Episode 130
Chase this Discontinued Cigar | Nicholas Melillo | Foundation Cigar Co. | Box Press Ep. 130
Cigar loving wise men (and women) preserve the flavor, aroma, and character of sticks with Boveda, click here to get emails: https://hubs.la/Q01BLsBF0
Foundation is no longer making the El Güegüense cigar nor the original Wise Man Maduro blend. In their place, find out what Nicholas Melillo, Foundation founder has in store for lovers of this popular boutique brand of thoughtfully blended, hand-rolled cigars.
See what's new for Foundation cigars with Boveda's Drew Emmer at PCA 2024, the preeminent event for premium cigar and pipe industry.
00:00 This is Box Press
00:12 Nick Melillo riffs on Robert Caldwell
02:58 Connecticut gets a bad rap
04:32 Shout out to Foundation's Olmec cigars and Cigar Jones, Minnetonka, Minnesota
06:01 Hiphop and cigars
07:01 Foundation music video by The Reminders filmed in A.J. Fernandez factory, on the fields
08:01 Worked cigar retail in Hamden, Connecticut
08:26 Discontinuing El Güegüense cigar
09:56 New Foundation cigars The Wise Man Maduro and Corojo
15:57 PCA 2025 trade show April 11-14 in New Orleans
16:04 Foundation Cigar's 10th anniversary is coming
What is Boveda? Boutique cigar brands like Foundation Cigar Co. protect 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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Transcript
- The last time you put
that Claro Olmec in my hand-
Speaker:- Yeah, you want this one?
Speaker:- No, you smoke it.
Speaker:I'm smoking his [Robert
Caldwell's] Long Live The Queen.
Speaker:- Good.
- But I'm not gonna tell
Speaker:anybody on the interview,
so, just pretend-
Speaker:- You can tell it, I don't care.
Speaker:- No, you like that guy?
Speaker:- I love him.
(crowd chattering)
Speaker:- Yeah.
- I love him.
Speaker:- Tell me about him real quick.
Speaker:- You know, as brand owners-
Speaker:- We're talking about Robert Caldwell.
Speaker:- And he started, you know, with his brand
Speaker:before I launched.
Speaker:You know, when you get guys that are cool,
Speaker:- He's a cool guy.
Speaker:- You can relate on so many things,
Speaker:because it's lonely
sometimes being brand owners,
Speaker:because you're kind of on your own island.
Speaker:- Well, you're peerless.
Speaker:You don't have people to
talk to that are doing
Speaker:the same thing you're doing.
Speaker:- Correct, yeah, so, and
then it's tough to relate,
Speaker:even though sometimes
you work with people,
Speaker:they're just not going
through similar experiences
Speaker:all the time,
Speaker:and as a small company brand owner,
Speaker:you have to wear so many hats,
and you're juggling a lot,
Speaker:so, it's nice to be able to
talk to other brand owners
Speaker:that are going through
similar experiences,
Speaker:and I love his creativity.
Speaker:You know, he's passionate, so, we always-
Speaker:- Well, now, he gets to focus
on what he's really good at.
Speaker:- It's awesome.
Speaker:- Yeah, how are you?
- It's pretty cool.
Speaker:I'm good, I'm well, you?
Speaker:- Yeah, really good.
Speaker:I can't thank you enough
- Yeah.
Speaker:- For the time you
spent with us last year.
Speaker:- I had a lot of fun, and-
Speaker:- We cut some great content out of it.
Speaker:- I showed that Connecticut
clip, everybody loved that clip.
Speaker:- That Connecticut
description that you went
Speaker:through the history,
- Yeah.
Speaker:- And the evolution, and the
terroir, and the whole trip.
Speaker:It's like those are like, mini TED talks,
Speaker:or mini classes
Speaker:- Yeah, you know,
- That everybody can
Speaker:benefit from.
- You know, I did a talk
Speaker:at the beginning of this
Speaker:show.
- Yeah, I saw you on
Speaker:the schedule, I didn't make it,
Speaker:I'm sorry I came in later.
- Yeah, you would've loved it,
Speaker:but it seemed like everybody
responded to it pretty well.
Speaker:- Yeah, you do a nice job.
Speaker:- I try, you know, I
tried to do it in a way
Speaker:where I'm not reading from a
tele, you know, from notes, or-
Speaker:- Like the interview.
Speaker:- Correct, I wanna make it-
- It very much is a
Speaker:conversation.
- Exactly.
Speaker:- You pick somebody out, and you're having
Speaker:a personal conversation.
- Exactly, yeah,
Speaker:and halfway through, I looked out into,
Speaker:there was about 1,000 people there,
Speaker:and I saw everybody locked in, so, I said,
Speaker:"Okay, I think I'm doing
what I wanted to do,
Speaker:and keep people engaged."
Speaker:- Well, and it's interesting
talking to Robert Caldwell.
Speaker:He's talking about being in a position
Speaker:where he's doing what he loves,
Speaker:and I gather from the
conversation we had last year,
Speaker:and the general vibe of your personality,
Speaker:you are doing precisely
what you love to do.
Speaker:- Yes, yes, I've...
Speaker:- It's a dream.
- I fell in love with cigars
Speaker:very early through my
grandfathers, you know,
Speaker:that was when I smoked a
cigar with my grandfather
Speaker:for the first time, that was it.
Speaker:You know, that was a coming of age,
Speaker:and being from Connecticut, you know,
Speaker:Connecticut doesn't have a
good rap or image sometimes.
Speaker:- Oh yeah, I have Dan
[Murphy], Dan's my connection
Speaker:to Connecticut.
- There you go,
Speaker:and, you know, the one thing
I always say we do have,
Speaker:we have good basketball.
Speaker:- Mm-hmm.
- And UConn's looking good
Speaker:right now.
- Very good, yeah.
Speaker:- We have great pizza,
Speaker:and we have amazing cigar tobacco,
Speaker:and when I learned the history
Speaker:of cigar tobacco in Connecticut,
Speaker:that was the beginning of the end,
Speaker:so, I've, you know,
dedicated my life to it.
Speaker:- Yeah, you fell in love.
Speaker:- I fell in love, and
that love and passion
Speaker:just led to where I am today,
Speaker:and it goes with other things in my life,
Speaker:being in love with history,
with ancient civilizations,
Speaker:with culture, with, you know,
Speaker:I have this strange love for
Ethiopia and the history there,
Speaker:and that's led to
amazing things, you know?
Speaker:- Yeah, and I now know
how to say, El Güegüense.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:- It doesn't sound like
a pasta sauce anymore.
Speaker:I know how to light a cigar
without drowning the foot
Speaker:with the nuclear part of the torch.
Speaker:You taught me that, and actually,
Speaker:one of your videos taught me that.
Speaker:- Yeah, this flame is about 2,000 degrees.
Speaker:- It's a lot.
Speaker:- It's a lot.
- Yeah.
Speaker:It's nice to have a kiln-dried
cigar when you start,
Speaker:when you start smoking it.
Speaker:- You know what?
- And that cigar,
Speaker:I have smoked so many of those.
Speaker:Little plug for Cigar Jones,
Minnetonka, Minnesota,
Speaker:the Olmecs, they're going
through the Olmecs like crazy,
Speaker:because I stand in the-
- I know, we're trying to
Speaker:keep up.
- I stand there,
Speaker:smoking an Olmec,
Speaker:- Yeah.
- And guys will ask me
Speaker:what I'm smoking, and I go,
Speaker:"Yeah, you gotta understand this,"
Speaker:and I go off on the heads.
Speaker:I talk about this is the
- The Olmec heads.
Speaker:- Earliest artistic rendering.
Speaker:- The mother culture of Central America.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:- You taught me a lot.
- Very mysterious.
Speaker:- Thank you.
- The Olmecs.
Speaker:Very... (chuckles)
Speaker:My pleasure, my pleasure.
(interviewer laughing)
Speaker:I thought you were saying,
yeah, I said, "Very mysterious,"
Speaker:and you were saying thank you for that.
Speaker:(interviewer laughing)
Speaker:You are a mysterious man.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Speaker:You know, I love that stuff.
- It's not about me,
Speaker:it's about you.
- You know, to be able
Speaker:to complement the blends, you know,
Speaker:it all starts with the
tobacco and the blends for me.
Speaker:That's always where it starts.
Speaker:So then to be able to
complement these blends
Speaker:that I love so much with artwork,
Speaker:with things that I'm passionate
about, it just works.
Speaker:- Well, you build the
story around the blends.
Speaker:- Yeah, I mean, I have an amazing friend
Speaker:and art director in Nicaragua.
Speaker:His name's Alex Garcia.
Speaker:We met back in 2003, 2004.
Speaker:He's an amazing...
Speaker:Started as a street artist
in the North of Nicaragua
Speaker:with graffiti, you know,
North of Nicaragua,
Speaker:falling in love with
hip hop culture, right?
Speaker:There was a tradition there of mural art,
Speaker:and then you had an influence
of the States in hiphop.
Speaker:- Yeah, I would never have taken you
Speaker:as a hiphop guy.
- Amazing.
Speaker:Me?
- Yeah.
Speaker:- You know, hiphop, wow.
Speaker:You know, I grew up in
late '80s, early '90s.
Speaker:- Like, gimme an example,
gimme some artists
Speaker:that were central to your development.
Speaker:- I mean, there's a
group called Black Star,
Speaker:that's one of my favorite
hip hop albums of all time.
Speaker:It's Mos Def and Talib
Kweli, the album's called...
Speaker:It actually came out a bit
little bit later in '98.
Speaker:That was after Tupac
[Shakur] and Biggie Smalls
Speaker:[Notorious B.I.G.] had gotten murdered.
Speaker:It is one of the best hip
hop albums of all time.
Speaker:A Tribe Called Quest,
Speaker:man, they're's some Public Enemy, KRS-One,
Speaker:D-Nice, they're from
Boogie Down Productions.
Speaker:D-Nice is a big cigar smoker.
Speaker:Jay-Z, of course.
Speaker:You know, they're all,
it's interesting to see,
Speaker:as they've evolved, their
love for cigars have evolved.
Speaker:So, there's so many hip hop artists
Speaker:that love cigars.
Speaker:- Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker:- And Drew, we shot a hip
hop video, you have to see.
Speaker:Music video.
- I gotta see this.
Speaker:- You would love it.
Speaker:In 2019, with good friends
of mine called The Reminders,
Speaker:and they sent me a song in
May, and in June we were in...
Speaker:I said, "We gotta shoot a music video."
Speaker:- And you shot it in Nicaragua?
Speaker:- Right in A.J. Fernandez
factory, on the fields.
Speaker:- Beautiful.
- It's unbelievable.
Speaker:- So, there's a connection
between the culture of cigars
Speaker:and the culture of the music?
Speaker:- Oh, big time, big time.
- Yeah.
Speaker:- Big time, big time.
Speaker:So many hip hop artists now, you know,
Speaker:they're in their 40s and 50s,
Speaker:and you know, have
- Yeah, that is true,
Speaker:they're old now.
- They're old now.
Speaker:51 years, hip hop is, you know-
Speaker:- You're still young though.
Speaker:- 45, 45.
- Yeah, that's pretty young.
Speaker:- You don't-
- For what you've done,
Speaker:that is young.
Speaker:- You know, I started when I was 18, so.
Speaker:- Yeah, and you did every
aspect of the industry,
Speaker:the retail, the introduction from grandpa,
Speaker:the retail experience, the-
Speaker:- Yeah, yeah, started
working the Calabash Shoppe
Speaker:in Hamden, Connecticut, 1996.
Speaker:I was 18, just graduated high school,
Speaker:and I used to go into
the shop, that was the...
Speaker:'96 was what we call the
height of the Cigar Boom.
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- And I used to walk into the shop, and-
Speaker:- The year before Boveda was launched.
Speaker:- It's amazing, yeah.
Speaker:- What'd you come up with for this year?
Speaker:- So, we actually are introducing,
Speaker:I'm actually discontinuing El Güegüense.
Speaker:- Oh.
Speaker:Por qué?
- Yes,
Speaker:because I came to a point, you know,
Speaker:El Güegüense was introduced in 2015.
Speaker:At that time, nobody knew
who I was, or Foundation,
Speaker:except for the hardcore guys
that were smoking at the time,
Speaker:and the hardcore group of retailers,
Speaker:and that's what, El Güegüense
Speaker:that was the target market
when I first launched.
Speaker:I knew they would get it,
Speaker:but obviously, it's a lot to pronounce.
Speaker:- It's complicated.
Speaker:- It's complicated, so, the brand,
Speaker:compared to all of our other brands,
Speaker:hasn't really, you know, grown the same
Speaker:over the past 10 years,
Speaker:so, I said, "For the next decade, we need
Speaker:to start anew."
- Have you known for a while
Speaker:that you were gonna phase that out?
Speaker:- Mm, it happened
Speaker:over the past-
- Because you really get it,
Speaker:if you're in Estelí,
- I love it,
Speaker:it's my baby.
- You get it,
Speaker:but if you're a Nicaraguan,
Speaker:you get it, I mean, it's...
- Nah, yeah.
Speaker:- In Spanish, it's difficult to pronounce,
Speaker:but when I came out with it, it's Nahuas,
Speaker:it's indigenous to Nicaragua.
Speaker:It's not even a Spanish
word, El Güegüense,
Speaker:so, it's hard for Spanish
people sometimes to say it,
Speaker:but I needed to be true to
Nicaragua when I released it,
Speaker:and that was my artistic, you know,
Speaker:non-business.
- Yeah, cool.
Speaker:- Obviously, I knew it
was difficult at the time,
Speaker:and then I just got the
opportunity recently
Speaker:to work with Pepin Garcia and My Father,
Speaker:so, I've-
Speaker:- This is new?
- New.
Speaker:So, I'm discontinuing El Güegüense,
Speaker:- Oh, this is exciting.
- And the Maduro,
Speaker:and we're launching, at
this show, The Wise Man,
Speaker:Corojo and Maduro with Pepin.
Speaker:- Dude.
- I have to get you some
Speaker:of these sticks.
- That's a great idea.
Speaker:- It's unbelievable.
Speaker:I've known Pepin for 20+
years, you know, incredible.
Speaker:I worked with, you know,
my other brands with Abdel
Speaker:[A.J. Fernandez],
Speaker:so, I have these amazing partners
on the manufacturing side.
Speaker:- Well, do they all have
the same reaction to you
Speaker:like you had to Robert
[Caldwell], when you saw him.
Speaker:I mean, there's that...
Speaker:- You know, we're-
Speaker:- These are real-
Speaker:- They're tobacco guys.
Speaker:- But these are real artists.
Speaker:- Yeah, truly, so.
- Yeah,
Speaker:and it fits.
Speaker:- Yes, it does, and it's-
Speaker:- Oh, you gotta be stoked.
Speaker:- Stoked, stoked.
Speaker:- Yeah. (laughs)
- Stoked, excited,
Speaker:and the reception has been incredible.
Speaker:- How do you keep somebody
from not coming along
Speaker:and buying you, you know?
Speaker:Is it just people popping all the time,
Speaker:hitting you up for-
Speaker:- No, I don't, you know,
I'm doing my thing.
Speaker:You know, it would be tough.
Speaker:- Oh no, this is-
Speaker:- It would be tough to sell.
Speaker:- And I watched that team,
- You know?
Speaker:- You know, you have great presence
Speaker:in the front of the room.
Speaker:You got a beautiful booth.
- My team
Speaker:is stellar right now, yeah.
- Your team is top drawer.
Speaker:- Yeah, it's, you know,
I've learned over the years,
Speaker:it's been, you know, challenging at times,
Speaker:but we really have a
great synergy going on.
Speaker:We're more organized than
we've ever been at the show.
Speaker:- Well, and I walked, we had
a little lull in the action
Speaker:yesterday afternoon.
- Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:- I walked by your booth,
and everybody's meeting
Speaker:with each other.
Speaker:- That's when I'm, yes, yes.
Speaker:- You were having, like, a staff meeting.
Speaker:- Yes, yes, you know?
Speaker:- Yeah. It was cool,
Speaker:- There's great synergy.
- And everybody's, like,
Speaker:in the deal, they're passionate.
Speaker:They capture...
Speaker:The contagion of your
passion for this game
Speaker:runs throughout your team.
Speaker:That's cool, that's hard to do.
Speaker:- It's hard to do, it's hard to do,
Speaker:but I'm on the, you know,
front lines with them,
Speaker:so, we come to the show,
we set up our booth.
Speaker:- Yeah, you set up the booth.
- You know?
Speaker:Yeah, with them, I'm with them,
Speaker:you know, I'm not-
- Yeah, you do everything
Speaker:you expect them to do.
Speaker:- Correct, correct.
Speaker:- Did you write any orders?
- If I gotta sweep-
Speaker:- Did you write any orders at the show?
Speaker:- Yeah, I write a few,
Speaker:but, you know, I'm there
to try to, you know, help.
Speaker:I'm moving around constantly,
Speaker:because I'm hoping to
get them to, you know,
Speaker:take it to the next level
Speaker:with the orders.
- And you're emerging
Speaker:as a personality in the industry.
Speaker:It's cool to watch the thing bubble up.
Speaker:I mean, you did the seminar before,
Speaker:at the PCA, that's big.
- Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker:really great, it was awesome.
Speaker:- This was a conversation
with Michael Herklots
Speaker:at the beginning of the show.
Speaker:- He's amazing, Michael, yeah.
- We sat down and talked
Speaker:about his trajectory, the
way he approached this,
Speaker:the way he was involved
in various capacities
Speaker:in the industry,
Speaker:and the advocate, and the
ambassador that he's become
Speaker:for the whole industry
is the same kind of trip
Speaker:that's going on with you.
Speaker:- He's one of the most amazing orators.
Speaker:- He's a great raconteur.
Speaker:- He was at Nat Sherman.
- He's a great storyteller.
Speaker:- He supported us from day one,
Speaker:and he's such a amazing orator,
Speaker:and he's also amazingly
knowledgeable about the product,
Speaker:about the leaf,
Speaker:so, I got a lot to learn from him
Speaker:when it comes to, you
know, public speaking,
Speaker:and the use of language.
Speaker:He's phenomenal.
Speaker:- I've known his story, and
I've known him from a distance.
Speaker:I actually met him personally,
and he sat in that chair,
Speaker:and we had a conversation at
the beginning of the show.
Speaker:Super gracious guy.
Speaker:We got to the end of the conversation,
Speaker:I went over to thank him, and he said,
Speaker:"You know, I've been thinking.
Speaker:There's some things we could
do to help the whole group,"
Speaker:with some very specific shorts
about the cigar industry,
Speaker:the cigar community, the
ethics around the business,
Speaker:the family foundation of the whole thing.
Speaker:It'd be fun to get you involved in that.
Speaker:- I'd love to.
- Yeah, that'd be good.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about that.
- I'd love to.
Speaker:Anything Michael's involved in,
Speaker:I'll support.
- Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, he's a standup guy.
Speaker:- Stellar.
- You're a stand-up guy.
Speaker:- You're a stand-up guy.
Speaker:- No, I, oh.
- The whole team here
Speaker:is a stand-up group,
- And then I saw the most
Speaker:recent-
- And you got great
Speaker:coffee, too.
Speaker:- Yeah, you like that?
Speaker:- Oh man.
- Yeah.
Speaker:- I've been needing this the whole show.
Speaker:- Yeah, we've been here the whole time.
Speaker:You're welcome, you're
welcome to an espresso
Speaker:anytime we're in the room.
Speaker:- This, I finally got out,
I'm glad I got to get out.
Speaker:- (laughs) That's awesome.
Speaker:- Because it's, yeah.
Speaker:- Yeah, so, I'm gonna come
by and get some sticks.
Speaker:I gotta try this.
- Please do,
Speaker:I told the guys, too.
Speaker:Please make sure you come by
- Yeah.
Speaker:- So we can interview.
- The chap that came over
Speaker:on your behalf is a lovely guy.
Speaker:[Michael] Floyd?
- Floyd, he's a character,
Speaker:huh?
- Yeah.
Speaker:- He just came on board.
Speaker:He used to work with-
- But, no, no,
Speaker:to listen to him talk
- Yeah.
Speaker:- About how much he loves that,
Speaker:- Yeah, yeah.
- Is so...
Speaker:Because that's what we have at Boveda.
Speaker:- This was a big deal
for him, Michael, Floyd,
Speaker:he worked with Alan Rubin at Alec Bradley
Speaker:for, I think, eight years,
Speaker:and he was always on the phone.
Speaker:- Yep.
- So, he's first time
Speaker:in front of customers,
Speaker:and it's a lot for people that
Speaker:are not used to being,
- Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:- You know, talking to people,
and he's done a great job.
Speaker:- Yeah, lovely guy.
- Yeah,
Speaker:and he looks like he belongs in Las Vegas.
Speaker:- He sure does.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- Viva Las Vegas.
Speaker:♪ Viva ♪
Speaker:♪ Las Vegas ♪
Speaker:- What do you think about
the floor this year?
Speaker:- We had a really good experience.
Speaker:It's a shift for PCA to
be here in the spring.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- I think...
Speaker:- It's a transitory time.
Speaker:- Day 1 was great.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- Day 2 was good.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- And today's a great day
Speaker:to have a sit down with people that
Speaker:can't get out of the booth.
- Yeah, we have more time
Speaker:to really talk with people.
Speaker:I think they should have it at
the beginning of the quarter
Speaker:next year instead the end of the quarter.
Speaker:- I think that's a good idea.
Speaker:- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, there's a lot of
Speaker:retailers that aren't cash
flush until summertime.
Speaker:- Yeah, so, I think they're
doing it April next year, so.
Speaker:- And New Orleans.
Speaker:- We launched there.
Speaker:It's gonna be our 10th
anniversary next year, so.
Speaker:- Oh, let's do something
around your 10th anniversary.
Speaker:- We would love it, so.
Speaker:- You're a gem.
Speaker:- Thank you so much, yeah.
- I appreciate you.
Speaker:What else can we do for you?
Speaker:- That's it, man.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- You guys have done enough.
Speaker:- Yeah, but-
- Make sure somebody comes by
Speaker:so I can get you guys some sticks.
Speaker:- I'll be there.
Speaker:(upbeat rhythmic music)
