Episode 128
Cigars for Wine Lovers | Somm Cigars | Vlad Stojanov | Box Press Ep. 128
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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Transcript
(upbeat music)
Speaker:- Hi.
Speaker:Do you need a cut?
Speaker:Come on in.
Speaker:(indistinct talking)
Speaker:- First time.
Speaker:- First time?
Speaker:Don't put it in your mouth yet.
Speaker:There.
Speaker:This should be great.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:- This is how I actually lost my hair.
Speaker:Ma'am, may I prepare it for you?
Speaker:Okay, so what do you wanna do
Speaker:is you want to get the outside lit first.
Speaker:So you gotta make sure that
Speaker:you don't wanna put the flame
Speaker:directly on the on the cigar.
- Oh I see, really?
Speaker:Oh, great.
- So he is toasting the foot.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- Right, is that how you say it?
Speaker:- Yep, yeah you can toast the foot.
Speaker:You basically want to
get the edges lit first.
Speaker:You can rotate it lightly.
Speaker:Obviously this is a single torch
Speaker:that gives you a lot of,
Speaker:a very focused and very precise flame.
Speaker:So since this is your cigar,
Speaker:I'm gonna introduce a little bit of oxygen
Speaker:to make sure that it's actually lit.
Speaker:And when it makes this, whoop,
Speaker:when it makes this little yellow,
Speaker:or sorry, gray circle around it,
Speaker:it means that it's ready to be lit.
Speaker:So I'm going to pass it to you.
Speaker:You're gonna take two puffs
Speaker:and don't worry, the
flame is gonna jump up.
Speaker:Take two short puffs.
Speaker:One more, exhale.
Speaker:One more.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:- Okay, so then I want you,
Speaker:Kevin, I want you to do this.
Speaker:Look in that camera right there.
Speaker:Lean in a little bit.
Speaker:Look in that camera and smile.
Speaker:This is a gentleman that's
enjoying his first cigar.
Speaker:Don't inhale the smoke, just
let it linger in your mouth.
Speaker:That's doing enough.
Speaker:He's from Somm Cigars,
I'm Drew from Boveda.
Speaker:We're happy to have you on
board as a cigar smoker.
Speaker:And now you have to get up
Speaker:and get out of our interview.
Speaker:- Okay, sorry.
- Thanks, Kevin.
Speaker:- No, I wish you well.
Speaker:- Thanks for enjoying your first cigar.
Speaker:- I wish you well.
Speaker:Yeah, welcome aboard.
Speaker:Cheers to you.
Speaker:- That was great.
Speaker:- That's--
- I love it.
Speaker:- Did you plan that?
Speaker:- I wish,
Speaker:you can't pay for that
kind of advertising.
Speaker:(Drew laughs)
Speaker:That's incredible.
Speaker:I actually had someone,
Speaker:now that you bring it up.
Speaker:About two years back at TPE,
Speaker:I was being interviewed
Speaker:and a guy randomly walks into
Speaker:the interview and goes,
Speaker:"These are really, really great cigars.
Speaker:In fact, I brought a bunch
of them into my store."
Speaker:He's like, "He's a great guy."
Speaker:And he just leaves.
Speaker:It was just a random--
Speaker:- Just a cameo.
- Yeah.
Speaker:And,
Speaker:(Drew laughs)
Speaker:I just stood there and the guy goes,
Speaker:did you pay for this, right?
Speaker:And I'm like, no,
Speaker:I like, this is completely unplanned
Speaker:and incredible
- Spontaneous promotion.
Speaker:- Correct.
Speaker:- All right, well thank you.
Speaker:Now back to our original broadcast.
Speaker:Sitting with Vlad
Stojanov from Somm Cigars.
Speaker:Let's go to the name Somm.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- Okay, sommelier.
Speaker:- Correct.
Speaker:It kind of relies heavily on
my background in hospitality.
Speaker:I got into cigars through wine
Speaker:back in 2009 when I was still in Europe.
Speaker:I did my introductory training,
which took about six weeks
Speaker:and we had two full days of cigars.
Speaker:One day was just pure theory
Speaker:and then the second day
was, you didn't have,
Speaker:you know, one of my earliest mentors
Speaker:basically started off,
Speaker:you do not need to smoke
cigars to pass this,
Speaker:this is part of your tool set.
Speaker:You should be aware of it.
Speaker:Here's six or eight Cuban brands
Speaker:that were present at the market,
Speaker:that was about 90% of it back home.
Speaker:So you need to know where they fall in,
Speaker:what are the general
profiles and what they pair,
Speaker:because this is part of your,
Speaker:this is a revenue stream for you,
Speaker:this is a potential profit center,
Speaker:so you need to be aware of it.
Speaker:Unbeknownst to me, I had
a phenomenal first cigar.
Speaker:It was a Cuban Punch Punch.
Speaker:- This was your
Speaker:very first cigar?
- First cigar,
Speaker:very first cigar.
Speaker:- In a class.
- 15, yes, 15 years ago.
Speaker:It was actually about
this time, it was March.
Speaker:I could actually look up the date.
Speaker:I don't think it's too
far from where we are now.
Speaker:- The beginning of a relationship.
Speaker:- Correct, a love relationship.
Speaker:Absolute love relationship.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:that Punch Punch was a medium bodied,
Speaker:medium finished cigar.
Speaker:Anything fuller than that
Speaker:is fuller, which at the time
Speaker:I think was like Bolivar, Ramon Allones,
Speaker:some of the Cohiba stuff,
Speaker:I'm probably forgetting something.
Speaker:And then, anything lighter than that,
Speaker:or in that same term was,
it was Partagás at the time,
Speaker:Montecristo, and then anything
lighter was basically,
Speaker:Hoyo de Monterrey and something else
Speaker:that I can't remember now.
Speaker:And then I tried my first cigar.
Speaker:My dad's been enjoying cigars since '92,
Speaker:so I've, it's not, it
wasn't foreign to me.
Speaker:I've just, I've never smoked anything,
Speaker:never smoked cigarettes.
Speaker:And,
Speaker:I went from one cigar every six months
Speaker:to one cigar every three months,
Speaker:to one cigar every month,
Speaker:to one cigar a week,
Speaker:to one, however many I smoke now.
Speaker:And--
- However many.
Speaker:- Correct.
Speaker:- It's personal preference.
Speaker:- It is, it is.
Speaker:And of course, my love
Speaker:of wine continued to grow.
Speaker:2015, I moved to the States.
Speaker:I did my sommelier
certification here as well.
Speaker:Before that I did my Habanos training.
Speaker:I competed in the European
Somm Championship.
Speaker:I competed here in the under 30, the,
Speaker:Chaîne des Rôtisseurs,
Speaker:which was a young sommelier
competition, under 30.
Speaker:Placed third on the West Coast, which,
Speaker:all right, not bad.
Speaker:I was happy with it.
Speaker:And in 2017, I ended up bringing
Speaker:a European brand on board here.
Speaker:I worked with them for
about five, six years.
Speaker:I expanded that business,
Speaker:brought it from zero shops to 180,
Speaker:did 100s of events,
Speaker:met thousands of great people
Speaker:and built some relationships,
Speaker:which is what this
business is truly built on.
Speaker:And then refined my palate,
I wanna say a little bit.
Speaker:- So this is
Speaker:very limited
Speaker:quantities in my perception
from reading about it.
Speaker:- So yes and no.
Speaker:It is all three,
Speaker:all three blends are regular productions,
Speaker:regular production.
Speaker:But like all fine things,
Speaker:they're produced in limited quantities,
Speaker:which were actually put on each box.
Speaker:On the bottom of most of the boxes
Speaker:you can find when they were made,
Speaker:how many were made, how many were rolled.
Speaker:And this is probably gonna be,
Speaker:I always like to highlight my partners.
Speaker:So this is some of the old stock
Speaker:that does not have barcodes.
Speaker:- 250 boxes rolled December 2022.
Speaker:- So I brought some old stocks
specifically for the show,
Speaker:primarily because they
do not have barcodes.
Speaker:And retailers love barcodes,
makes their lives easier.
Speaker:So all the new stuff has barcodes.
Speaker:I decided to use them for the,
Speaker:for PCA, typically bring
those out for events.
Speaker:Now the Rioja, this is named BDX.
Speaker:So after Bordeaux, shorthand for Bordeaux.
Speaker:- Ah, okay.
- It used to be--
Speaker:- And the color.
- Correct, as well.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- And then,
Speaker:if you actually look outside,
Speaker:it truly captures my love of both.
Speaker:It is a grape bunch
transforming into tobacco leaf.
Speaker:Very, very emblematic of it.
Speaker:And a lot of the things translate
Speaker:almost one to one from the
cigar world to the wine world.
Speaker:Right, we mentioned
the terroir side of it.
Speaker:The blending piece, the artistry,
Speaker:the
Speaker:skill, influence of Mother Nature.
Speaker:And then obviously depending
Speaker:on where you grow those certain varieties,
Speaker:you can end up making
something completely different.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- Going back to that Honduran broadleaf,
Speaker:a Honduran broadleaf versus Connecticut,
Speaker:two completely different flavor profiles.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- This gives you a beautiful--
Speaker:- This is really exceptional.
Speaker:- Very, thank you, thank you, Drew.
Speaker:Very,
Speaker:it gives you, if you're a bourbon lover,
Speaker:you'll know exactly what I mean when I say
Speaker:bourbon mash or like cereal grain,
Speaker:like sweetness undertones.
Speaker:And then raisin and plums.
Speaker:We don't really talk about
Speaker:fruit flavors in cigars often.
Speaker:But this is a very jammy--
- But you had me,
Speaker:when I took that cold draw,
Speaker:the raisin and plum was like,
Speaker:oh, there it is.
Speaker:- Really, and how
Speaker:often do you run into that?
- But you gave me
Speaker:the word as I was experiencing it
Speaker:and it registered, I was like,
Speaker:yeah, that's what it is.
Speaker:Raisin and plum.
Speaker:But in the burning of the tobacco,
Speaker:it's different.
Speaker:- It is.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:okay, I'll have to,
Speaker:I'll just touch upon
it very, very briefly.
Speaker:But when you light up a cigar,
Speaker:multiple cold fermentations.
Speaker:So two cold fermentations happen,
Speaker:and then two warm fermentations happen.
Speaker:There's different,
Speaker:I won't
Speaker:bog, I don't want to bog down your viewers
Speaker:with a bunch of these numbers but,
Speaker:if you ever wanna learn more,
there's a phenomenal book.
Speaker:And in my opinion is one
of the greatest books
Speaker:written on tobacco from
Didier Houvenaghel,
Speaker:"THE CIGAR, FROM SOIL TO SOUL".
Speaker:And he'll break down the
actual fermentations of how--
Speaker:- Cigar from Soil to--
- To Soul.
Speaker:Soil to Soul.
Speaker:- Sold.
- Soul.
Speaker:S-O-U-L, yes.
- Soul, okay.
Speaker:- Absolutely beautiful.
Speaker:It gives a rich history in
the tapestry of the world.
Speaker:And then in the second book,
Speaker:it actually dives into the,
Speaker:the perception and how do
you perceive those flavors.
Speaker:And you touched upon
on one of those notes,
Speaker:so you said the words.
Speaker:Our ability to perceive
flavors is incredible.
Speaker:Where we mostly lack,
Speaker:and a lot of this is
Speaker:to a point, it is also culturally driven.
Speaker:We can perceive flavors,
Speaker:but we have a hard time
connecting to the actual word.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- And that is just a skill that you're,
Speaker:you develop over time.
Speaker:Visual aids are really good.
Speaker:- I don't know that I would've
Speaker:arrived at those words unless you
Speaker:said them at the moment
that I was experiencing it.
Speaker:- But you knew there
was sweetness in there,
Speaker:right?
- Yeah.
Speaker:- There was something that
was very, very pleasant.
Speaker:But you were,
Speaker:you couldn't quite put your
Speaker:finger on it.
- But I've always
Speaker:been challenged to,
Speaker:I listen to people like
Charlie [Minato] from halfwheel
Speaker:will talk about cigars,
Speaker:and he'll rip through
a bunch of descriptors
Speaker:and I'll be like, yeah,
Speaker:that's, but that's not my
Speaker:translation.
Speaker:It's almost as though
Speaker:this is the language
Speaker:and there's a translation going on
Speaker:sensually in here.
Speaker:- There is, so,
Speaker:okay, we're gonna take a step back.
Speaker:And from an actual
Speaker:physical perception,
Speaker:your sensory plate, your
bulb is located right here.
Speaker:So when we're trying to perceive
these chemical components,
Speaker:like the molecules that
actually carry the aromas,
Speaker:we're lucky that when
we're enjoying cigars,
Speaker:it's in a gas form.
Speaker:And gas expands to occupy whatever--
Speaker:- Space.
- Space it's located in.
Speaker:Right, if I remember my
sixth grade chemistry.
Speaker:So with this,
Speaker:what you want to do,
Speaker:you want to use your retronasal passage,
Speaker:which is just a very fancy way to say,
Speaker:this is how you push it through
the back of your throat,
Speaker:up your nose to hit your
sensory plate up here.
Speaker:Now we're lucky because in gas form,
Speaker:it's a lot easier to do it than it is
Speaker:with food or wine or spirits,
Speaker:because they're solids or in liquid form.
Speaker:So when you do it, you want to,
Speaker:the way I suggest, so,
Speaker:you exhale about 85 to 90%,
Speaker:you close your mouth
and then slowly exhale.
Speaker:You wanna exhale slowly through the back,
Speaker:through your nose for a couple of reasons.
Speaker:A,
Speaker:tobacco or smoke in
general is going to be hot.
Speaker:So it's gonna be a little
aggressive on your palate.
Speaker:Going back to my mentor from 15 years ago,
Speaker:I still remember his words.
Speaker:We probably all smoke cigars a
little faster than we should.
Speaker:- Right, I know I do.
Speaker:- As just as, just part of life.
Speaker:And the way he put it
very romantically is,
Speaker:you should be smoking it on the edge
Speaker:of it almost going out.
Speaker:If you've ever smoked hookah--
Speaker:- Oh, no, that's a great,
Speaker:that's a great piece of advice, oh.
Speaker:- Very, very,
Speaker:if you've ever smoked hookah,
Speaker:the philosophy behind
it kind of translates.
Speaker:So you take hot smoke, it
goes through cold water,
Speaker:and then you're enjoying
colder room temperature smoke,
Speaker:which you should be really
trying to do with this.
Speaker:Retronasal, experiencing it retronasally
Speaker:increases it probably
Speaker:20, 30%,
Speaker:20 to 30% at least to what you're,
Speaker:people say up to 80%.
Speaker:Sure, I won't go into
percentages just because
Speaker:it increases your perception,
we'll leave it at that.
Speaker:- Yeah, but it's a totally different way
Speaker:of thinking about smoke.
- It is.
Speaker:So, and then you'll be able to
pick up a lot of these things
Speaker:that you won't be able to
pick up just using your palate
Speaker:for perception.
Speaker:Aside from that,
Speaker:you experience palate fatigue to a point.
Speaker:So your body, your palate gets used
Speaker:to sensing these flavors.
Speaker:So it starts, I don't
wanna call muting them out,
Speaker:but kind of tuning them out
and looking for extra stuff.
Speaker:So after a while,
Speaker:and, of course, cigars
Speaker:provided their blended to be complex,
Speaker:they'll experience a transition.
Speaker:And this started off with,
Speaker:and correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker:I'm going from--
Speaker:- No, this is great.
- My personal, so.
Speaker:- This is awesome.
Speaker:- When you first lit it up,
Speaker:the dominant or more apparent
notes were the dark chocolate.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- The earthiness from
Speaker:the San Andrés.
- Right.
Speaker:- The milk chocolate,
Speaker:and then baking spice in it.
Speaker:And I'll go for the spice rack.
Speaker:So it goes cinnamon,
nutmeg, clove, allspice.
Speaker:That's really where it's going.
Speaker:It's going in that baking spice rack,
Speaker:but then, about,
Speaker:four, five puffs in,
Speaker:quarter of an inch, half an inch,
Speaker:now it's going into the
plum and baking spices.
Speaker:The earthiness really isn't as apparent.
Speaker:- That's true.
Speaker:- And, as the cigar progresses,
Speaker:it'll gradually change.
Speaker:That sweetness will probably be
Speaker:the most apparent in the second third,
Speaker:about halfway through.
Speaker:And then once you hit that last third,
Speaker:it'll actually change to spice driven one.
Speaker:But when I say spice,
Speaker:now I'm going into black and white pepper.
Speaker:- But this, you're describing a level
Speaker:of cigar consciousness
Speaker:that transcends the
average smoking experience.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:to think about it that way,
Speaker:it's inspiring.
Speaker:It's,
Speaker:I have,
Speaker:I love cigars,
Speaker:but I love cigars
Speaker:with a different set of descriptors
Speaker:and experience than you do
because of your training.
Speaker:- Thank you, Drew, that was a very nice
Speaker:way of saying that I'm a nerd.
Speaker:I appreciate it--
Speaker:- No dude--
- From the bottom of my heart.
Speaker:- I, and I--
- I kid, I kid, I kid.
Speaker:No, but really, really,
Speaker:that's--
- No, you are a total nerd,
Speaker:I love this.
Speaker:- So really that,
Speaker:that comes down to our tasting,
Speaker:our way of perceiving things and
Speaker:remembering all those flavors.
Speaker:Think of it as a Rolodex.
Speaker:And for all those younger listeners,
Speaker:it's something you flip through
Speaker:and there's like an actual
address book, right?
Speaker:The contact card of our times.
Speaker:Think of it as you--
Speaker:- It's a catalog of experiences.
Speaker:- Yes, that's actually a
great way of putting it.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- Phenomenal.
Speaker:So the more adventurous you are with food
Speaker:and the more you actually
pay attention to it,
Speaker:the larger your Rolodex of
flavors that you can recall.
Speaker:So Charlie [Minato]
has a fantastic palate.
Speaker:And, I did a tasting with
one of my other cigars
Speaker:and I said, pencil shavings.
Speaker:And because it's one of the calling cards
Speaker:of an aged Bordeaux, a graphite.
Speaker:And people started laughing and I go,
Speaker:they're like, "Well, pencil shavings
Speaker:what does that mean?"
- Well like it was pejorative.
Speaker:They look at it as
though it's a criticism.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:And I go, "Well, no this is--"
Speaker:- But there is a certain smell.
Speaker:- There is.
Speaker:- If you, when you think
about back in the day
Speaker:when we used to grind those little pencils
Speaker:and you'd smell the cedar and
you'd smell the lead together.
Speaker:- That's exactly
Speaker:what I told them.
- It's a very unique
Speaker:sensory experience.
- And I told them,
Speaker:"Remember guys,
Speaker:#2 pencil."
- But everybody said,
Speaker:you even remember the way
Speaker:the eraser smelt.
- Yes,
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:I still love that
Speaker:smell by the way.
- Yeah.
Speaker:- But I'm like, "Look,
there is that note."
Speaker:And they're like, "Oh
my God, I remember it."
Speaker:So our sense of recall is
one of the most powerful
Speaker:senses that we have.
Speaker:And you know, to mention
Charlie again, when he goes,
Speaker:you know, grandma's pie on a window sill,
Speaker:that's a very powerful--
Speaker:- Very powerful.
- Sense of recall
Speaker:that he has of a very, very distinct note.
Speaker:I, for example, love finding jasmine
Speaker:and floral notes in cigars.
Speaker:And it's few and far in between.
Speaker:But I remember the smell so distinctly.
Speaker:We had it in the backyard
in our summer house.
Speaker:We had a jasmine tree
that when it would bloom
Speaker:the entire,
Speaker: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,
Speaker:I had a sweet tooth as a kid, I still do.
Speaker:My mom came back home
Speaker:and I was probably like six or seven,
Speaker: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
Speaker: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.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:in order to create
Speaker:great
Speaker: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
Speaker: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
Speaker: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,
Speaker: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,
Speaker: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,
Speaker:this is
Speaker:just a remarkable
Speaker:expansion of
Speaker:consciousness around
Speaker:flavor, around--
Speaker:- 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,
Speaker:"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,
Speaker: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
Speaker:we're in an air conditioned--
- Yeah.
Speaker:- Facility.
Speaker:- Which is even worse
because that sucks out
Speaker:the humidity and then the
cold air and everything and,
Speaker:Vegas is not, the convention show rather
Speaker:is not kind to cigars.
- No.
Speaker:- So that is a very, it's rough.
Speaker:Luckily, I've kept all of them in,
Speaker:Boveda with the Humi bag,
Speaker:with the big Humi bags.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- And they fared much better than
Speaker:those who did not use them, so.
Speaker:- So if--
- If you don't use them,
Speaker:I suggest you start doing so.
Speaker:- So thus far it's been a fascinating
Speaker:introduction to a perspective.
Speaker:A very sophisticated,
Speaker:I think it's fair to say
Speaker:a sophisticated perspective
Speaker:about the craft of cigar blending
Speaker:and the management of sensory experience.
Speaker:There's almost a revivalist
Speaker:sentiment to your interest in this craft,
Speaker:the sommelier's
Speaker:approach.
Speaker:It's really
Speaker:almost jarring
Speaker:to my experience of cigars.
Speaker:And I'm grateful that you
took the time to sit with us
Speaker:and to have this, the
beginning of this conversation.
Speaker:I made a comment to Jeremiah
Meerapfel yesterday,
Speaker:that he took the wrong way.
Speaker:My comment was,
Speaker:there's a very small
percentage of the population
Speaker:that's ever gonna have an opportunity
Speaker:to enjoy a Meerapfel cigar.
Speaker:That's what I said to him.
Speaker:Let's make the same comment to you.
Speaker:There's a small percentage
of the population
Speaker:that's ever gonna have an opportunity
Speaker:to have this experience.
Speaker:His reaction was, I
was talking about price
Speaker:because it has very expensive,
Speaker:or relatively high value cigars, okay?
Speaker:My point was there's just not enough,
Speaker:I mean I don't walk into a
cigar store in Minneapolis
Speaker:and run across Meerapfel cigars.
Speaker:I'd have to be in certain markets,
Speaker:certain preferred vendors
Speaker:that have developed a relationship,
Speaker:you know, and have the clientele
to support that kind of,
Speaker:that kind of consumption.
Speaker:What's the picture for your
Speaker:blends?
Speaker:- For this year, it's probably
going to be limited to
Speaker:between 50 and 75 accounts
split around the nation.
Speaker:- That's a small number.
- Small number,
Speaker:but the reason why I want to do it
Speaker:is because of those previously
Speaker:mentioned events where I have,
Speaker:where I have,
Speaker:I do a lot of events throughout the year
Speaker:and I have,
Speaker:I have,
Speaker:I've done 21 events since
January of this year.
Speaker:- Wow.
- Since January 16th.
Speaker:- All experiential events?
- Yes.
Speaker:- And I wanna make sure that those
Speaker:accounts can actually have
an experience that is--
Speaker:- So you're training them how
Speaker:to do experiential events.
- Correct.
Speaker:Something very, very different.
Speaker:Aside from that, we have plenty of
Speaker:online vendors should you choose to,
Speaker:should your local tobacconist
not carry it, please ask them.
Speaker:I probably had about 20 to 30 people
Speaker:come up to me at this trade show and say,
Speaker:my customers have
Speaker:been asking--
- Right.
Speaker:- About this, I wanted to
Speaker:stop by.
- So if they go
Speaker:to sommcigars.com--
Speaker:- There's a store locator,
Speaker:we have plenty shops that will ship
Speaker:you can find @sommcigars.com.
Speaker:The store locator gives it
geographically broken down
Speaker:from East Coast to West Coast
and anywhere in between.
Speaker:I do believe I will do Midwest,
Speaker:I'll do probably East Coast between
Speaker:end of April, early May, and then
Speaker:Midwest probably May, June.
Speaker:And then I'll go,
Speaker:actually no, I'm not doing
Texas in August again.
Speaker:I've done that before.
Speaker:I went to Houston,
Speaker:I can still feel--
- Oh yeah.
Speaker:- I can still feel the humidity.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- So,
Speaker:you can find them,
Speaker:you can find a little bit more
information about the blends
Speaker:and if you are a social media person
Speaker:you can follow my personal account,
Speaker:which is vladthesomm
Speaker:or the sommcigars itself.
Speaker:- Vladthesomm.
- Yes.
Speaker:In fact actually,
Speaker:I didn't know they would actually do it.
Speaker:- They put it on there.
- I put it as a joke
Speaker:and they actually did put it on there.
Speaker:- Vladthesomm.
Speaker:- I love it, so it was
really, really good.
Speaker:I post a little bit of these
very short educational videos,
Speaker:kind of like, hey, this is
how we perceive flavors.
Speaker:Kind of what we touched upon.
- Yeah.
Speaker:- I would love to do a much longer format,
Speaker:mostly because I can't
condense it in a minute.
Speaker:So that would be very, very
interesting to do, Drew.
Speaker:- So,
Speaker:I'm thrilled to meet you, thank you.
Speaker:We will support you with humidity control
Speaker:to the Nth degree.
Speaker:Whatever we can do
Speaker:to be involved in this
continuing conversation,
Speaker:the development
Speaker:of this perspective
Speaker:on cigar experience.
Speaker:- Thank you.
Speaker:- Just fascinating.
Speaker:- There is an analytical component.
Speaker:You're trying to analyze something
Speaker:using an imperfect tool, your palate.
Speaker:And the perception is
Speaker:colored by your previous
experiences, right?
Speaker:What have you enjoyed?
Speaker:How are you feeling that day?
Speaker:How big is your Rolodex of
flavors that you can recall?
Speaker:And all these other,
Speaker:you know, ambient things that are
Speaker:outside of your control.
Speaker:- Well, but it's interesting,
Speaker:in Minnesota, if you're fortunate,
Speaker:you go up North in the summertime
Speaker:and you get to experience
the Aurora Borealis.
Speaker:I don't know if you had
that experience in Europe,
Speaker:but if you've never experienced it,
Speaker:you don't have any imprint
in your sensory experience--
Speaker:- Correct.
Speaker:- To be able to draw upon.
Speaker:Fair?
- I love it.
Speaker:Extremely fair, you actually,
Speaker:that is a perfect analogy.
Speaker:So your palate is one of the most
Speaker:complex ways of perceiving the world.
Speaker:And also one of the simplest
Speaker:in a way that your palate
Speaker:would always refer to the
last thing you experienced.
Speaker:And if you ever want to test this at home,
Speaker:take a PB&J, right?
Speaker:So peanut butter and jelly,
Speaker:take a bite into it
where you hit the jelly
Speaker:and then the,
Speaker:or you, right, bottoms up,
Speaker:you go peanut butter and then jelly, so--
Speaker:- You go toast--
Speaker:- Yes, yes.
- Peanut butter and jelly.
Speaker:- But what happens in the perception is
Speaker:you experience--
- It skips the toast?
Speaker:- Well no, it goes through
Speaker:because it's, toast is
relatively neutral, right?
Speaker:Apart from the slightly grilled notes,
Speaker:it doesn't impart,
Speaker:yeah, if you use sourdough
and things like that,
Speaker:that might raise the acidity a little bit.
Speaker:But what really happens
Speaker:when it hits the peanut butter,
Speaker:which on a scale of one to five,
that's a solid five, right?
Speaker:In terms of like how it coats
your palate and everything.
Speaker:But then it gets cut by the acidity,
Speaker:the sugar, and the fruitiness of the jam.
Speaker:Now flip it upside down
and hit the jam first,
Speaker:and then hit the peanut butter.
Speaker:- Totally change the experience.
Speaker:- It will feel like you're
eating wallpaper paste.
Speaker:- That's fantastic.
- And that just shows your,
Speaker:how simple your palate in terms of
Speaker:that going from Point A to
Point B can be at times.
Speaker:- Spectacular.
Speaker:Well, we hope that as
time progresses with this,
Speaker:and this
Speaker:began when?
Speaker:- Year and a half ago, maybe two,
Speaker:I don't even remember.
- So 18 months
Speaker:to two years ago.
- Yeah.
Speaker:And I only had one blend, it wasn't--
Speaker:- And here we are.
- Yeah.
Speaker:- And you're doing these
experiential events.
Speaker:Tremendous to meet you.
Speaker:- Thank you, Drew.
Speaker:- Thank you.
- Likewise,
Speaker:an absolute pleasure.
Speaker:And thank you for having
me on the Boveda show.
Speaker:- And well, we're gonna do it again.
Speaker:I just--
- I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker:- There's so much here to unpack.
Speaker:This is a delightful smoke,
Speaker:sommcigars.com.
Speaker:Vladthesomm or
Speaker:Vlada Stojanov.
Speaker:- Yep, oh you nailed it.
Speaker:That's right.
- Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Everybody says Stowjanov
Speaker:but the J is actually right as a Y.
Speaker:- Yeah.
- You're right.
Speaker:- No, I--
- Thank you for that.
Speaker:Very, very nice.
- I'm just thrilled
Speaker:to make the acquaintance
Speaker:and I hope we're friends for a long time.
Speaker:- Likewise.
- Yeah, awesome.
Speaker:- Thank you very much.
- Thanks buddy.
Speaker:(upbeat music)
