Episode 133

Best Bang for Your Buck Humidor | Remon Mansour | CigarBros | Box Press Ep. 133

What's in your humidor? Protect it with Boveda—sign up for cigar care tips here: https://hubs.la/Q01BLsBF0

A whole lotta smart cigar storage in this one. Along with its popular 80-count model, CigarBros personal humidors are now available in 4 new sizes to keep 5, 10, 20, and 30 cigars.

CigarBros founder Remon Mansour announced that retailers, like the online wine merchant, Wooden Cork are now carrying a prefilled CigarBros personal humidor. This heavy-duty black foam cigar vault is reusable but comes prefilled with premium cigars, like Oliva, Romeo Y Julieta, Acid, and more.

Find out about how this family-owned humidor biz has taken off since CigarBros patented a stand-alone climate-controlled humidor to keep cigars fresh and well stocked for non-traditional cigar sellers, like gas stations, convenience stores, liquor stores, lounges, casinos, golf courses, etc.

Remon talks to Boveda's Drew Emmer at PCA 2024, the preeminent event for premium cigar and pipe industry.

00:00 This is Box Press

00:31 Luck is when hard work meets opportunity

00:57 Designed a stand-alone climate-controlled humidor for non-traditional cigar retailers

03:17 Easy-to-use humidor that you don't have to season

04:13 Airtight, waterproof affordable cigar humidor

05:14 Soon to be available in 5 sizes to hold 5 cigars, 10, 20, 30 80

06:11 New branded personal humidor that's prefilled with cigars and Boveda

08:33 No more dry, damaged online cigars

09:54 Wooden Cork online retailer carries cigar filled CigarBros personal humidors

11:47 Making it easy for people to store cigars at home

12:18 Finding affordable multiple personal humidors (great gift for cigar smokers)

16:13 When do you replace Boveda? Every 3 months


What is Boveda? Successful cigar storage starts 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 from drying out. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll enjoy full flavor and a perfect smoke from every cigar.


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Transcript
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- Here we are with the

"Show & Tell" at PCA:

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Joining us today is Remon Mansour,

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a guy who had an idea.

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And we did an interview last year,

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we had a conversation

about what you're up to.

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And I just came back from

your booth down there.

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Dude, it has blown up!

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- Thank you.

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- And this guy right here-

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- We're blessed.

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- Yeah, you're blessed,

- You got it.

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- and you work your butt off.

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- Yeah.

- Yeah.

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- Yeah, what'd they say about luck?

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It's something about when

hard work meets opportunity

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or something like that,

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you make your own luck.

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- Make your own luck, I mean,

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like I said, thank God.

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You know, you put in...

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You know, you put in the hours,

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you put in the work

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and you kinda let it be

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and, you know, whatever happens, happens,

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right, in life and-

- So if you didn't see

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the previous episode,

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he came up with the idea

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of having a self-contained humidor

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to put into non-traditional

places like liquor stores,

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golf courses, what have you.

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Is that fair?

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- That's right.

- Yeah,

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so he has this idea,

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he comes in with his scratch

pad and all his stuff,

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he's hanging out at the show.

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And we were fortunate to be in your way

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and you told us about your idea,

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and we were really blessed to be involved.

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And so, that whole category

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in your business has taken off.

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I think, in talking to you a few times

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I've seen you in the last year,

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it's exceeded your expectations,

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it continues to grow.

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If you're interested,

you go to cigarbros.com,

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you can see all the goodies

that they've come up with.

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This came out of a family

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that's had a Cash &

Carry in San Diego area.

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And your latest brainchild.

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I was laughing so hard

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when you came over and stood on the box,

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or you had the big guy.

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- That's right, Alan.

- Yeah, he just gave me a hug.

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I went down there.

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You had just a giant human being

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standing on this humidor.

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Tell the story about this

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and how you came up with it.

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- Essentially, with the original concept

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with Cigar Brothers,

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we set out to simplify freshness.

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That freshness should be automatic,

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it should be included.

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If you go into a retail store

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and it used to be,

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you know, you walk into any shop

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and you question whether

or not a cigar's fresh,

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and you're pinching at it, and...

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And so, when we tried

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to go into non-traditional retailers,

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the first step was how do you make sure

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that freshness is never a question.

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And we think we accomplished that.

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Our units are climate

controlled, they're in tubes.

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And rest assured you reach

into any of our humidors,

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you know you're getting a fresh stick.

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And so we're doing that

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and thank God we're in 37 states,

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we're in about 1,300 locations now,

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a bunch of customers waiting.

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And we're just trying

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to keep up,

- Fantastic.

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- We're trying to catch up.

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And so, that's doing its thing.

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The evolution to that

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became for the customer

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that wants to take cigars home.

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And that's a whole 'nother world of maybe,

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you know, questionable, maybe, traditions

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with keeping cigars fresh at home.

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And there's a lot of

misconceptions with cigars.

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And there's a lot of

automatic set of rules

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that everyone thinks that

they need to abide by

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or they should, because of what's...

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You know, you have to have a...

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You have to have a humidor

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before you can have your

first box of cigars at home.

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You have to season your

humidor and all that.

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And which is a,

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it's all fine, it's all beautiful.

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It's a beautiful industry.

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But there's a learning curve,

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and there is kinda that barrier for,

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I would say the majority of America

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that maybe wants to,

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you know, jump into the world of cigars,

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just doesn't know how or

doesn't have the time.

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And so, I developed

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the first prototype.

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And we launched this last PCA,

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and it's a, essentially a

humidor made out of EPP,

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highly durable, super lightweight,

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includes a Boveda, airtight, waterproof,

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and you know it's fresh.

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You keep cigars in there

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and a single pack is good for over a year.

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And freshness is never a question,

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especially if you reach in the humidor

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and that Boveda pouch is soft

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it's done, there's your answer.

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No question about it,

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your cigars are fresh.

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And so, we had a really,

really good response to that.

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- So this was first

- And-

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This was first.

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And then the evolution to

that became number of sizes.

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- Okay.

- So now that one holds 80,

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we brought it down to one that holds 5

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one that holds 10, 20, and 30.

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And they all kind of,

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depending on if you're on the go,

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if you wanna have a variety of cigars

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and maybe a cutter and a lighter,

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maybe get the size 10.

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And so, these all launch May 1st

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and we're taking pre-orders today.

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But in this

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and in what we do,

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essentially we're not really

in the humidor business,

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we're in the cigar business.

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And we try to develop

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the right humidor

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for the right customer.

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And so, this evolved

to our collaborations.

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And here's one we did with Oliva.

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- Okay, this is beautiful.

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And I love this, because I love Oliva.

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So tell us about the

collaboration with Oliva.

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- So we have 11 companies

we're collaborating with,

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and this is an all-in-one solution

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for anyone that wants

to bring cigars home.

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Any brick-and-mortar can carry this

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in just in a easy buy.

- This is loaded

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with Oliva cigars?

- That's loaded today

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with Oliva cigars, you can open it up.

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- I just wanna look,

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I'm not gonna take any

- Absolutely, absolutely.

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- Promise I won't take any.

(Remon laughs)

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(Drew laughs)

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- Oh, you're welcome to.

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(Drew giggles)

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- So this is the Oliva Serie V Melanio.

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Ho ho, that is a great stick!

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So how many different cigar houses

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are doing collaborations with you?

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- Today, 11, and we got

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a whole line of guys-

- Only 11

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so far?

- So far 11 brands.

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- Dude, that's pretty amazing progress.

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When did you come out with this?

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- Maybe four weeks ago

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we started the collaborations.

(Drew laughs)

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Yeah.

- Four weeks ago!

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Oh, there they are.

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Those little beauties,

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They're packed in here.

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The Melanio Vs.

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Of course, there's a Boveda pack in here.

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I'm sorry, I interrupted you, keep going.

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- No worries, so to us...

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- So you could ship this?

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- We are shipping this.

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So we developed...

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It starts with where we

want these to be placed.

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Besides brick-and-mortar,

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we believe an important place is where is,

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you're maybe someone

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that may be newer to cigars,

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- Yeah.

- maybe goes

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into other websites

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and you wanted to-

- And they don't have

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a humidor.

- And they don't

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have a humidor,

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and so...

- What's this retail for?

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- They range from about $150

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to $250 depending on the brand.

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So-

- And that's with cigars

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in it?

- With the cigars

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fully loaded.

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- So this without cigars...

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- That's 50 bucks.

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- 50 bucks?

- Yeah, exactly right.

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- And it's durable.

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- Absolutely, yep.

- Yeah, I mean,

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it is super convenient.

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You can stand on it.

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- Yep, so, matter of fact,

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this is our shipping

box as well as a humidor

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because it can take

damage, super lightweight.

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We slip it in a bag,

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it's no UPS driver's gonna damage that.

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And so, what you know is when you order,

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whether you're ordering just a humidor

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or one with cigars,

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if it's shipped in our box,

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- It's gonna be good.

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- it's gonna be fresh

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and it's gonna be undamaged.

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Because this thing is very-

- Which is a big deal

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with cigar shipments.

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- Yeah.

- Because I can't tell you

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how many online cigar purchases I've made

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where the box shows up

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and it looks like it's been

through a meat grinder,

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(Remon laughs)

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you know, with half a brick of sticks

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hanging out the side of it.

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So, and no offense

- Yeah.

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- to the online retailers,

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but if they don't pack them just so,

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that corrugated, it can be a nightmare.

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- Absolutely, and then what happens

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if it's sitting outside

for a couple of days

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and you just, you weren't home.

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- Well, and this is also insulated.

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- Exactly right, so you

can leave this bad boy

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out for weeks.

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- Even in Minnesota?

- The-

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Probably.

- Maybe.

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(Drew laughs)

I don't know if I would.

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But the idea is

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on its way to you.

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- It's gonna make it safe and sound.

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- It'll make it safe.

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And then you bring it in

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and then the Boveda will

do its thing, and then...

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- So if I buy one of these,

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when I go to buy more cigars,

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do I buy the cigars from you?

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- Well, you'll buy them

from our retail partners.

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- Okay.

- So we wanna support

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retailers, whether it's

brick-and-mortar or online.

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So today for example, we have...

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Wooden Cork is one of our partners,

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they're a liquor online store

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and they have an amazing liquor website.

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And if you went

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to their website today

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and you're going to check out

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and you bought your favorite spirit,

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well, the website would

recommend a good pairing

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of your favorite cigars

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- Oh, awesome.

- that would go to it.

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And so, that's who we wanna support.

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- Yeah, that's great!

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- So these guys're not

really in the cigar business,

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but they can be.

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- How long's that

collaboration been going on?

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- This is just in a few weeks.

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We started with one

test, which was a Romeo

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[Romeo Y Julieta] box.

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- Yeah.

- In two weeks,

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simply on their checkout,

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so when someone's buying

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their whatever they're buying

- Yeah.

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- and they're going to check out

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and they're not there for cigars,

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and then we only had

- it's like people

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that bought this also like that.

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And so you show them

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- Yep.

- This opportunity,

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- It goes good with that.

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- How successful's it been?

- And-

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It was $170 add-on for that box of Romeos.

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So they're checking out

and it recommends it.

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We were curious,

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would the customers see it, understand it?

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- It's one thing to open it

- And then-

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- and look at it,

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it's another thing to buy it.

- Yeah.

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Well, they click and buy.

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And in two weeks I

think they sold 55 boxes

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or something like that,

of just that one Romeo.

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And so, the owners of of this

website were just blown away.

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- Yeah!

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- They couldn't imagine

that they would all,

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in the matter of, you know,

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overnight being now

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in the cigar business.

- That's great.

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- Yeah, and so we're-

- Great performance.

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- Yeah, yeah.

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- What a great test.

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- Yes, we were happy with it.

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- So now you have that data

to share with other people

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when you're standing over at

your really impressive booth.

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I love the way you've

merchandised these things

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to show the story, to tell the

story about what's possible.

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You're making it easy

for people to buy cigars.

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- Absolutely, and we think what we...

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We think with this and

going into this direction

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and with a variety of sizes,

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that tomorrow's buyer

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or tomorrow's customer of cigars

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likely could be where he's got

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four or five or six of these at home

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with his favorite brands in them.

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- Yeah.

- And he's consuming them

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right out the box.

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He has one in his car, one in his office,

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and that's how he or

she enjoys their cigars

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rather than maybe a bigger humidor at home

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and then they-

- Right.

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- So it just opens it up

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to all kind of good-

- Well, you've got

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a really good seal.

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I mean, one of the things about humidors,

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I usually use a Pelican™ case,

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you know, I've got like,

- Yup.

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- a 40-count Pelican case.

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The seal on this box

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is as good as the seal on my Pelican case.

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- Yep.

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- There's a little more surface area

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than there is on the

gasket on my Pelican case,

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so I get it.

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I don't know what you call this material,

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but it's really effective

at keeping the...

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There's no leaking.

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- Yeah-

- That's a really big deal!

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Because so many wooden

humidors naturally leak.

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You know, sometimes people buy

our 72 or 75% humidity packs

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because their humidors leak

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and they live in like, Arizona

or Nevada or somewhere.

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They gotta compensate

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for the leaking in the box.

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It's a big deal, you've accomplished that.

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- We hope so.

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I think we have, I think, two things.

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One, it was important,

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you know, that I got the

stamp of approval from Boveda.

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I sent the first ones

out to Jay [Fifield] to,

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you know, test these.

- Jay.

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- Make sure that they don't-

- You love Jay, don't you?

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- I love Jay,

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that's my man, there.

(Drew laughs)

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So it was tested,

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and just like, I had hoped,

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you know, it works.

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- Dude, if you're getting

that much adoption that fast

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and you've only been really doing this

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for four or five weeks,

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we gotta do this again at the next show

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and compare notes to see where this went.

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Because that's, that's

with one line, right?

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That's with one collaboration

that they did that volume.

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- Yes.

- At Wood and...

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- Wooden Cork, yep.

- Wooden Cork.

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So it's gonna be so much fun next year

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to compare notes.

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If you'll still talk to us at that point,

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you may have some people

- Of course I'll, yes.

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- that we need to talk to

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instead of you.

(Remon laughs)

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I hope we always have access to you.

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- No, you'll always have access,

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that's for sure.

- All right,

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that's Remon Mansour.

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This dream, we get to come to PCA

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and watch dreams come true,

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not only with the

self-contained stand-up humidor,

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that was at least the first brainchild.

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I'm sure you had a lot

of ideas before we met.

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But that idea was dynamite

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and you did an awesome

job of executing that,

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that's still going gangbusters.

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This idea launched how long ago?

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- So last July was when

we introduced that.

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- That's not even a year old.

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- Not even a year old, yeah.

- Okay,

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so this isn't even a year old

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and this is going well?

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- Thank God, yes.

- Okay.

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And then, this baby

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with the brand collaboration,

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these cigar houses are getting wise

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to making it easy for their customers

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to enjoy their cigars and know

that they're gonna be fresh.

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We couldn't be happier

for you and your success,

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it's a treat to be associated with you.

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You're one of the most stand-up guys

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I've met in the industry,

- Sure.

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- it's just a privilege to know you.

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- Oh, likewise, I mean,

you're an amazing man,

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your whole team,

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- Yeah. We have a good bunch.

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- Through and through, you

guys are all very great guys.

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You know, I was talking

to the team earlier.

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And I personally believe

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to truly try to do something

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and make it work and be successful

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is that it has to be an element of honesty

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- Yeah.

- in your product

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and what you do through and through.

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And if you can do that,

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and I think things work out.

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Things, you know, turn out right.

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So there's no shortcuts.

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And so, you guys really...

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Your product in itself,

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you can't get any more honest than that.

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And I was explaining that to them,

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is Boveda itself,

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when you reach into your

humidor and it's soft,

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you know it's working.

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And if it's hard,

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you know you need to replace it.

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It doesn't get more

honest than that, right?

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- That's right.

- And so,

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I appreciate that,

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I appreciate your team,

(calm Latin music)

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and I always love talking to you guys.

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- And we've successfully gotten

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through another interview without crying.

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(Remon chuckles)

It's really a privilege

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to know you, buddy.

- Likewise.

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- Thank you very much.

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- Really appreciate it.

- Next year

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we're gonna have a

checkup from the neck up,

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find out how you're doing.

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- All right, can't wait.

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- Thanks, Remon.

(Remon chuckles)