Speaker:

The overall profile is full flavor, right?

Speaker:

We go back to one through five.

Speaker:

It's a solid five,

Speaker:

the body is a three.

Speaker:

So medium bodied, medium strength,

Speaker:

and everything's blended to size.

Speaker:

So the Toro, the 6x52

Speaker:

is going to be a little

bit more spice driven

Speaker:

in the first third where you'll get

Speaker:

the baking spice portfolio, right?

Speaker:

So you'll get the cinnamon,

the nutmeg, the cloves,

Speaker:

you'll get a ton of those

roasted nuts that I mentioned.

Speaker:

Creaminess, cedar, and an oak.

Speaker:

- Is that common to blend to size?

Speaker:

- Um,

Speaker:

I don't--

- It's an intriguing question

Speaker:

because I'm curious.

Speaker:

- So--

- That's the first

Speaker:

I've ever heard it.

Speaker:

- So,

Speaker:

what that really means is you're,

Speaker:

kind of go back to the drawing board

Speaker:

and make sure that that is the best

Speaker:

size to represent what

you're trying to do.

Speaker:

And we're using the same blend, right?

Speaker:

Without adjusting stuff necessarily,

Speaker:

rather than just ratioing it out.

Speaker:

I don't know how common it is.

Speaker:

From what I can tell, not,

Speaker:

you know, depending,

Speaker:

I don't think it's done at

Speaker:

a larger scale for one simple reason.

Speaker:

I started with the Robusto

Speaker:

and the BDX format here,

Speaker:

and it took me about

Speaker:

three months to figure out the Robusto,

Speaker:

sorry the Toro and the 6x60 Box Press.

Speaker:

Mostly because I didn't fly

it back down to Honduras.

Speaker:

We were doing it,

Speaker:

they were sending me

samples back and forth

Speaker:

and we were tweaking it that way.

Speaker:

But typically when I'm blending stuff,

Speaker:

I go down and I spend a week or two

Speaker:

making sure that it is

what I wanted it to be.

Speaker:

Again, if you're making,

Speaker:

you know a million cigars

Speaker:

and you're trying to add three more sizes

Speaker:

and you spend two months working on it,

Speaker:

I don't think that's realistic.

Speaker:

I can afford to do it because I'm,

Speaker:

you know, like all fine things

Speaker:

it's produced in limited quantities.

Speaker:

So I can afford to,

Speaker:

then I want to make sure that it delivers

Speaker:

the experience that I want it to.

Speaker:

There is a little bit of

Speaker:

a difference in the Rioja, especially,

Speaker:

because it's the same

exact blend, carbon copy.

Speaker:

The Robusto is a 5x54

Speaker:

and the sweetness is a lot more

apparent in the first third.

Speaker:

But the spiciness that

you get in the first third

Speaker:

of the Toro size is now in the middle.

Speaker:

And in the last third it

goes back to creaminess.

Speaker:

The Rioja, the Toro sorry,

on the other hand goes spice,

Speaker:

creaminess, spiciness.

Speaker:

- But there's a level of intentionality

Speaker:

that to this kind of discussion

Speaker:

that transcends

Speaker:

my understanding of cigars.

Speaker:

I mean this is lovely.

Speaker:

I mean it's a very,

Speaker:

I mean you jokingly refer to it

Speaker:

to a sense of nerdiness.

Speaker:

Like we've now got an astronaut

Speaker:

in the cigar blending community.

Speaker:

But it's

Speaker:

remarkable

Speaker:

the amount of thought

Speaker:

and consciousness that you're

Speaker:

crafting into this art.

Speaker:

- Thank you, I haven't thought

about it, honestly, that way.

Speaker:

- Yeah, no it's just,

Speaker:

it's a very different approach.

Speaker:

- I pay attention to those details and

Speaker:

the tagline under the logo is

actually selective by choice.

Speaker:

And it truly does inform everything from

Speaker:

what I work with, who I

choose to be a partner with,

Speaker:

hopefully, who the retailers are as well.

Speaker:

Because I try to position

myself not as an outside vendor,

Speaker:

I try to position myself

as a strategic partner.

Speaker:

And that means that,

let's talk about where

Speaker:

we want to be next quarter,

two quarters from now,

Speaker:

a year from now, three years from now,

Speaker:

five years from now, 50 years from now.

Speaker:

- So your energies are devoted to you,

Speaker:

the lines that you've created

Speaker:

and you're also still helping others?

Speaker:

- A little, no,

Speaker:

so I've refocused in the last

Speaker:

whatever it is.

Speaker:

Started a year, basically,

Speaker:

maybe about no six months,

Speaker:

basically quarter four.

- So now it's all on your--

Speaker:

- It's all on me.

Speaker:

- Creativity.

Speaker:

- I have independent sales reps that cover

Speaker:

Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas.

Speaker:

I'm gonna add a couple more.

Speaker:

I have some great partners that

Speaker:

I'll have some press releases coming out

Speaker:

and I truly do try to

position myself as a partner.

Speaker:

And that means,

Speaker:

I wanna have a conversation and make sure

Speaker:

that we align long term.

Speaker:

I'm a big believer in long-term alignment

Speaker:

and long-term incentives as well.

Speaker:

And Drew, I'm sorry if that's,

Speaker:

I think it's burning a little.

Speaker:

- No, I did that because I banged it

Speaker:

into the microphone when I

Speaker:

dumped all the ash on the table.

Speaker:

(Vlada laughs)

Speaker:

So it was operator error.

Speaker:

- It's also a little dry,

Speaker:

like you guys can't tell

from over there but--

Speaker:

- Well, we're very sensitive--

- This actually does--

Speaker:

- To dryness here at Boveda.

Speaker:

- This actually does curl a

little bit due to humidity.

Speaker:

Luckily, Boveda keeps it all solid

Speaker:

and at the right humidity level.

Speaker:

Speaking of which,

Speaker:

I'm actually going to do,

Speaker:

well, we'll talk about in the future but,

Speaker:

one of the,

Speaker:

one of the events that I'm going to do,

Speaker:

my events are a little bit different.

Speaker:

I don't

Speaker:

do it as it usually,

it's not a selling event,

Speaker:

it's experiential.

Speaker:

It's driven as something

different and unique.

Speaker:

So for May, early June,

Speaker:

I'm going to do an event

that is going to use Boveda

Speaker:

and it's going to be the same cigar

Speaker:

that's going to sit for four weeks

Speaker:

at 65 [% Relative Humidity

(RH)], 69 [% RH], and 72 [% RH].

Speaker:

Now,

Speaker:

before the guests

Speaker:

light them up, they won't

know which was which.

Speaker:

- Blind tasting.

Speaker:

- Exactly.

Speaker:

I'll know which ones they are

Speaker:

and I'll go through it,

Speaker:

and they're truly going

to taste them blind

Speaker:

and see if they,

Speaker:

if they see difference.

- Well now you're gonna

Speaker:

take consumer experiences

Speaker:

and you're going to end

up with data points--

Speaker:

- I love numbers.

Speaker:

- Against humidity.

Speaker:

- Exactly.

Speaker:

And I'll share with you guys

Speaker:

and we can see--

- That's great.

Speaker:

- How it happens.

- Yeah, no that's fascinating.

Speaker:

- Because something that I've only,

Speaker:

I've never kept data points on this

Speaker:

but I know by experience experientially is

Speaker:

how the humidity impacts

your smoking experience.

Speaker:

I know that across the board,

I prefer to keep mine at

Speaker:

65 [% RH].

Speaker:

It also helps that Vegas is so dry.

Speaker:

So really, if I really

want to get it to 65--

Speaker:

- Yeah, yeah.

- It's not really

Speaker:

that different.

Speaker:

- Yeah, and we're exposing these right now

Speaker:

to some--

- Yeah.

Speaker:

- Pretty harsh, even though

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we're in an air conditioned--

- Yeah.

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- Facility.

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- Which is even worse

because that sucks out

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the humidity and then the

cold air and everything and,

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Vegas is not, the convention show rather

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is not kind to cigars.

- No.

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- So that is a very, it's rough.

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Luckily, I've kept all of them in,

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Boveda with the Humi bag,

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with the big Humi bags.

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- Yeah.

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- And they fared much better than

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those who did not use them, so.

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- So if--

- If you don't use them,

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I suggest you start doing so.

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- So thus far it's been a fascinating

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introduction to a perspective.

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A very sophisticated,

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I think it's fair to say

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a sophisticated perspective

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about the craft of cigar blending

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and the management of sensory experience.

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There's almost a revivalist

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sentiment to your interest in this craft,

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the sommelier's

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approach.

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It's really

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almost jarring

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to my experience of cigars.

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And I'm grateful that you

took the time to sit with us

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and to have this, the

beginning of this conversation.

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I made a comment to Jeremiah

Meerapfel yesterday,

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that he took the wrong way.

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My comment was,

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there's a very small

percentage of the population

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that's ever gonna have an opportunity

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to enjoy a Meerapfel cigar.

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That's what I said to him.

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Let's make the same comment to you.

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There's a small percentage

of the population

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that's ever gonna have an opportunity

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to have this experience.

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His reaction was, I

was talking about price

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because it has very expensive,

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or relatively high value cigars, okay?

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My point was there's just not enough,

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I mean I don't walk into a

cigar store in Minneapolis

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and run across Meerapfel cigars.

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I'd have to be in certain markets,

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certain preferred vendors

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that have developed a relationship,

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you know, and have the clientele

to support that kind of,

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that kind of consumption.

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What's the picture for your

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blends?

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- For this year, it's probably

going to be limited to

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between 50 and 75 accounts

split around the nation.

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- That's a small number.

- Small number,

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but the reason why I want to do it

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is because of those previously

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mentioned events where I have,

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where I have,

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I do a lot of events throughout the year

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and I have,

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I have,

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I've done 21 events since

January of this year.

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- Wow.

- Since January 16th.

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- All experiential events?

- Yes.

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- And I wanna make sure that those

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accounts can actually have

an experience that is--

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- So you're training them how

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to do experiential events.

- Correct.

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Something very, very different.

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Aside from that, we have plenty of

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online vendors should you choose to,

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should your local tobacconist

not carry it, please ask them.

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I probably had about 20 to 30 people

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come up to me at this trade show and say,

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my customers have

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been asking--

- Right.

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- About this, I wanted to

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stop by.

- So if they go

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to sommcigars.com--

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- There's a store locator,

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we have plenty shops that will ship

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you can find @sommcigars.com.

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The store locator gives it

geographically broken down

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from East Coast to West Coast

and anywhere in between.

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I do believe I will do Midwest,

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I'll do probably East Coast between

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end of April, early May, and then

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Midwest probably May, June.

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And then I'll go,

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actually no, I'm not doing

Texas in August again.

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I've done that before.

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I went to Houston,

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I can still feel--

- Oh yeah.

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- I can still feel the humidity.

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- Yeah.

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- So,

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you can find them,

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you can find a little bit more

information about the blends

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and if you are a social media person

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you can follow my personal account,

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which is vladthesomm

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or the sommcigars itself.

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- Vladthesomm.

- Yes.

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In fact actually,

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I didn't know they would actually do it.

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- They put it on there.

- I put it as a joke

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and they actually did put it on there.

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- Vladthesomm.

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- I love it, so it was

really, really good.

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I post a little bit of these

very short educational videos,

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kind of like, hey, this is

how we perceive flavors.

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Kind of what we touched upon.

- Yeah.

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- I would love to do a much longer format,

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mostly because I can't

condense it in a minute.

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So that would be very, very

interesting to do, Drew.

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- So,

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I'm thrilled to meet you, thank you.

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We will support you with humidity control

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to the Nth degree.

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Whatever we can do

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to be involved in this

continuing conversation,

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the development

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of this perspective

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on cigar experience.

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- Thank you.

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- Just fascinating.

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- There is an analytical component.

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You're trying to analyze something

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using an imperfect tool, your palate.

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And the perception is

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colored by your previous

experiences, right?

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What have you enjoyed?

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How are you feeling that day?

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How big is your Rolodex of

flavors that you can recall?

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And all these other,

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you know, ambient things that are

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outside of your control.

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- Well, but it's interesting,

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in Minnesota, if you're fortunate,

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you go up North in the summertime

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and you get to experience

the Aurora Borealis.

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I don't know if you had

that experience in Europe,

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but if you've never experienced it,

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you don't have any imprint

in your sensory experience--

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- Correct.

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- To be able to draw upon.

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Fair?

- I love it.

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Extremely fair, you actually,

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that is a perfect analogy.

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So your palate is one of the most

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complex ways of perceiving the world.

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And also one of the simplest

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in a way that your palate

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would always refer to the

last thing you experienced.

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And if you ever want to test this at home,

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take a PB&J, right?

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So peanut butter and jelly,

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take a bite into it

where you hit the jelly

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and then the,

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or you, right, bottoms up,

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you go peanut butter and then jelly, so--

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- You go toast--

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- Yes, yes.

- Peanut butter and jelly.

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- But what happens in the perception is

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you experience--

- It skips the toast?

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- Well no, it goes through

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because it's, toast is

relatively neutral, right?

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Apart from the slightly grilled notes,

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it doesn't impart,

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yeah, if you use sourdough

and things like that,

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that might raise the acidity a little bit.

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But what really happens

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when it hits the peanut butter,

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which on a scale of one to five,

that's a solid five, right?

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In terms of like how it coats

your palate and everything.

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But then it gets cut by the acidity,

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the sugar, and the fruitiness of the jam.

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Now flip it upside down

and hit the jam first,

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and then hit the peanut butter.

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- Totally change the experience.

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- It will feel like you're

eating wallpaper paste.

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- That's fantastic.

- And that just shows your,

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how simple your palate in terms of

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that going from Point A to

Point B can be at times.

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- Spectacular.

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Well, we hope that as

time progresses with this,

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and this

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began when?

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- Year and a half ago, maybe two,

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I don't even remember.

- So 18 months

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to two years ago.

- Yeah.

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And I only had one blend, it wasn't--

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- And here we are.

- Yeah.

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- And you're doing these

experiential events.

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Tremendous to meet you.

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- Thank you, Drew.

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- Thank you.

- Likewise,

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an absolute pleasure.

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And thank you for having

me on the Boveda show.

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- And well, we're gonna do it again.

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I just--

- I'm looking forward to it.

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- There's so much here to unpack.

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This is a delightful smoke,

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sommcigars.com.

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Vladthesomm or

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Vlada Stojanov.

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- Yep, oh you nailed it.

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That's right.

- Yeah, yeah.

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Everybody says Stowjanov

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but the J is actually right as a Y.

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- Yeah.

- You're right.

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- No, I--

- Thank you for that.

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Very, very nice.

- I'm just thrilled

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to make the acquaintance

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and I hope we're friends for a long time.

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- Likewise.

- Yeah, awesome.

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- Thank you very much.

- Thanks buddy.

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