Powerhouse Cigar Roundtable | Litto & Tony Gomez | LFD Cigars | Box Press Ep. 126

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- The first time we met Litto-

- On the line.

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- I think it was at a cigar store,

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probably in the Midwest maybe.

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Maybe the Chicago area.

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Or whatever.

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And I remember meeting Litto.

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Tim and I were there.

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Litto was there doing his thing

and introducing ourselves.

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You're probably wondering,

"Who the hell are these guys?"

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But we were just trying

to meet and get to know

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an up-and-coming, really.

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He has really already arrived.

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Of course, we were brand new

in the industry at the time,

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but I just remember that conversation,

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just the respect that you gave us

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and the ability to, you know.

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We were probably wondering,

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these two are gonna be here

this year and gone next year

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is probably what he was thinking.

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But we were telling him about what we did

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and everything else.

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And that was the first time.

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I wish I remembered the store.

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I don't remember the store.

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- And you know what?

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There's few cases like that,

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that I have seen over the years.

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And like Michael Frey, for example.

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Okay?

- Yes.

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- Michael Frey, he came into

the industry in a moment

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in which there was no cigars for anybody.

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You wanna open a store

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and there was no cigars for you, okay?

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Because nobody, none of the cigar makers

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had enough cigars for the

traditional customers.

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- Sure.

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- And Michael and Robert Frey,

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they were coming to every event

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of the industry and hanging out with us,

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with every cigar maker.

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They would be in every event.

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And they had the store.

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It was open already.

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- Yeah.

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- And they were with us all the time.

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And that's how they got cigars.

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I mean, these guys-

- Smart.

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Smart guys.

- They are in the industry

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and they come to every event.

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- They just built a relationship-

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- And they're nice.

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I compare you guys with Michael,

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and it's a couple of more cases

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in which these people are doing it right.

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I mean, they come to the industry

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and they're part of every event.

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And they meet and they

introduce themselves to,

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whether you're a supplier

or a possible customer,

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I've seen cases like that.

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And the people that have done that

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were successful.

- Yeah.

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- That's half the battle

is being there, right?

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You gotta be there.

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You gotta be present.

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- Yeah, you become a part

of the family somehow.

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- You gotta be interwoven in the fabric

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of everything in order to-

- Exactly, exactly.

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- To be there.

- And for some reason,

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everybody liked you guys, you know?

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- Yeah. (laughs)

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- Well, there's a difference

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between just wanting

to be in the business,

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to be in business as

opposed to having a passion

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and a real desire and

care for the industry.

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We're fans.

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So we're first and foremost,

Tim and I are cigar fans.

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We love the product.

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And we felt like we had a place

in the industry passionately

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to really solve problems that

really existed out there.

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So we come from that point of view

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with a deep level of care

and passion in the industry.

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And so when we meet you two,

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and for example, meet Litto, it's like,

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"Wow, this is an honor to

meet someone who's made it

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and who has a following

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and people covet their

cigars and all of that."

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- But also has the passion.

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I mean, what you've

done with your business

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has been significant.

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I mean, you went all in

and bought your own farm,

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started growing your own tobacco.

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Not everybody goes down that road.

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Some people just build brands

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and have other people make them for them.

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But you went all in.

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And that's a huge sacrifice.

- Yeah.

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- That's a passion play.

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- The first story that

you said that I remember

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that clicks in my mind was

when you were talking about

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the early days when you started.

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And it's a business

lesson that's really key.

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And you were talking about those cigars,

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the thousands and thousands of cigars

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that didn't meet your qualities.

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I was thinking Ben Hogan when

he ripped up his golf clubs,

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when he didn't wanna put his name on them.

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But you tell that story when you were,

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just the quality standards

and the demand for excellence

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with your name on it, you know?

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- It is, and I'm gonna

go back to you guys.

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And they have this structure.

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Like every time this guy see you,

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they tell you something nice, right?

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- Yes.

- How elegant you look.

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They're programed to be successful.

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- Oh, I love these guys.

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I feel like a million bucks.

- You never see them,

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you don't get a compliment

from them, okay?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, you guys know your shit.

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- Litto always tells me,

you like the Boveda guys

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because they always laugh

at your stupid jokes.

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I said, "Fuck them."

(all laughing)

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- One of the funniest guys I know.

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- I know.

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- Fun to be around because, one of the,

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I mean, look at those three.

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These guys are creative.

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You guys are seriously

very, very creative.

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But you did a skit.

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When you guys were on

trying to reach the stuff

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and you couldn't reach the cigars,

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but your dad, he could reach them.

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You panned out and your dad was,

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all that stuff is creatives.

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People need to look that one up

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if they haven't seen it.

- That's a great one.

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- Have you seen that Drew?

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- I have not.

- It's a skit.

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Look at some of their skits.

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These guys are brilliant and funny

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on the skits that they put together.

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Yeah, they're good.

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You guys still do those?

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- We haven't done one in a while.

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We really-

- Gotta bring that back.

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- I was thinking about that yesterday.

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- I gotta put pen to paper

and come up with some.

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We'll do some soon.

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- And most of the stuff we've done

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comes up like in a minute.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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- Tony come, or Litto come.

- Yeah, we do something.

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- You do something, yeah.

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- Something just come and

it just happens naturally.

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Yeah.

- We gotta do it.

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- Well, it's-

- So like-

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- Go ahead, go ahead.

- Oh, I was just gonna say,

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it shows the fun that you're

having doing business, right?

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It's a way of life.

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It's a sport of business,

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and you just have to enjoy the journey

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along the way every time,

because it's not easy every day.

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- And very different it makes.

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Like, yeah, you're gonna

work for a paycheck, right?

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Happiness on Friday.

- Yeah.

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- But there's nothing in

your soul that attracts you

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other than that paycheck

you get on a Friday.

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How sad is that?

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- Yeah, very empty.

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- It's pretty empty.

- Yeah.

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- Because the check,

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the money from the check goes away.

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And then you got nothing

in your soul, okay?

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So unless you find something

that you're passionate about,

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you're gonna have a really boring life

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for the rest of your life

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if you don't look for

something that you like,

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something that you love,

something that gets you out of bed

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like very quick in the morning.

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And you wanna get to work in a rush

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because you wanna accomplish something.

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And then if you happen to accomplish it,

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that's what fills your soul.

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Everything that's material, okay?

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You buy the car of your

dreams today, right?

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And you get on it and

you get out of the car

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and you look back at

the car and you love it.

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And then in the next five, six days,

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you keep turning back

after you leave the car

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and you look at it,

"Man, that's beautiful."

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After a week, it's just a machine

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that takes you from point A to point B.

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There's nothing to it, right?

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Now, the things that fill your soul

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because you accomplished something,

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okay, those are the

things that make you alive

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and make you happy and stay with you.

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So if you're happy with what

you accomplish every day,

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if you're happy with yourself,

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like that's what fills you up.

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There's nothing else.

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And I know every time, you know,

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I give a diamond to my wife, right?

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And she treats me like very

nice for three or four days.

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After that, she treat me like shit again.

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(all laughing)

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One day, I gave her a

frame with a picture of us

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on a really nice trip.

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Man, that thing, she was

talking about that for a year.

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- Let's just be conscious

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of there's a guy that

just got engaged here.

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- Yeah, that's right, let's not ruin

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the sanctimony of marriage.

- I'm not only talking

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to them, I'm talking to you too, okay?

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All right?

- I do have to write a book

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one day of the advice from my father.

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There's some doozies in there.

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- Come on.

- The words of my father.

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- Well, that's an interesting segue,

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because what's it like to be his son?

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- That's a loaded question.

- No, I'm just thinking

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about the reputation in the

cigar industry, the story.

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I'm very curious to

hear about how you felt

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when you started in the business

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and how your expectations have been met

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or missed over the years.

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But to come into the game as a son

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and to have a guy who,

you won't like this,

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but people treat him like a legend.

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- Yeah.

- So how's that?

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I mean, just how is that?

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- I mean, first off, like

it's an absolute pleasure.

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I think when I gave a speech the other day

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at his birthday party, I touched on it,

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but just to watch this guy, it's awesome.

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The way he makes things happen,

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he's got a certain way about him.

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And like I said, they don't

make him like him anymore.

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I've learned a lot of

incredible lessons from him.

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I've also learned about a lot

of things not to do. (laughs)

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But no, he's unbelievable

in like every facet of it.

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He's an unbelievable person

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in the way he accomplishes things,

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the way he sets his head to a

goal and he makes it happen.

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The guy's got no education.

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He didn't finish high school.

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He grew up on a dirt road.

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And he'll walk into Dominican Republic,

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he didn't know a single

thing about making cigars.

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And look at him 30 years later, you know?

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It doesn't make any sense.

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He shouldn't have accomplished

that, but he did somehow.

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So it's awesome.

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And it puts you interesting position,

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because everybody has

so much respect for him

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that it's gonna fall on me too.

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Everybody's nice to me just

because he's my father.

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But you have to deal with

that in a certain way

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because you want people to

respect you for you also.

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I don't want to just be respected

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because I'm Litto's son

for the rest of my life.

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I wanna be Tony Gomez too.

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So that's the kind of the

thing that's always there

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in the back of your head,

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like you wanna accomplish

your own things too.

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You wanna contribute.

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- Look over your left shoulder.

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- Yep.

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- We didn't plan that.

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We didn't plan that, but we got Litto's

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For My Humidor poster is

looking over your left shoulder.

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So the expectations from

when you were starting,

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when you took the chance

and your reflection on

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how your life has either

met those or missed them.

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- Let me go back to the previous question.

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I imagine that you come into an industry

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and there was somebody before

you that built something

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and then you come into it.

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And it's probably complicated.

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It's probably not easy.

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But you're building a name for yourself.

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You have nothing to,

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whatever your reputation is

has nothing to do with me.

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And you became your own person.

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You have your own style,

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which is an accomplishment by itself.

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- By itself.

- Okay?

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It's just you, it doesn't

matter who your father is.

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You are you,

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and you are loved and respected

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because of the way you are.

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And you stayed with the way you are.

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You never tried to be someone else.

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And that, to me, it takes guts.

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It takes security in your own self-esteem.

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And it's something that is powerful to me.

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And I admire that.

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I admire the way you have conduct yourself

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and the respect you got.

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Learn not only with consumers

or within the industry.

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- Thank you.

- You build your own name.

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And that's hard to do

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when you have somebody previous to you.

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- I know, definitely.

- And that's a great thing

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that has been going on.

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And Litto seems like he's is gonna,

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junior seems like he's gonna have,

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he has his own personality.

- I mean, oh, yeah.

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- It's kind of scary, but he

does have his personality.

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Things I do, and you just

mentioned my education level.

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Just because the way I

do things is orthodox

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because I have no education,

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I don't never follow a chain of command

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by these people under me.

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And I jump everybody else.

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Like I go straight to the

people that are working,

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and I sit down with

them and I talk to them.

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And if the guy that's just

under me doesn't like it,

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just get out of here.

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- Yeah.

- Okay?

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I don't want filters.

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Everybody has a filter.

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Everybody protected us.

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So I go directly to the people

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that work for me at the lower end.

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And I talk to them.

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I talk about their families.

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I talk how their life is

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and what problems

they're having with work.

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And I want that information unfiltered.

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- Sure.

- And it doesn't look good.

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When you're in a structure

and you get a size,

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you got the structure.

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One thing you have 10 employees,

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but another thing's you have 350,

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so now you have a structure, right?

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Because you can't talk

to 350 people every day.

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Like you gotta have a

structure of command.

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But I don't really,

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I do it because I have to do

it because I don't have time,

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but to speak to everybody,

but I don't follow it.

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- Sure.

- I'm very orthodox

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in the things that I do every day.

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- Well, it's a great trait of leadership

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of connecting with your people

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and having the interest in the care.

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- Yeah.

- Doesn't matter who they are,

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but it can be on the personal level,

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but also just how they're

doing within their job as well.

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- About three weeks ago, I

met with a few in my office,

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a few our employees in

the sorting department.

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And I'm speaking to them.

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And this woman is telling me,

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"You know, Litto, you

are a business person.

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And yet every time I go

across you and you say,

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"Hi, how are you?"

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And then I found out about her life.

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I explain to them, listen.

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And I told her about my life,

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about my first job in

Canada when I immigrated,

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that I got to walk a mile every

day from the last bus stop

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to get to the factory in

the middle of the winter

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with the shoes from Uruguay

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that were not prepared for the weather.

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And by the time I got to the

factory, my legs were frozen.

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And it take more than half

hour to feel my legs again.

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And I'm telling this, woman start crying.

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I said, "This is where I come from.

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You can't tell me about

having issues at home,

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because in my house when I grew up,

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we will eat when there was food.

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So I grew up very poor.

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So there's nothing that you're living

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that I don't know how you feel about."

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And I know exactly.

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And this woman started crying.

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And and she goes, "Litto, I have no idea

Speaker: 00:16:19

that you went through that in your life."

Speaker: 00:16:23

And you know what?

Speaker: 00:16:24

It's a great, great experience to,

Speaker: 00:16:28

that being able to communicate

with your people like that,

Speaker: 00:16:32

and that they get to

know who you are also,

Speaker: 00:16:35

because most people think,

Speaker: 00:16:38

this guy's from a wealthy

family or something.

Speaker: 00:16:41

You got everything on a silver platter.

Speaker: 00:16:43

And you know what?

Speaker: 00:16:46

It is a great level of

communication and feelings.

Speaker: 00:16:51

And every time I see those

women, after we had a talk,

Speaker: 00:16:55

and I feel different about them

Speaker: 00:16:57

and they feel different about me.

Speaker: 00:16:59

- Human connection was real.

- Exactly, yeah, exactly.

Speaker: 00:17:01

- There's something like

very unique about you

Speaker: 00:17:04

that I've noticed over the

years, which I think is really,

Speaker: 00:17:06

it's a cool thing, is that everybody

Speaker: 00:17:08

at the company loves him, obviously.

Speaker: 00:17:10

Like from the Miami office

staff to our sales force,

Speaker: 00:17:13

but even down to the cleaning

staff at the factory,

Speaker: 00:17:16

from top to bottom.

Speaker: 00:17:17

But the unique thing is,

Speaker: 00:17:20

even the people he's fired over the years

Speaker: 00:17:23

and perhaps fired brutally,

still fucking love him.

Speaker: 00:17:26

- Yeah.

- They all do.

Speaker: 00:17:28

- Remember the guy that worked

at the printer upstairs?

Speaker: 00:17:31

- Yes.

Speaker: 00:17:33

- Not the guy before,

the guy was in charge.

Speaker: 00:17:35

What's his name?

Speaker: 00:17:36

A cool guy with an earring.

- Hanley.

Speaker: 00:17:39

- The guy before Hanley

Speaker: 00:17:40

that was in charge in the cool guy.

Speaker: 00:17:43

Really cool guy, okay?

Speaker: 00:17:44

And that day, Jochy [Blanco]

and I went to cigar lounge

Speaker: 00:17:48

in Tamboril, okay?

Speaker: 00:17:50

The guy, a lovely guy,

Speaker: 00:17:51

the guy that owns a cigar lounge

Speaker: 00:17:53

and he was inviting us for a long time.

Speaker: 00:17:55

So Jochy and I got together and said,

Speaker: 00:17:57

"Let's go to his lounge."

Speaker: 00:17:59

And we show up there

and this guy was there.

Speaker: 00:18:03

- Yeah.

- Okay?

Speaker: 00:18:05

And the owner of the lounge,

Speaker: 00:18:10

he called a saxophone guy

to come and play for us.

Speaker: 00:18:14

And then there was, you know,

Speaker: 00:18:16

women come, and former employees of us

Speaker: 00:18:20

that work at the factory.

Speaker: 00:18:21

And some of them were

working at the factory still.

Speaker: 00:18:25

And we are in a social environment

Speaker: 00:18:30

with the music playing and smoking cigars.

Speaker: 00:18:32

They're customers of the same place

Speaker: 00:18:34

that we have been customers, okay?

Speaker: 00:18:37

- Interesting.

Speaker: 00:18:39

- What an interesting mix that was.

Speaker: 00:18:41

- That's cool.

- And this guy was there,

Speaker: 00:18:42

the guy that I fired.

Speaker: 00:18:46

And then the conversation

started talking about the past

Speaker: 00:18:49

and how we started.

Speaker: 00:18:50

And Jochy helped me

tremendously when I started.

Speaker: 00:18:55

And we were telling the

owner of the lounge,

Speaker: 00:18:58

who happened to be the husband

Speaker: 00:19:00

of the country's general attorney,

Speaker: 00:19:04

a very powerful woman in the

country, in Dominican Republic.

Speaker: 00:19:07

She's the most powerful

woman after the president.

Speaker: 00:19:10

She can put anybody in jail.

Speaker: 00:19:11

A very powerful and very brilliant woman.

Speaker: 00:19:14

And the guy that owns the

lounge is the husband, okay?

Speaker: 00:19:17

And so we have this

interaction with, you know,

Speaker: 00:19:23

some of our employees,

Speaker: 00:19:24

some Jochy's former

employees now work for us.

Speaker: 00:19:28

And stories in the past, how we started,

Speaker: 00:19:32

and the story went back to our

childhood and our, you know.

Speaker: 00:19:38

And these people that

are either working for us

Speaker: 00:19:42

or former employees, they had no idea.

Speaker: 00:19:45

I mean, Jochy's story is amazing.

Speaker: 00:19:47

Like Jochy's story is amazing.

Speaker: 00:19:51

- He's been around the block, huh?

Speaker: 00:19:52

- Yeah, and even though he's

from a comfortable family,

Speaker: 00:19:56

okay, his father was a powerful

guy, very well-respected

Speaker: 00:20:00

and economically well off.

Speaker: 00:20:05

But when he heard his father died,

Speaker: 00:20:08

Jochy was not in a good

position economically.

Speaker: 00:20:11

And his father asked him to

protect his nine brothers,

Speaker: 00:20:17

and there was no money left

when this father died, okay?

Speaker: 00:20:20

So Tony, I mean, Jochy's

story is an amazing one.

Speaker: 00:20:25

These guys, our employees,

they're listening to all this.

Speaker: 00:20:29

- When you first went down to the D.R.,

Speaker: 00:20:31

you didn't know what you

were doing really for cigars,

Speaker: 00:20:33

but you picked that out.

Speaker: 00:20:35

And then did you approach Jochy first?

Speaker: 00:20:38

Because you've got a lot of mentors

Speaker: 00:20:40

that are within the industry

that had a lot of experience,

Speaker: 00:20:42

and what did they think

about you coming there raw

Speaker: 00:20:44

and they weren't intimidated

by the newcomer coming in

Speaker: 00:20:49

as a competitor, really.

Speaker: 00:20:51

But yet they were open to you to-

Speaker: 00:20:54

- He was a very strange bird down there

Speaker: 00:20:57

when he first showed up.

Speaker: 00:20:58

I don't think they'd ever

seen anybody quite like him.

Speaker: 00:21:00

These old pictures of him

that he'd be down there

Speaker: 00:21:02

with like Versace shirts

and like this kind of stuff.

Speaker: 00:21:06

Like, "Who the hell is this guy?

Speaker: 00:21:07

Who does he think he is?"

Speaker: 00:21:08

- Yeah. (laughs)

Speaker: 00:21:09

- I'm taking the flight to

Puerto Plata back in those days.

Speaker: 00:21:14

Not Santiago,

Speaker: 00:21:15

there was no airport like now-

- Sure.

Speaker: 00:21:17

- And there was few cigar

makers always in the cabin.

Speaker: 00:21:22

And there with this Gianni Versace

Speaker: 00:21:25

silk shirts would open up to here.

Speaker: 00:21:29

And gold chains and-

- Miami Vice.

Speaker: 00:21:32

- Yeah, Miami Vice.

Speaker: 00:21:33

And this guy, see, I

didn't fit the profile,

Speaker: 00:21:36

the profile these guys are making.

Speaker: 00:21:38

And this guys are looking at me and say,

Speaker: 00:21:41

"Who's this guy?"

Speaker: 00:21:42

- What is this?

Speaker: 00:21:43

Yeah, that's great.

Speaker: 00:21:45

- And so some were very reluctant.

Speaker: 00:21:48

Like some were like, "Yeah,

this is a mafia guy from Miami."

Speaker: 00:21:53

You know Daniel Núñez, right?-

Speaker: 00:21:55

- Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

Speaker: 00:21:57

So happened that I went to buy

Speaker: 00:22:00

a Bello Connecticut Shade.

Speaker: 00:22:04

It was owned by General

back in those days.

Speaker: 00:22:07

And I meet Daniel.

Speaker: 00:22:09

And I went with one of my cigar rollers

Speaker: 00:22:14

and he looked at the wrapper,

Speaker: 00:22:16

and because I didn't

know shit from wrappers.

Speaker: 00:22:19

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:22:20

- And so he look at the wrapper

and said, "This is good."

Speaker: 00:22:23

So I said, "Okay, I'm gonna

take this Bello tobacco."

Speaker: 00:22:27

And then I paid him in

cash with $20 bills,

Speaker: 00:22:31

and I lived forever.

Speaker: 00:22:32

He thought I was a drug dealer

Speaker: 00:22:34

from Miami.

- 100%, 100%.

Speaker: 00:22:36

- He was a nice guy, Daniel Núñez.

Speaker: 00:22:38

- He's a gentleman, a gentleman.

Speaker: 00:22:40

- That's great.

Speaker: 00:22:41

You're sitting there going.

Speaker: 00:22:44

- And these guys are legit.

Speaker: 00:22:46

- Let me open my briefcase

- I can account for every bill.

Speaker: 00:22:55

- But some guys were very reluctant.

Speaker: 00:22:57

I understood why, okay?

Speaker: 00:23:01

I get it.

Speaker: 00:23:02

- Well, back in those days,

Speaker: 00:23:03

people didn't show up in open factories.

Speaker: 00:23:06

- It was unheard of, it was unheard of.

Speaker: 00:23:09

- If you weren't in for generations,

Speaker: 00:23:10

you didn't come into it, you know?

Speaker: 00:23:11

- Right.

- And so it didn't even make

Speaker: 00:23:12

any sense for you to be there.

Speaker: 00:23:14

- Right, so they were worried.

Speaker: 00:23:16

They were skeptical.

Speaker: 00:23:22

But some of the guys did.

Speaker: 00:23:26

They saw something in me, okay?

Speaker: 00:23:31

That made them trust me or

think that I have a future in.

Speaker: 00:23:35

And one of them was Jochy

[Blanco], Carlito [Fuente]

Speaker: 00:23:41

and my tobacco suppliers,

Speaker: 00:23:45

people that I love so much, so dearly,

Speaker: 00:23:49

because of the support they give me.

Speaker: 00:23:51

- Was it hard?

- And the trust.

Speaker: 00:23:52

I mean, I show up as a guy,

Speaker: 00:23:53

nobody knows who I am.

Speaker: 00:23:54

So my tobacco supplier,

Speaker: 00:23:57

I will go and pick up two

beds of tobacco for the week.

Speaker: 00:24:01

And when I finish those,

Speaker: 00:24:02

I go pick up the next

week, we go pick up more.

Speaker: 00:24:05

And this guy is giving me credit.

Speaker: 00:24:08

"Take it, you pay me when you can."

Speaker: 00:24:11

He doesn't know who I am, right?

Speaker: 00:24:14

And so they saw something,

Speaker: 00:24:18

which I don't know what it was back then,

Speaker: 00:24:20

because I didn't have much of a profile

Speaker: 00:24:23

of a successful cigar maker, okay?

Speaker: 00:24:29

But they did see something,

Speaker: 00:24:31

and they opened their hearts, their doors.

Speaker: 00:24:34

- And this was at a hard time, right?

Speaker: 00:24:36

Because you're talking the mid-90s,

Speaker: 00:24:38

which is the boom.

Speaker: 00:24:40

The boom is happening.

- Showed up

Speaker: 00:24:42

right before the boom, really.

Speaker: 00:24:44

- Yeah, it probably would've been tougher

Speaker: 00:24:45

if you would've waited three years.

Speaker: 00:24:48

- Oh my God, yeah.

Speaker: 00:24:49

Yeah, completely.

- You came in the perfect time

Speaker: 00:24:50

- Yeah.

- That's when you came in,

Speaker: 00:24:51

then 100 other people came in.

- Right.

Speaker: 00:24:54

I come in, and so this is the thing.

Speaker: 00:24:59

I'm trying to make cigars in Dominican,

Speaker: 00:25:01

and finally, we get it right.

Speaker: 00:25:03

And now we're packing and

putting the first cigar

Speaker: 00:25:04

in boxes, right?

Speaker: 00:25:07

So we have some cigars to sell.

Speaker: 00:25:08

So Ines [Lorenzo-Gomez]

and I have a booklet.

Speaker: 00:25:13

It was published by Cigar Aficionado

Speaker: 00:25:14

with a list of retail shops in the U.S.

Speaker: 00:25:19

Name of the shop, the

address, the phone number.

Speaker: 00:25:22

And so we started from the

beginning of that little booklet

Speaker: 00:25:27

and we started calling.

Speaker: 00:25:31

We called 25 people and 24 would say no.

Speaker: 00:25:34

And I introduced myself.

Speaker: 00:25:36

I said, my name is so and so.

Speaker: 00:25:38

We just opened a little cigar factory

Speaker: 00:25:39

in Dominican Republic.

Speaker: 00:25:41

We would like to send you some samples

Speaker: 00:25:43

to see if you like them.

Speaker: 00:25:45

And then we will give you a

call to see what you think.

Speaker: 00:25:49

And we'll send the samples,

Speaker: 00:25:51

and then few days later,

do a follow up call.

Speaker: 00:25:55

And out of 25 people, 24 would say no,

Speaker: 00:25:58

one would say yes, right?

Speaker: 00:26:01

And then a few months after

that, maybe a year after that,

Speaker: 00:26:05

the cigar boom comes.

Speaker: 00:26:06

It just exploded like so fast, right?

Speaker: 00:26:10

So now you call 10 cigar shops

Speaker: 00:26:13

and all 10 say yes.

- Yes.

Speaker: 00:26:15

It's a big difference.

Speaker: 00:26:17

- Right.

Speaker: 00:26:18

So what does it do for us?

Speaker: 00:26:21

It gives La Flor the

opportunity to be in the shops,

Speaker: 00:26:25

to be exposed in the

shelves of the stores.

Speaker: 00:26:29

- Yes.

Speaker: 00:26:31

- Fast forward the next six months,

Speaker: 00:26:33

more than a hundred

cigar factories open up

Speaker: 00:26:36

in Dominican Republic only.

Speaker: 00:26:38

- I remember those days, yeah.

Speaker: 00:26:43

- So now, and those cigar makers,

Speaker: 00:26:47

they had the same opportunity.

Speaker: 00:26:48

They all went to the shops

Speaker: 00:26:50

because the traditional brands

were nowhere to be found.

Speaker: 00:26:52

- Sure.

Speaker: 00:26:54

- There was a much bigger

demand that they could supply.

Speaker: 00:26:57

So it opened the doors to

all these new brands, okay?

Speaker: 00:27:00

So now, we're in the middle of cigar boom,

Speaker: 00:27:03

but I had 12 rollers,

Speaker: 00:27:07

and I couldn't bring one more roller

Speaker: 00:27:10

because there was not one

extra pound of tobacco,

Speaker: 00:27:15

the good quality tobacco that I could use

Speaker: 00:27:18

because our suppliers, they

have no inventory anymore.

Speaker: 00:27:22

And they have to split, okay?

Speaker: 00:27:24

So much goes here.

Speaker: 00:27:26

My traditional customers, I mean,

Speaker: 00:27:28

the supplier's traditional customer

Speaker: 00:27:30

in our case was Fuente and La Flor.

Speaker: 00:27:34

- You were grouped, so they gave you

Speaker: 00:27:37

the pretty good credibility then on that.

Speaker: 00:27:40

- That was my supplier.

Speaker: 00:27:41

He was financed by Fuente

Speaker: 00:27:44

and he would supply Fuente and La Flor.

Speaker: 00:27:48

So that was lot tobacco for Fuente.

Speaker: 00:27:51

And Fuente didn't have cigars back then.

Speaker: 00:27:52

I mean, Fuente's shipments

would get to stores

Speaker: 00:27:56

and they will hide it.

Speaker: 00:27:58

Cigar shops will keep it

for the preferred customer.

Speaker: 00:28:02

You not see Fuentes in shops.

Speaker: 00:28:06

So this guy would have his tobacco,

Speaker: 00:28:08

but he didn't have inventory.

Speaker: 00:28:11

He couldn't give me one

more pound of tobacco,

Speaker: 00:28:14

additional to what he was giving me.

Speaker: 00:28:17

In fact, if Don Carlos Fuente

would've picked up the phone

Speaker: 00:28:20

and call this guy, "Hey, listen,

Speaker: 00:28:22

I know you're selling tobacco to Litto.

Speaker: 00:28:24

I need that shit."

Speaker: 00:28:26

I would've been out of

business immediately.

Speaker: 00:28:28

- Oh, sure.

Speaker: 00:28:29

- I needed that tobacco for real.

Speaker: 00:28:31

- Yeah, and they were selling everything.

Speaker: 00:28:34

Everyone was selling everything.

Speaker: 00:28:35

- Yeah, back in those days,

Speaker: 00:28:36

I mean, people would go to a store,

Speaker: 00:28:38

they ask for Fuente.

Speaker: 00:28:39

They didn't have it, they didn't smoke.

Speaker: 00:28:41

Like it was crazy.

Speaker: 00:28:42

- Must've been frustrating to one degree

Speaker: 00:28:44

because here, the demand was there,

Speaker: 00:28:46

but you just couldn't

turn on the cash machine.

Speaker: 00:28:49

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:28:50

So I spent the whole cigar

boom with my 12 rollers.

Speaker: 00:28:55

no growth whatsoever.

- Wow, wow.

Speaker: 00:28:58

- Millions of cigars on back order.

Speaker: 00:29:00

We're producing 300,000 a year.

Speaker: 00:29:03

- Wow.

Speaker: 00:29:05

- And I needed money.

Speaker: 00:29:07

We needed money.

- Sure, oh yeah.

Speaker: 00:29:08

- It's not like we started

with a million dollars

Speaker: 00:29:10

or anything close to that, okay?

Speaker: 00:29:12

We set up a company like

less than $150,000, okay?

Speaker: 00:29:17

And even though I'm

struggling to meet payroll,

Speaker: 00:29:21

but I cannot make another

thousand cigars with tobacco

Speaker: 00:29:26

that didn't qualify for a blend.

Speaker: 00:29:29

I could not do that.

- Couldn't do it, yeah.

Speaker: 00:29:31

- Yeah, so we didn't grow

in the whole cigar boom.

Speaker: 00:29:35

We started growing in '98.

Speaker: 00:29:38

Got the boom tapered down.

Speaker: 00:29:40

And it was over,

Speaker: 00:29:41

and the supplier of the

traditional brands was coming in,

Speaker: 00:29:46

in plenty of supply, okay?

Speaker: 00:29:49

Plenty of quantities.

Speaker: 00:29:50

So at that point, that was a big question.

Speaker: 00:29:52

Who's gonna stay in the shop?

Speaker: 00:29:53

- Yeah, that's right.

- Yeah, that's right.

Speaker: 00:29:55

Well, you were able to,

it's all staying power

Speaker: 00:29:58

at that point.

- So Dominican Republic,

Speaker: 00:29:59

we are the only company that

wasn't there 35 years ago.

Speaker: 00:30:04

We're the only ones.

Speaker: 00:30:05

In Nicaragua, with maybe Rocky [Patel],

Abdel ["AJ" Fernandez],

Speaker: 00:30:10

couple of brands at the most.

Speaker: 00:30:12

- Sure.

- Okay?

Speaker: 00:30:13

All the other factories that

were open, they're gone.

Speaker: 00:30:16

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay?

Speaker: 00:30:18

Everybody's gone.

Speaker: 00:30:19

And why is that?

Speaker: 00:30:20

Well, you know what?

Speaker: 00:30:21

We respected our blends,

Speaker: 00:30:24

and we respected the people

that are buying our blends

Speaker: 00:30:27

and didn't take tobacco, we

share cigars, we share tobacco

Speaker: 00:30:32

in order to sell a few more boxes.

Speaker: 00:30:36

That takes a lot of commitment,

Speaker: 00:30:38

because you're making cigar to make money,

Speaker: 00:30:42

or you're trying to build

your name and your brand.

Speaker: 00:30:45

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:30:46

Yeah, you kept the integrity

Speaker: 00:30:48

of the brand.

- To become a cigar maker.

Speaker: 00:30:50

- Well, it's in it for the long haul,

Speaker: 00:30:51

not the short term.

- I earned a reputation.

Speaker: 00:30:53

- Yeah, yeah.

- Love you, baby. (laughs)

Speaker: 00:31:01

- Yeah, that's a great story.

Speaker: 00:31:02

That's a great lesson, yeah.

Speaker: 00:31:04

- That was what made the difference in us.

Speaker: 00:31:09

All those gone, and this

company's still here.

Speaker: 00:31:11

- Yeah, with sustained power

Speaker: 00:31:12

and what's the relationships

and the integrity.

Speaker: 00:31:14

- It was the respect for your name,

Speaker: 00:31:17

the respect for the consumer

that actually was buying,

Speaker: 00:31:20

choosing your cigar.

Speaker: 00:31:24

And Jorge [Padrón] and I was

talking last night, right?

Speaker: 00:31:33

These brands are coming to the market,

Speaker: 00:31:37

but there hasn't been a new

cigar maker in a long time.

Speaker: 00:31:41

- It's rare, it's rare.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:31:43

- It's still the same.

- That's a different

Speaker: 00:31:45

level of commitment to

go open a factory and-

Speaker: 00:31:46

- Yeah, yes, when you say new cigar maker

Speaker: 00:31:49

opening their own factory,

a lot of brands have come

Speaker: 00:31:51

where people are contracting with,

Speaker: 00:31:54

but they don't have their own factory

Speaker: 00:31:56

vertically integrated like you guys.

Speaker: 00:31:57

- Exactly.

- That's a whole different animal.

Speaker: 00:31:59

- There's a lot of great

factories out there

Speaker: 00:32:00

that do private labels and all that.

Speaker: 00:32:02

So it's much easier today-

Speaker: 00:32:03

- To enter, yeah.

- To start a brand.

Speaker: 00:32:06

- But yeah, to open a factory,

Speaker: 00:32:07

that's a whole different beast.

Speaker: 00:32:09

- I'm happy this guy did

it, because I don't know

Speaker: 00:32:11

if I would've been able

to pull that one off.

Speaker: 00:32:12

- Yeah, it's amazing.

Speaker: 00:32:14

It takes a level of grit.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker: 00:32:17

- Stick-to-itiveness just to stay with it.

Speaker: 00:32:19

But it's the long term

vision that you had and said,

Speaker: 00:32:21

"Hey, we're in it for the long haul,

Speaker: 00:32:24

not the short term" is everything.

Speaker: 00:32:27

- Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Speaker: 00:32:29

And I knew it was gonna take a long time.

Speaker: 00:32:33

It's hard, it's hard.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:32:40

- I remember one day,

Speaker: 00:32:43

I went to a place in the Carolinas

Speaker: 00:32:48

to do a cigar dinner, right?

Speaker: 00:32:52

And I get on a plane,

Speaker: 00:32:55

I send cigars for the dinner,

Speaker: 00:32:58

get in a hotel for a couple of days

Speaker: 00:33:01

to do this dinner in this place,

Speaker: 00:33:04

and you do the dinner and

you speak to the people

Speaker: 00:33:10

that attend and everything.

Speaker: 00:33:11

At then at the end of the

night, they bring me the check,

Speaker: 00:33:13

they bring me the bill for my dinner.

Speaker: 00:33:17

- Wow.

Speaker: 00:33:22

- And wait, what do you do

Speaker: 00:33:25

with something like that happens, okay?

Speaker: 00:33:29

Well, you can either get upset to the guy

Speaker: 00:33:34

or think what I thought at the moment.

Speaker: 00:33:37

Man, I gotta work a lot harder. (laughs)

Speaker: 00:33:41

I gotta work.

Speaker: 00:33:42

I gotta fix this.

Speaker: 00:33:44

And the only way I'm gonna fix it

Speaker: 00:33:45

is just keep focusing and keep working.

Speaker: 00:33:48

- Sure.

Speaker: 00:33:49

- One day, it's not gonna happen.

Speaker: 00:33:50

- Yeah.

- You know?

Speaker: 00:33:51

- So you took that as a

sign that I'm not there yet.

Speaker: 00:33:54

- Not there yet.

Speaker: 00:33:56

Keep working, bro.

Speaker: 00:33:56

- Yeah, that's right.

- Keep working.

Speaker: 00:33:57

- 30 years later, we have a birthday bash

Speaker: 00:34:00

for you last night.

Speaker: 00:34:01

And we have a hundred drinks,

Speaker: 00:34:02

and I have no idea who

the hell paid the tab.

Speaker: 00:34:04

We were trying to figure that out.

Speaker: 00:34:06

- Oh my God, yeah.

- Who paid for all that?

Speaker: 00:34:08

- I went to pay the bill last night

Speaker: 00:34:09

and it was taken care of.

Speaker: 00:34:11

I spent some time today

trying to figure out

Speaker: 00:34:13

who paid for that.

- Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker: 00:34:17

- Well, it wasn't us.

(all laughing)

Speaker: 00:34:22

- So that's a good comparison.

Speaker: 00:34:27

- That's amazing.

- You finally made it.

Speaker: 00:34:28

- Yeah, you finally made it.

Speaker: 00:34:30

- That is awesome.

- It's amazing.

Speaker: 00:34:31

Well, that person who did it

Speaker: 00:34:32

would never admit it anyway probably.

Speaker: 00:34:36

- Didn't do it for the recognition.

Speaker: 00:34:37

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:34:39

- The funny thing is,

Speaker: 00:34:41

I still think that I gotta keep working.

Speaker: 00:34:43

- Yes.

Speaker: 00:34:44

- Because, and don't

let this ever trick you,

Speaker: 00:34:50

you are as good as your last cigar.

Speaker: 00:34:54

- That's right.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:34:55

- Don't let any of that

thing go to your head,

Speaker: 00:34:58

because whatever it took

you to build something,

Speaker: 00:35:02

it goes to shit in one minute.

Speaker: 00:35:04

- You told me that.

Speaker: 00:35:06

It's one lesson I always

remember that you-

Speaker: 00:35:08

- That's good.

- Well, you know,

Speaker: 00:35:09

it's one of your stories about,

Speaker: 00:35:11

I think I forget which blend it was.

Speaker: 00:35:14

If it was the 2000 Series

or something, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:35:17

You released it and it

did really, really well,

Speaker: 00:35:19

and you were on a hot streak for a while,

Speaker: 00:35:21

and maybe you kind of

rested on your laurels

Speaker: 00:35:23

just a little bit.

Speaker: 00:35:24

And then it kind of started to crater.

Speaker: 00:35:28

And you're like, "What the hell happened?"

Speaker: 00:35:29

You realized I got comfortable.

Speaker: 00:35:32

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:35:33

At first, I was finding reasons for like,

Speaker: 00:35:38

9/11, terrorism.

Speaker: 00:35:41

Now, just bullshitting myself, right?

Speaker: 00:35:43

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:35:44

- So stock going down in the company.

Speaker: 00:35:50

And then one day, I was looking

at myself in the mirror,

Speaker: 00:35:54

I said, "What the fuck you doing?

Speaker: 00:35:59

You haven't done nothing in two years."

Speaker: 00:36:03

- In recently, yeah, yeah.

- Right.

Speaker: 00:36:06

What are you doing?

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:36:08

- Wake up, go back to work.

Speaker: 00:36:11

Idiot.

(all laughing)

Speaker: 00:36:14

I'm in front of a mirror insulting myself.

Speaker: 00:36:17

Right?

Speaker: 00:36:18

And went back to work.

Speaker: 00:36:20

Ligero come out, Double Ligero come out.

Speaker: 00:36:23

Boom.

Speaker: 00:36:24

- But I always remember,

Speaker: 00:36:26

every time we come out with a project

Speaker: 00:36:28

and no matter how successful it is,

Speaker: 00:36:30

it might have been hugely

successful, but whatever,

Speaker: 00:36:33

it's like a week you enjoy

it, but then, what's next man?

Speaker: 00:36:38

- Thinking about what's next.

- Back to the grind.

Speaker: 00:36:41

- Well, that was great self-critique,

Speaker: 00:36:43

which a lot of people don't

have the ability to do that.

Speaker: 00:36:46

But you've seen over the years,

Speaker: 00:36:48

you've seen some brands come in

Speaker: 00:36:51

that have gotten really hot,

but then they disappear.

Speaker: 00:36:53

And they have issues.

Speaker: 00:36:55

They have issues with draws.

Speaker: 00:36:56

They have issues with quality.

Speaker: 00:36:58

They change it from what it was.

Speaker: 00:37:00

They don't have the standards.

Speaker: 00:37:02

And you see them all the time.

Speaker: 00:37:03

I mean, I can think of one,

I'm not gonna name them,

Speaker: 00:37:05

but it's like, came in

and was a bright star

Speaker: 00:37:09

and just went out as fast as he came in.

Speaker: 00:37:12

But it got complacent.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:37:18

- It is.

Speaker: 00:37:19

This is a continuous work.

Speaker: 00:37:23

And we cannot let our eyes

out of what's important,

Speaker: 00:37:27

which is the cigars we're making

Speaker: 00:37:29

on the day-to-day basis, right?

Speaker: 00:37:32

- We've always had

admiration for cigar makers,

Speaker: 00:37:34

because it's not easy because

it changes year to year.

Speaker: 00:37:37

I mean, you're relying

on a natural product

Speaker: 00:37:42

and you're trying to keep

consistency in that blend.

Speaker: 00:37:44

- Yeah, a lot of moving parts.

Speaker: 00:37:46

- Oh, there's a lot of moving parts.

Speaker: 00:37:47

And that's what the beauty of going down

Speaker: 00:37:48

and visiting the factories

is you have a whole new

Speaker: 00:37:51

appreciation for what

goes into making a cigar.

Speaker: 00:37:55

And it's amazing, okay.

Speaker: 00:37:58

They should cost $100 each

after you watch the process,

Speaker: 00:38:02

and the painstaking

investment that it takes

Speaker: 00:38:06

to get the tobacco and age it for years,

Speaker: 00:38:08

and then all the hands that touch it

Speaker: 00:38:10

and the packaging and everything.

Speaker: 00:38:13

- Yeah, you go to a cigar factory

Speaker: 00:38:14

and you start to realize how brilliant

Speaker: 00:38:16

the good factories are

and the good owners are,

Speaker: 00:38:19

how brilliant they are,

Speaker: 00:38:20

because it is not a simple operation.

Speaker: 00:38:23

- Is that the same cigar that

it was when you introduced it?

Speaker: 00:38:28

Hasn't changed?

Speaker: 00:38:29

- That's the same cigar

he is been smoking for,

Speaker: 00:38:31

I don't know how many years, but like-

Speaker: 00:38:32

- How many years has that been out?

Speaker: 00:38:33

- Yeah, when did you

come out with that one?

Speaker: 00:38:35

- '97.

- Oh, in '97.

Speaker: 00:38:37

- So the year that you guys got started.

Speaker: 00:38:39

- Yeah, it was our founding year, yeah.

Speaker: 00:38:40

- I swear to God, every now and then,

Speaker: 00:38:41

he lights up one of those cigars and like,

Speaker: 00:38:44

I'll just like catch a little whiff

Speaker: 00:38:46

and like I'm a little kid.

Speaker: 00:38:49

- It brings out the memory.

- I just remember

Speaker: 00:38:50

being a little kid and like,

Speaker: 00:38:51

because he is always smoked,

as far as I can remember.

Speaker: 00:38:53

- That consistency-

- It happens all the time.

Speaker: 00:38:55

It's so cool.

- The consistency

Speaker: 00:38:57

is incredible.

Speaker: 00:38:58

- Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 00:38:59

- Well, that's one of the

cigars that, you know,

Speaker: 00:39:01

if anything goes wrong,

we know immediately.

Speaker: 00:39:03

- You know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 00:39:05

You're smoking a lot of them.

Speaker: 00:39:07

- Do you have a backup to that?

Speaker: 00:39:10

If that's your main one,

do you have a second one?

Speaker: 00:39:13

- Well, anything that's Cameroon,

Speaker: 00:39:15

it will always be in my preference.

Speaker: 00:39:17

- Everything.

- Everything that's Cameroon.

Speaker: 00:39:18

- Love the Cameroon.

Speaker: 00:39:20

- Yeah, what a great wrapper.

- So good.

Speaker: 00:39:22

- So here we are, it's

: 2024

Speaker: 00:39:27

What was your very first RTDA show?

Speaker: 00:39:30

Because it was called RTDA

Speaker: 00:39:31

for people that are

listening and watching.

Speaker: 00:39:35

The show association has changed.

Speaker: 00:39:37

But what was your first year

Speaker: 00:39:38

having a booth and going to the show?

Speaker: 00:39:43

- It was very interesting

because people go by your booth,

Speaker: 00:39:47

and they don't even look at it.

Speaker: 00:39:53

I mean, it was a little tiny booth,

Speaker: 00:39:55

like 8x10 or something like that.

Speaker: 00:39:58

And my wife and I, we hang the flag

Speaker: 00:40:00

with the name of our company

and we have a few boxes there.

Speaker: 00:40:04

And people would walk by, and obviously,

Speaker: 00:40:11

they don't even pay attention.

Speaker: 00:40:13

And I remember one day Diana-

Speaker: 00:40:16

- Silvius?

- Huh?

Speaker: 00:40:18

- Diana Silvius?

- Up Down [Cigar]?

Speaker: 00:40:21

- Somehow, you know?

Speaker: 00:40:22

- Yes.

- I was standing outside

Speaker: 00:40:24

the little table there,

Speaker: 00:40:26

and Diana comes by and looks at me.

Speaker: 00:40:30

"What do you do here?"

Speaker: 00:40:33

"See, our company in

Dominican is our brand."

Speaker: 00:40:39

"And who makes this for you?"

Speaker: 00:40:42

I said, "No, no, we make it

Speaker: 00:40:44

in our little factory in Dominican."

Speaker: 00:40:47

"You make it?

Speaker: 00:40:48

Okay.

Speaker: 00:40:49

Show me what you got there."

Speaker: 00:40:52

She come by.

Speaker: 00:40:53

I give her my business card, right?

Speaker: 00:40:59

She's looking at me like,

Speaker: 00:41:00

I mean, she was busting

balls all the time,

Speaker: 00:41:05

especially if she knew you knew.

Speaker: 00:41:07

And she was busting balls,

Speaker: 00:41:11

and yeah, she light up this cigar.

Speaker: 00:41:15

Shoot.

Speaker: 00:41:18

"Why did you open your factory?

Speaker: 00:41:20

Why didn't you ask somebody

to make the cigars for you?"

Speaker: 00:41:24

"No, I don't like that.

Speaker: 00:41:27

But that's a lot easier.

Speaker: 00:41:28

I mean, you don't know how to make cigars.

Speaker: 00:41:30

I mean, you have family in the industry."

Speaker: 00:41:32

- What a stupid idea.

Speaker: 00:41:33

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:41:36

- While she's smoking the cigar,

Speaker: 00:41:38

she's puffing on the cigar,

Speaker: 00:41:41

and she goes, "Let me tell you, young man.

Speaker: 00:41:42

This cigar is fucking fantastic, okay?"

Speaker: 00:41:46

And she put another.

Speaker: 00:41:47

And then as she leaves the booth,

Speaker: 00:41:50

she's going around

telling everybody how good

Speaker: 00:41:52

La Flor cigar is.

- That's great.

Speaker: 00:41:54

- This is Diana.

- And people listening to her.

Speaker: 00:41:56

- She was legend at that time, oh yeah.

Speaker: 00:41:59

- She's a legend.

- There's certain people

Speaker: 00:42:02

here and there that you run into

Speaker: 00:42:03

that they kind of like early adopters

Speaker: 00:42:06

and visionaries that

see something, you know?

Speaker: 00:42:09

And that reminds me of like

Speaker: 00:42:12

when we first came out

with the NFTs, right?

Speaker: 00:42:16

You had a list of people that you thought

Speaker: 00:42:19

were gonna be the ones all over this.

Speaker: 00:42:22

A lot of the bigger retailers and whatnot.

Speaker: 00:42:24

And the first one goes to auction,

Speaker: 00:42:27

there's bidding war,

and it gets to the end.

Speaker: 00:42:31

At some point, it far surpassed

Speaker: 00:42:32

anything I expected these to go for.

Speaker: 00:42:34

It's in the 80,000 range.

Speaker: 00:42:36

And the guy I see aggressively bidding,

Speaker: 00:42:38

like a guy who seems like

he's not gonna be beat,

Speaker: 00:42:41

I have no idea who's bidding.

Speaker: 00:42:42

I have no idea who it is.

Speaker: 00:42:44

And this guy ends up

winning the first one.

Speaker: 00:42:46

And so immediately, I'm

talking to [Jonathan] Carney.

Speaker: 00:42:48

I'm like, "Carney, find

out who is this guy.

Speaker: 00:42:50

Find out who this is."

Speaker: 00:42:51

And it's this guy, Alex Martinez.

Speaker: 00:42:54

He owns a shop in New Jersey

called Mane Street Cigars.

Speaker: 00:42:57

And I'll be completely honest with you,

Speaker: 00:42:58

I had never heard of them.

Speaker: 00:42:59

I had no idea what this was.

Speaker: 00:43:01

And I look into it, you know?

Speaker: 00:43:03

It's a nice little shop,

Speaker: 00:43:04

blue collar shop in New Jersey.

Speaker: 00:43:05

It's nothing like tremendously

fancy or huge or anything.

Speaker: 00:43:09

And I'm like, "What the hell?

Speaker: 00:43:10

This is not what I was expecting at all."

Speaker: 00:43:13

And then the second one goes to auction,

Speaker: 00:43:16

and he's back in.

- He's back in.

Speaker: 00:43:17

- And he is, once again, will not be beat.

Speaker: 00:43:19

And this guy buys the second one.

Speaker: 00:43:21

And you gotta be fucking kidding me.

Speaker: 00:43:22

What's going on?

Speaker: 00:43:24

Who is this?

- Amazing.

Speaker: 00:43:25

- So unexpected.

Speaker: 00:43:26

And this guy just had,

Speaker: 00:43:28

he understood and he had this vision,

Speaker: 00:43:31

and he's making a killing

now with those cigars.

Speaker: 00:43:34

And some people just-

Speaker: 00:43:36

- They see it.

- There's visionaries

Speaker: 00:43:38

out there, they see something.

Speaker: 00:43:40

- That's right.

- They surprise you.

Speaker: 00:43:44

- That's amazing story.

Speaker: 00:43:44

And how many of those

lots did you do again?

Speaker: 00:43:47

- We made seven.

- Seven lots, it's been.

Speaker: 00:43:49

- He had the balls to

get the first two, man.

Speaker: 00:43:51

- Amazing.

Speaker: 00:43:52

- He would've gotten the third one too.

Speaker: 00:43:53

He was trying to go for a third one,

Speaker: 00:43:55

but he had like a price limit.

Speaker: 00:43:57

And then after the second one,

everything went above that,

Speaker: 00:44:01

that floor that he set.

- It went higher, yeah.

Speaker: 00:44:04

- That's amazing, the story.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:44:07

- But that's it.

Speaker: 00:44:08

And then, I mean, getting

Diana's in Chicago,

Speaker: 00:44:14

I mean, it was like-

Speaker: 00:44:16

- She's a player.

- Right.

Speaker: 00:44:18

- That was the shop in the country

Speaker: 00:44:19

at that time is what I

remember, Up Down [Cigar].

Speaker: 00:44:22

- Yep, legendary, legendary.

Speaker: 00:44:23

- And then, you know,

Speaker: 00:44:29

people like Robbie [Levin].

Speaker: 00:44:32

That's by the second RPDA.

Speaker: 00:44:38

I mean, I already have a

friendship with Carlito [Fuente],

Speaker: 00:44:40

very close friendship.

Speaker: 00:44:42

And Carlito would send me customers.

Speaker: 00:44:46

Robbie will bring customers to our booth.

Speaker: 00:44:50

Buy this brand.

Speaker: 00:44:52

- Wow.

Speaker: 00:44:54

- Wayne Suarez, I don't

know if you remember Wayne.

Speaker: 00:44:55

- Yeah, of course I remember Wayne, yeah.

Speaker: 00:44:57

- Wayne will bring customers.

Speaker: 00:45:00

- Ah, then that's amazing.

Speaker: 00:45:03

Good story.

Speaker: 00:45:04

- They'll bring customers to us.

Speaker: 00:45:06

- You were obviously making good product.

Speaker: 00:45:08

because they understand

what good cigars are.

Speaker: 00:45:11

- Jorge Padrón would bring customers.

Speaker: 00:45:14

And I'm looking at Ines [Lorenzo-Gomez]

and I say, "You believe this?"

Speaker: 00:45:18

- Were you friends with

Robbie at that time?

Speaker: 00:45:20

Were you friends with

Jorge at that time too?

Speaker: 00:45:23

- I was not that, I mean,

Speaker: 00:45:26

we spent time together in

events like The Big Smoke.

Speaker: 00:45:30

People remember it was

seven, six Big Smoke.

Speaker: 00:45:32

- Yeah, I remember that.

- And we were in all of them.

Speaker: 00:45:35

And we would hang out

in all of them, okay?

Speaker: 00:45:40

I had this very close friendship

with Carlito in Dominican,

Speaker: 00:45:45

but we were hanging out together.

Speaker: 00:45:48

Robbie, Wayne.

- Wayne, yeah.

Speaker: 00:45:52

- They were very close with

Billy O'Hara and Joe Howe.

Speaker: 00:45:56

Joe Howe, the original owner,

not the original dealer,

Speaker: 00:45:59

before Billy that owns

Jack Schwartz in Chicago.

Speaker: 00:46:03

And it was a group that we

were hanging out together.

Speaker: 00:46:07

And I mean, these people were helping us.

Speaker: 00:46:11

They were building our company.

Speaker: 00:46:12

- Weird little industry, huh?

- Customers, man.

Speaker: 00:46:15

- It is, isn't it?

- It only happens here.

Speaker: 00:46:19

- I'm going through this

Speaker: 00:46:20

and I'm falling more and more in love

Speaker: 00:46:23

and respect more this industry

Speaker: 00:46:25

because of the kind of

people that are in it.

Speaker: 00:46:32

It continued like that for many years.

Speaker: 00:46:37

And there was a few cigar shops.

Speaker: 00:46:42

I can name like The Cigar

Merchant in Atlanta.

Speaker: 00:46:46

I mean, the guy that used

to own that, Todd Trahan.

Speaker: 00:46:52

That guy, he saw something

in us from the first year

Speaker: 00:46:55

and he purchased everything that,

Speaker: 00:46:57

every size that we had.

Speaker: 00:47:00

And he put two of the same

facings in one next to each other

Speaker: 00:47:04

and give us a lot of space in shop.

Speaker: 00:47:09

- And this is the most

important cigar shop in Atlanta.

Speaker: 00:47:12

And you walk in the door,

Speaker: 00:47:15

and the guy will take you

to the La Flor Dominicana.

Speaker: 00:47:19

- That's great.

Speaker: 00:47:20

You need ambassadors like that, right?

Speaker: 00:47:23

- Right.

Speaker: 00:47:24

What happens when such a

important store in the city

Speaker: 00:47:28

is doing that with your brand

Speaker: 00:47:30

is that he's building a number

of smokers of your brand,

Speaker: 00:47:36

which will go around to

the other shops in the city

Speaker: 00:47:39

and ask for the brand.

- And ask for it.

Speaker: 00:47:41

- So now, every shop in the

city have to have your brand.

Speaker: 00:47:43

- Yeah.

- Okay?

Speaker: 00:47:50

I had a few guests in

this ProCigar Festival,

Speaker: 00:47:58

because we expanded the factory.

Speaker: 00:48:00

You saw the difference.

Speaker: 00:48:03

And there was a few people like that

Speaker: 00:48:06

that were key for us

at the very beginning,

Speaker: 00:48:11

that trusted us as a

brand that could succeed

Speaker: 00:48:17

and got behind and build our

brand in different cities.

Speaker: 00:48:23

Some of them are not even

in the business anymore,

Speaker: 00:48:27

but I invited them to come

because they're friends.

Speaker: 00:48:31

I still communicate with them.

Speaker: 00:48:33

- Yes.

Speaker: 00:48:34

- I'm still in touch with them.

Speaker: 00:48:35

And they are out of the

business for more than 10 years.

Speaker: 00:48:38

And I keep in touch with them,

Speaker: 00:48:40

and they're so fucking special to me

Speaker: 00:48:43

that I wanted them to see what happened

Speaker: 00:48:45

with the little company that they trusted.

Speaker: 00:48:48

- That they trusted, yeah.

- 30 years ago.

Speaker: 00:48:50

And I invited them.

Speaker: 00:48:55

And it was a small group

and we had a great time.

Speaker: 00:48:58

I mean, they had a great time.

Speaker: 00:49:00

- That was the best ProCigar ever, man.

Speaker: 00:49:02

- That was a good ProCigar.

Speaker: 00:49:03

You guys did a nice job, very nice job.

Speaker: 00:49:05

- And these guys are

talking to each other.

Speaker: 00:49:07

I remember all times when

they were in the business,

Speaker: 00:49:10

some of them still in the business

Speaker: 00:49:12

and some of them are not.

Speaker: 00:49:14

This is not a move to sell more cigars.

Speaker: 00:49:16

This is something that I will never forget

Speaker: 00:49:22

those people.

- You wanna show

Speaker: 00:49:23

appreciation.

- As long as I live.

Speaker: 00:49:25

- Yes.

- As long as I'm alive.

Speaker: 00:49:28

And so I was so happy to have them

Speaker: 00:49:31

and show them what happened,

Speaker: 00:49:34

because they were so special to us.

Speaker: 00:49:35

Yeah, it was a great time, a great time.

Speaker: 00:49:41

- It was a beautiful festival.

Speaker: 00:49:42

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:49:43

Well, that ProCigar was meaningful.

Speaker: 00:49:45

We were so thankful we

were on that particular day

Speaker: 00:49:49

in the tour when you surprised your dad

Speaker: 00:49:52

with all the separate rooms within-

Speaker: 00:49:54

- The museum tour.

- Yeah, the museum

Speaker: 00:49:56

within the barn, and that was really cool.

Speaker: 00:50:00

- Yeah, man.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:50:01

- Most people don't know that journey

Speaker: 00:50:03

that you were on from Uruguay,

Speaker: 00:50:05

you touched on it when

you went to Toronto,

Speaker: 00:50:07

then back to Uruguay and then Miami

Speaker: 00:50:10

and the businesses there.

Speaker: 00:50:11

So you talked about passion earlier,

Speaker: 00:50:13

but you demonstrated that

in completely discreet

Speaker: 00:50:17

industries along the way,

Speaker: 00:50:19

from the restaurant business into-

Speaker: 00:50:22

- Jewelry.

- Nightclub

Speaker: 00:50:23

and jewelry and so on.

Speaker: 00:50:26

So it didn't matter what it

was for you at that moment,

Speaker: 00:50:29

it was, and you've said this,

Speaker: 00:50:31

be the best that you can be in the world.

Speaker: 00:50:34

And you put all your

energy behind each one

Speaker: 00:50:36

as a passionate thing for you

at that moment of your life.

Speaker: 00:50:41

And then the final one was the cigars

Speaker: 00:50:43

that kept for 30 years.

Speaker: 00:50:47

- It took him a while but-

- Ongoing, yeah.

Speaker: 00:50:49

- You found a good landing spot.

Speaker: 00:50:50

- I found it, yeah, I found it.

Speaker: 00:50:52

I found it, yeah.

Speaker: 00:50:53

And Tony, I mean, even

if you do nothing else

Speaker: 00:50:56

for the rest of your life,

you're cool with me, bro.

Speaker: 00:50:59

What you did there, like man.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:51:02

- That was never, never, I mean,

Speaker: 00:51:04

I'm trying to think what

he's gonna do or something.

Speaker: 00:51:06

I know there's a surprise,

Speaker: 00:51:07

and I don't like to blow surprises.

Speaker: 00:51:11

I wanna be surprised,

Speaker: 00:51:12

and never, never imagined that-

Speaker: 00:51:15

- You were surprised?

Speaker: 00:51:17

- I was very surprised.

Speaker: 00:51:18

I was fucking moved.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:51:21

- You deserved it, man.

- I was shaking.

Speaker: 00:51:22

I was shaking.

- You deserved it.

Speaker: 00:51:23

Yeah, it's tough.

Speaker: 00:51:26

What do I get this guy for his birthday?

Speaker: 00:51:28

What the hell can I get him?

Speaker: 00:51:29

There's very few things you

could really do. It's the 70th.

Speaker: 00:51:32

So I figured that's something right there.

Speaker: 00:51:35

- That you were able to pull it off,

Speaker: 00:51:37

knowing that you did

that the night before,

Speaker: 00:51:40

but you were working on this and curating

Speaker: 00:51:43

all those archives and things.

- Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 00:51:45

- That's amazing.

Speaker: 00:51:47

- You had people helping you obviously.

Speaker: 00:51:48

- Of course, I could not-

- Put it together

Speaker: 00:51:49

and they had to keep it

a secret at the same time

Speaker: 00:51:51

and smuggle things into the

farm to set up in the barn.

Speaker: 00:51:54

I mean, and you did it the night before.

Speaker: 00:51:56

That's orchestrated.

Speaker: 00:51:57

That's like amazing that

you were able to do that.

Speaker: 00:52:00

The night before at ProCigar,

Speaker: 00:52:02

it's not like he had nothing else to do.

Speaker: 00:52:04

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- He had a little bit going.

Speaker: 00:52:04

- It's a tight week, right?

Speaker: 00:52:08

- It was the only way, or

else he would've seen it.

Speaker: 00:52:12

It had to be a surprise.

Speaker: 00:52:13

There's no other way.

- Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 00:52:16

- No, it's special.

- We got him good.

Speaker: 00:52:19

- Yeah, you got him good.

Speaker: 00:52:20

That's what you kept saying.

Speaker: 00:52:21

"I got him, I got him good."

Speaker: 00:52:23

- I did, yeah.

Speaker: 00:52:30

Finding something that you just wanna give

Speaker: 00:52:33

the best you have, whatever

that is, may not be enough.

Speaker: 00:52:37

But at least you give it your best shot.

Speaker: 00:52:39

- Yeah, that's right.

- Best of your ability.

Speaker: 00:52:40

- Right, exactly, yeah.

Speaker: 00:52:42

That's what it is.

Speaker: 00:52:47

I met people in my life that they just,

Speaker: 00:52:50

they do shit that they like

Speaker: 00:52:52

and they do give it their best.

Speaker: 00:52:55

And that they find the place

Speaker: 00:52:58

which is their confidence, they find it.

Speaker: 00:53:00

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:53:02

All that is put to the test-

- Your best, whatever it is,

Speaker: 00:53:04

whatever it reaches,

it can reach up there,

Speaker: 00:53:06

can reach here, but you give

it your best, you got no more.

Speaker: 00:53:11

- All that is put to the test

when you face extreme hardship

Speaker: 00:53:15

along the way and you didn't

quit in those moments,

Speaker: 00:53:20

you plowed through and persevered

Speaker: 00:53:23

beyond measure on all them.

Speaker: 00:53:26

And in the cigar, it's not like,

Speaker: 00:53:27

"Hey, it was boom, cigar boom.

Speaker: 00:53:30

Here we made it."

Speaker: 00:53:30

No, that presented challenge

in and of itself in a big way.

Speaker: 00:53:34

And then afterward, I

mean, all of it just shows

Speaker: 00:53:37

and demonstrates your resolve

Speaker: 00:53:40

and people respect that,

your employees respect that,

Speaker: 00:53:45

but the other people in the industry

Speaker: 00:53:46

really respect that now.

Speaker: 00:53:48

And you can feel it with all of the main,

Speaker: 00:53:50

everyone in this industry has

such an admiration and respect

Speaker: 00:53:54

because those are the people who know

Speaker: 00:53:56

and understand the commitment you had

Speaker: 00:53:59

through the tough time, early on.

Speaker: 00:54:02

- And people respect that a lot.

Speaker: 00:54:05

Like people do respect.

Speaker: 00:54:11

I remember, I mean, I

was calling suppliers

Speaker: 00:54:14

like the Olivas, the Perez,

Speaker: 00:54:20

the big suppliers.

- Sure.

Speaker: 00:54:21

- Very respected suppliers.

Speaker: 00:54:26

I dare to call them at the beginning.

Speaker: 00:54:30

They wouldn't pick up the call.

Speaker: 00:54:32

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:54:37

And then, okay, they

don't pick up the call.

Speaker: 00:54:40

Well, I gotta go to work,

I gotta keep working.

Speaker: 00:54:43

Don't get upset.

Speaker: 00:54:44

Just gotta keep working.

Speaker: 00:54:45

It was the same shit.

Speaker: 00:54:46

It was the same shit

like when they charged me

Speaker: 00:54:48

for the dinner.

Speaker: 00:54:49

You gotta keep working.

Speaker: 00:54:50

One day, they're gonna pick up the phone.

Speaker: 00:54:53

And eventually, your name

start to be mentioned

Speaker: 00:54:58

in a good way, and then

now they hear the name

Speaker: 00:55:02

and then one day, they pick up the phone.

Speaker: 00:55:05

And then you get access

Speaker: 00:55:07

to that beautiful materials

that everybody wants.

Speaker: 00:55:15

But it all had to happen when you earn it.

Speaker: 00:55:18

That's what it is.

- Yeah, you earn it, yeah.

Speaker: 00:55:21

- You earned it, and one day,

they'll pick up the phone.

Speaker: 00:55:24

And they'll do business with you.

Speaker: 00:55:27

Why?

Because now,

Speaker: 00:55:28

you put the work in.

Speaker: 00:55:33

And the name sounds in a good way

Speaker: 00:55:35

and they wanna do business with you.

Speaker: 00:55:38

And then one day they

tell you, "You know what?

Speaker: 00:55:41

Doing business with you

gives me a good name."

Speaker: 00:55:47

- The reverse happens, right?

Speaker: 00:55:48

- It's a beautiful thing.

- Sure.

Speaker: 00:55:50

- It's a beautiful thing,

Speaker: 00:55:52

because it'd give me a good name

Speaker: 00:55:55

if I buy tobacco from this guy.

Speaker: 00:55:58

And one day that guy tells you,

Speaker: 00:56:00

it gives me a good name

if I sell you tobacco.

Speaker: 00:56:03

And it's a beautiful thing

that is like a mutual feel.

Speaker: 00:56:12

And they can trust you in

telling you how they feel about.

Speaker: 00:56:19

So I mean, so many great

things have happened,

Speaker: 00:56:25

and it's all just because

you just stay with it.

Speaker: 00:56:30

Just do your work.

Speaker: 00:56:32

- Believe in it.

- Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 00:56:36

- You ever have a cigar that

you don't want it to end?

Speaker: 00:56:39

- Oh, many times.

Speaker: 00:56:41

Yeah, many times.

Speaker: 00:56:42

- That's the way this interview feels.

Speaker: 00:56:44

This conversation feels that way.

Speaker: 00:56:45

- Uh-huh, okay.

Speaker: 00:56:48

Thanks for sharing that.

- I don't want it to end.

Speaker: 00:56:51

It's just a beautiful thing.

Speaker: 00:56:58

- Litto wants to control

every bit of quality so much

Speaker: 00:57:02

that now, the boxes that

you guys do and produce,

Speaker: 00:57:05

the ashtrays that you,

you know, all of these,

Speaker: 00:57:08

some of these stories that we heard

Speaker: 00:57:09

that weren't even part of the tour

Speaker: 00:57:11

about you mixing up stuff

in the kitchen at home

Speaker: 00:57:14

or something like that

Speaker: 00:57:16

for the ashtrays that you guys are doing,

Speaker: 00:57:20

- The guy's ridiculous.

Speaker: 00:57:21

The guy needed a vacuum chamber

Speaker: 00:57:23

to suck out all the air

bubbles from the resin.

Speaker: 00:57:26

And so he starts looking

online to like buy one,

Speaker: 00:57:29

they're pretty expensive.

Speaker: 00:57:31

And he says, the funny

thing to me is that,

Speaker: 00:57:35

which would never occur to me, but to him,

Speaker: 00:57:38

he just thinks, "Well,

I'll just make one myself."

Speaker: 00:57:41

Who just thinks I'm gonna

make a vacuum chamber?

Speaker: 00:57:43

Like build one, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:57:45

How do you do that?

Speaker: 00:57:47

He built one.

Speaker: 00:57:49

- Yeah, on top of all the

other things he's got going on.

Speaker: 00:57:52

But I'm gonna figure out how

to build a vacuum chamber.

Speaker: 00:57:56

- Nobody, not many.

Speaker: 00:57:58

- That's awesome.

Speaker: 00:58:04

- Let me tell you something.

Speaker: 00:58:10

In my life, I mean, I

learned there was no,

Speaker: 00:58:14

in my family, I watched my grandfather,

Speaker: 00:58:19

my grandmother and my

father and my mother.

Speaker: 00:58:26

And I never knew any

other way to make a living

Speaker: 00:58:31

than work your ass off.

Speaker: 00:58:33

I never understood any other way.

Speaker: 00:58:37

When I make a living, you go to work.

Speaker: 00:58:41

- Doesn't happen without you.

- In my family,

Speaker: 00:58:43

my mother, my father, our family,

Speaker: 00:58:47

nobody ever took a penny

from the government

Speaker: 00:58:50

since we immigrated to the United States.

Speaker: 00:58:53

From day one, even if you

don't speak the language,

Speaker: 00:58:55

whatever, you just go to work every day

Speaker: 00:58:58

and you make your money,

you make your living.

Speaker: 00:59:01

Never heard of any other way

Speaker: 00:59:03

of making a living than put your work in.

Speaker: 00:59:08

- Where he grew up in Uruguay, right?

Speaker: 00:59:12

Uruguay's like a very,

Speaker: 00:59:15

it's like a very socialist

mindset out there, right?

Speaker: 00:59:18

Uruguayans are not

extremely ambitious people.

Speaker: 00:59:25

It's totally opposite to the America,

Speaker: 00:59:29

the American mindset of like work

Speaker: 00:59:30

and do something, be successful.

Speaker: 00:59:33

You guys are very content.

Speaker: 00:59:35

They have enough to survive

and that's just how you are.

Speaker: 00:59:38

There's nothing wrong with that,

Speaker: 00:59:40

but that's the mindset there, you know?

Speaker: 00:59:43

And I remember, I was

there some years ago,

Speaker: 00:59:47

and I still have some family

there on my mom's side,

Speaker: 00:59:49

and they still live in the

same house where she grew up,

Speaker: 00:59:53

which was around the corner

from where you grew up.

Speaker: 00:59:56

And I remember speaking to the neighbors

Speaker: 00:59:59

and it's the same neighbors

that have been there

Speaker: 01:00:00

for 60 years or whatever.

- Been there forever.

Speaker: 01:00:03

- "Are you Litto's son?

Speaker: 01:00:05

Oh my God, wow, that's unbelievable.

Speaker: 01:00:07

Nice to meet you."

Speaker: 01:00:08

And people tell me stories about my dad.

Speaker: 01:00:10

They'd be like, "Your dad was so strange.

Speaker: 01:00:15

He used to tell everybody that someday,

Speaker: 01:00:17

he's gonna be really successful

Speaker: 01:00:18

and rich and all these things."

Speaker: 01:00:20

And everybody's like, "Nobody

talks about that here."

Speaker: 01:00:22

I don't know where did he get that from.

Speaker: 01:00:24

He was just so weird.

Speaker: 01:00:27

He would work and he'd save up

Speaker: 01:00:28

and he'd buy like one nice pair of pants,

Speaker: 01:00:30

like a really nice one.

Speaker: 01:00:31

He'd wear it every day.

Speaker: 01:00:35

Nobody did that there.

Speaker: 01:00:36

You just did what you could

and you got by and that's it.

Speaker: 01:00:39

And nobody had like big dreams like that.

Speaker: 01:00:41

And for some reason, you just did.

Speaker: 01:00:44

I don't know where it came

from, but he always did.

Speaker: 01:00:50

- 80% of the town work in

this one factory, right?

Speaker: 01:00:58

My father worked at that factory, right?

Speaker: 01:01:03

My father was a,

Speaker: 01:01:08

a good life guy in back in Spain.

Speaker: 01:01:11

His family had money.

Speaker: 01:01:15

He never worked in his life.

Speaker: 01:01:18

Very good looking guy.

Speaker: 01:01:21

His life was all about having fun, right?

Speaker: 01:01:25

And he met my mother.

Speaker: 01:01:26

My mother from a very

poor family, no education.

Speaker: 01:01:31

My father's family didn't

want my mother, right?

Speaker: 01:01:33

But my father got married anyways,

Speaker: 01:01:36

so he had three kids, right?

Speaker: 01:01:39

And so they were living in

my father's mother house.

Speaker: 01:01:45

And father.

Speaker: 01:01:47

It was not a good setup.

Speaker: 01:01:48

Like they hated my mother.

Speaker: 01:01:50

And my father has three

kids and never worked, okay?

Speaker: 01:01:53

So they were living from

my grandparents, right?

Speaker: 01:02:01

My mother hated that setup, right?

Speaker: 01:02:04

She wasn't happy.

Speaker: 01:02:08

My mother's parents were

already immigrated to Uruguay.

Speaker: 01:02:12

In South America, like many

Europeans back in those days

Speaker: 01:02:16

immigrated to South

America, Argentina, Uruguay.

Speaker: 01:02:20

And so my mother finally

convinced my father,

Speaker: 01:02:28

put pressure on my father to

immigrate to Uruguay, right?

Speaker: 01:02:32

So my father goes to his father

Speaker: 01:02:34

and asked him for a

loan to open a business

Speaker: 01:02:37

so he can support his family.

Speaker: 01:02:41

And my grandfather say no to my father.

Speaker: 01:02:45

So my father had to get on a

ship and immigrate to Uruguay

Speaker: 01:02:50

and start working for the

first time in his life

Speaker: 01:02:53

with three children.

- Wow.

Speaker: 01:03:02

- He started to work in a

factory in that town, right?

Speaker: 01:03:08

And then by the time I

was like eight years old,

Speaker: 01:03:12

he loses his right hand in an

accident at work up to here.

Speaker: 01:03:23

I watched him to learn how

to write with a left hand.

Speaker: 01:03:30

- Interesting.

Speaker: 01:03:32

- To tie his shoes with one hand,

Speaker: 01:03:35

on the left one.

Speaker: 01:03:41

Sometimes, he was really pissed off

Speaker: 01:03:44

and cursing and really pissed off.

Speaker: 01:03:48

And I go, "Dad, what's going on?

Speaker: 01:03:50

What's happening?"

Speaker: 01:03:51

Say, "I'm so stupid.

Speaker: 01:03:53

I can't learn fast enough."

Speaker: 01:03:56

That was his problem.

Speaker: 01:03:57

He was pissed at himself

Speaker: 01:03:59

because he was not learning fast enough.

Speaker: 01:04:02

He was not pissed at his

luck in life, at his faith.

Speaker: 01:04:07

He was pissed at himself, right?

Speaker: 01:04:11

And I saw him, he never

accepted a favor from anybody.

Speaker: 01:04:15

He never stopped working.

Speaker: 01:04:18

An American company,

the owner of the company

Speaker: 01:04:21

found a job for him that he could do,

Speaker: 01:04:24

kept him as an employee.

Speaker: 01:04:25

And he worked for the rest

of his life in the factory

Speaker: 01:04:29

and never missed a day of

work, never accepted favor,

Speaker: 01:04:36

never asked anybody for money.

Speaker: 01:04:38

He owned his own life.

Speaker: 01:04:41

So freaking proud of himself.

Speaker: 01:04:46

- Sure.

Speaker: 01:04:51

- Right, I never got money from my father,

Speaker: 01:04:54

but you know what?

Speaker: 01:04:59

I don't know.

Speaker: 01:05:00

You're from my generation.

Speaker: 01:05:03

The fathers in our generation

didn't hug you every day

Speaker: 01:05:07

and tell you they love you, right?

Speaker: 01:05:10

- That's right.

- You have to figure out

Speaker: 01:05:12

that they love you because

of little things they do.

Speaker: 01:05:16

They wouldn't tell you they

love you and hug you every day.

Speaker: 01:05:21

And it was a different

level of communication

Speaker: 01:05:25

between dad and the

son in that generation,

Speaker: 01:05:30

in those times.

Speaker: 01:05:33

So we had to figure it out.

Speaker: 01:05:34

And so communication

between my father and I

Speaker: 01:05:39

is not the same.

Speaker: 01:05:41

There's a lot of distance

between one and the other.

Speaker: 01:05:46

But what I got from him was,

Speaker: 01:05:50

just to watch him because it

was not a lot of teaching also,

Speaker: 01:05:54

but it was watching him

Speaker: 01:05:56

and take example of what

he does in his life,

Speaker: 01:06:00

of who he is and how do you fall

Speaker: 01:06:04

and get up and keep going.

Speaker: 01:06:10

And he was my hero.

Speaker: 01:06:12

Like if you wanna be

somebody's hero of a child,

Speaker: 01:06:17

you're gonna be his hero

no matter what you do.

Speaker: 01:06:20

You're gonna be his hero, right?

Speaker: 01:06:25

And my dad was my hero.

Speaker: 01:06:27

I learned a lot so much from him.

Speaker: 01:06:29

Honesty, more than everything else.

Speaker: 01:06:32

Just fucking brutal honesty.

Speaker: 01:06:35

And those are things that

stay with you forever.

Speaker: 01:06:45

I'm thrown in the world.

Speaker: 01:06:46

I know I have to work,

Speaker: 01:06:47

and I know I have to just work a lot

Speaker: 01:06:51

and give it the best I have.

Speaker: 01:06:54

And I started to talk

about this factory because

Speaker: 01:07:00

80% of the town work

at the factory, right?

Speaker: 01:07:05

So we hanging out with a

whole bunch of friends,

Speaker: 01:07:09

little boys from the neighborhood

Speaker: 01:07:13

and then the son of the

owner of the factory

Speaker: 01:07:20

drives in through the

gate-is beautiful Ferrari.

Speaker: 01:07:29

So now, I have all my friends.

Speaker: 01:07:32

So I look at this motherfucker,

Speaker: 01:07:35

the guy who drives, they're exploiting us,

Speaker: 01:07:39

they pay us miserable salaries.

Speaker: 01:07:42

Look at the motherfucker

driving this ride.

Speaker: 01:07:48

And I'm not saying anything,

Speaker: 01:07:49

but I'm looking at the

guy and I'm thinking,

Speaker: 01:07:52

this is the coolest motherfucker

I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker: 01:07:55

(all laughing)

Speaker: 01:07:57

And I wanna be that motherfucker one day.

Speaker: 01:08:00

I don't know how it's gonna happen.

Speaker: 01:08:03

I wanna be him.

Speaker: 01:08:05

- It's just a different mindset, right?

Speaker: 01:08:08

- I don't hate.

Speaker: 01:08:09

I've never been able to hate

anybody that was successful.

Speaker: 01:08:14

I just fucking get so happy.

Speaker: 01:08:16

I say, "God bless him."

- Yeah, yeah, amen.

Speaker: 01:08:20

- There was no foundation whatsoever

Speaker: 01:08:22

of how will I have a dream like that-ever.

Speaker: 01:08:26

Nothing that could give me a

hint that I could get there.

Speaker: 01:08:31

Nothing, just nothing.

Speaker: 01:08:32

But the dream was there.

Speaker: 01:08:34

- It wasn't your fate.

Speaker: 01:08:36

You weren't supposed to.

- It never went away.

Speaker: 01:08:38

Never went away.

- Wow.

Speaker: 01:08:41

Well, it's the tale of two

different perspectives on life.

Speaker: 01:08:45

And take your pick, I guess.

Speaker: 01:08:50

One is, rather than looking out the window

Speaker: 01:08:54

at everybody else who's

causing your situation,

Speaker: 01:08:57

like you did, you looked in the

mirror at yourself and said,

Speaker: 01:09:00

it's not about what's out the window

Speaker: 01:09:02

at everybody else that's

causing this for me.

Speaker: 01:09:04

You looked in the mirror

Speaker: 01:09:06

and it's the difference between you

Speaker: 01:09:08

and the kids that are around

there with that type of-

Speaker: 01:09:13

- Mindset, yeah.

- Mindset, yeah.

Speaker: 01:09:14

- A lot of things in life

are about perspective,

Speaker: 01:09:19

and that changes everything.

- Totally.

Speaker: 01:09:20

- Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Speaker: 01:09:21

When things are good, look out the window

Speaker: 01:09:24

at all the blessings that you have

Speaker: 01:09:25

and the people that

helped you along the way.

Speaker: 01:09:26

When things are bad, look

in the mirror and say,

Speaker: 01:09:32

"It was me."

Speaker: 01:09:33

It's me, and how do you fix that?

Speaker: 01:09:35

And the opposite is the other way.

Speaker: 01:09:37

When things are good, some will

look in the mirror and say,

Speaker: 01:09:39

"Look at how great I am."

Speaker: 01:09:41

And then when things are bad,

they look out the window.

Speaker: 01:09:43

But it's really the flip flop

Speaker: 01:09:45

that you've demonstrated in that story

Speaker: 01:09:48

of that kind of perspective.

Speaker: 01:09:50

- There you go.

Speaker: 01:09:52

- Yeah.

- There you go.

Speaker: 01:09:54

- Yeah, life is interesting.

Speaker: 01:09:57

But at the end, I can tell you,

Speaker: 01:10:03

with a little bit of luck and everything,

Speaker: 01:10:05

I mean, I just feel blessed

Speaker: 01:10:06

and I don't know that there was like,

Speaker: 01:10:10

there was not a plan that I

had to structure to get there,

Speaker: 01:10:14

because it was not a plan.

Speaker: 01:10:15

There was not a path I

had to get with my machete

Speaker: 01:10:18

and open my way through the jungle.

Speaker: 01:10:22

But there was not a plan

Speaker: 01:10:24

because it was not a road

that was set to success.

Speaker: 01:10:30

So you have to build the road

Speaker: 01:10:32

and see how you're gonna

get to the next step.

Speaker: 01:10:37

And always being careful that in the way,

Speaker: 01:10:41

you just make friends.

- That's right.

Speaker: 01:10:44

- Yeah.

Speaker: 01:10:45

- Treat people well.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 01:10:47

- Respect others.

Speaker: 01:10:49

And it does come around.

- Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 01:10:54

- Valentino [Siesto] is like friends,

Speaker: 01:10:58

they're very close friends

with Nestor Miranda's grandson,

Speaker: 01:11:03

with Jason's [Wood's] son,

Tatiana's [Miranda-Wood's] son.

Speaker: 01:11:06

And you know what?

Speaker: 01:11:08

I know Nestor.

Speaker: 01:11:11

She was Chivas Regal rep in Miami

Speaker: 01:11:15

when I owned a liquor store.

Speaker: 01:11:19

- One of the best pictures you'll ever see

Speaker: 01:11:20

is of him and Nestor in the liquor store.

Speaker: 01:11:22

Both like these thick mustaches

Speaker: 01:11:25

and like the chest hair,

the open shirts, the chains.

Speaker: 01:11:28

- That was playing on-

- Miami Vice guys-

Speaker: 01:11:29

- Last night, was it?

Speaker: 01:11:31

- Yeah, that was on there.

Speaker: 01:11:31

- Was that the loop picture last night?

Speaker: 01:11:33

Yes.

Speaker: 01:11:40

- My father loved Nestor.

Speaker: 01:11:43

Nestor will sell anything to my father.

Speaker: 01:11:46

I come to the liquor store and say,

Speaker: 01:11:49

"Dad, what is all these

cases of this Scotch?

Speaker: 01:11:52

Nobody knows.

Speaker: 01:11:53

What's it doing here?"

Speaker: 01:11:54

And dad said, "No, I

bought it from Miranda.

Speaker: 01:11:56

He told me it's good, it was gonna sell."

Speaker: 01:12:00

And then I stayed like one year

Speaker: 01:12:01

with a fucking load of boxes in there.

Speaker: 01:12:05

But my father loved Miranda so much.

Speaker: 01:12:08

I mean, Miranda could sell

anything to my father.

Speaker: 01:12:16

I sold the nightclub and liquor store

Speaker: 01:12:20

and then I went to a different

industry-jewelry industry.

Speaker: 01:12:25

And I didn't see Miranda for

like 12 years or so, right?

Speaker: 01:12:31

So one day, we were at

The Big Smoke in New York,

Speaker: 01:12:35

and at the end of The Big Smoke,

Speaker: 01:12:38

we were looking for a trolley

to carry our shit out.

Speaker: 01:12:43

And then I see Nestor

walking by and I call him.

Speaker: 01:12:46

"Yo, yo, Nestor.

Speaker: 01:12:51

What are you doing here?"

Speaker: 01:12:52

I say, "What are you doing here?"

Speaker: 01:12:54

"Yeah, I'm selling cigars."

Speaker: 01:12:55

I say, "Yeah, we're selling cigars too."

Speaker: 01:12:57

(both laughing)

Speaker: 01:12:58

- Wow.

Speaker: 01:12:59

Ah, gosh, this is so funny.

Speaker: 01:13:01

- That is awesome.

Speaker: 01:13:04

- Years go by and you keep your friendship

Speaker: 01:13:08

and my daughter is just like close friends

Speaker: 01:13:12

with Nestor Miranda's grandson.

Speaker: 01:13:14

- That's cool, that's so cool.

Speaker: 01:13:15

- That's amazing.

Speaker: 01:13:19

- You have to be good to people always,

Speaker: 01:13:21

and keep this good memories

and this friendship.

Speaker: 01:13:24

Don't ever hurt anybody,

Speaker: 01:13:27

unless it's accidental or

whatever, but you know.

Speaker: 01:13:30

Just keep a good standing

with people around you,

Speaker: 01:13:34

because you never know

when you're gonna find them

Speaker: 01:13:37

in the future.

Speaker: 01:13:40

So many stories about cases like that.

Speaker: 01:13:42

It's amazing.

- For sure, yeah.

Speaker: 01:13:43

- That you always find people

Speaker: 01:13:45

and everything comes back to you.

Speaker: 01:13:46

- It's amazing.

Speaker: 01:13:47

That is pretty cool.

Speaker: 01:13:49

I didn't know that.

- It's a small world.

Speaker: 01:13:50

- It is, very small.

- It is very small world.

Speaker: 01:13:52

Well, we're grateful for our friendship.

Speaker: 01:13:56

- Thank you, we'll send

you a transcript of this

Speaker: 01:13:59

and let us know what you

think so we can publish it.

Speaker: 01:14:02

(all laughing)

Speaker: 01:14:07

- Oh, man.

Speaker: 01:14:07

- No, you guys have

always been so good to us,

Speaker: 01:14:10

and it's always been a

fun relationship to have.

Speaker: 01:14:14

- I just wanna say like,

Speaker: 01:14:16

we love you guys.

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:14:18

- I think Boveda is

like to us family, man.

Speaker: 01:14:22

We really fucking love you guys.

Speaker: 01:14:24

You guys, I just wanna congratulate you

Speaker: 01:14:27

on how successful you've

been and what you've created,

Speaker: 01:14:30

because it's not just you guys,

Speaker: 01:14:32

but like your entire company.

Speaker: 01:14:34

Like I love everybody that works here,

Speaker: 01:14:36

and like the culture that

you guys have built here

Speaker: 01:14:39

is I think something very special.

Speaker: 01:14:41

And it says a lot about you,

Speaker: 01:14:44

because you have one of the best teams

Speaker: 01:14:46

ever assembled in this business.

Speaker: 01:14:48

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:14:49

Thank you very much.

- Congrats, man.

Speaker: 01:14:49

You guys are awesome.

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:14:52

- And I still wanna get

invited to the sales meetings.

Speaker: 01:14:54

(all laughing)

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:14:56

- As long as you keep

telling us that we look good,

Speaker: 01:14:57

we will love you forever.

Speaker: 01:14:59

(all laughing)

Speaker: 01:15:01

- You guys also look

great too, by the way.

Speaker: 01:15:03

Hope we say that enough.

Speaker: 01:15:06

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:15:07

- Yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker: 01:15:08

Really appreciate it.

Speaker: 01:15:09

Tony, thanks.

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:15:10

Thank you.

- Thank you, my friend.

Speaker: 01:15:12

- Thank you.

Speaker: 01:15:13

(light music)