When Cuban Cigars Were King—Then What? | Jeremiah Meerapfel | Meerapfel Cigar | Box Press Ep. 132

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- What is it today at PCA 2024

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that's animating your spirit?

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- That's a good question.

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I'll be completely frank with you.

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My professional life,

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or let's say, the glasses I see through

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typically reflect my state of mind

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at a particular time in life.

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We go through life as children

growing up into teenagers,

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growing up into young adults,

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then some growing into

parents, young parents,

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so on and so forth.

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And the way we see things

dramatically change with life.

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It's a gift.

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It's a natural process.

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It's an enormous responsibility,

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and it's an even bigger privilege.

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And so I think much of this

is brought into the arts,

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which we're creating,

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an enormous part of this

is brought into the arts,

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which we're creating.

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Now, the art which we're creating

has several facets to it.

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Part of it is history,

knowledge, experience,

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how you build a cigar,

how you grow tobacco.

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And this is an amassment.

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Is that a word in English?

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An amassment.

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Amassing something.

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- It will be from this point forward.

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- Yeah, from that one.

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- Yeah, we will adopt

that word, an amassment.

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- How to bring together the combination of

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years and generations and centuries

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of knowledge and experience

and bring it into a product.

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Another facet of that is the lens

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through which you're seeing

something at a particular moment

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and the way that you're

projecting it into the future.

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Because the future,

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even though you have

a past attached to it,

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also has an independence.

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Some people call it free will,

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other people call it whatever they may.

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But the reality is the

human being has the capacity

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to separate itself from the

rest of the animal kingdom

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because of some kind of particle from God,

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which gives it the ability

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to get off the roads of what's known

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into something completely different.

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And I think that answers your question.

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The way I see things today,

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in this particular moment of my life,

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is based on where I

stand in my personal life

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as a father, as a husband, as a patriarch.

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Unfortunately, not having a

father and a mother anymore,

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not having grandparents anymore,

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being the eldest of a family,

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being the patriarch of a company,

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very fragile and very sensitive situation

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to be in, obviously.

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But it also brings you a

certain type of responsibility

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and a certain type of commitment

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to sustaining values,

to sustaining respect.

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And that's where I am in my life today.

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Yesterday I was speaking

to somebody on the floor.

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They asked me, "If you

had to in one sentence,

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explain the frame of mind of the cigars

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or the frame of mind of

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the way you process things

right now in terms of tobacco,

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what would that be?"

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And today, it would be respect.

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The word that I'm clinging onto right now,

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and for the past year

or two for the moment,

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and which I'm very, very

adamant on, is respect.

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Because I believe at this stage of my life

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that there are so many things

that are encapsulated in that,

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which leads to happiness,

which leads to liberty,

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which leads to peace,

which leads to serenity.

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And that's the frame of mind

that I'm looking for right now.

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- Well, it seems to be the

frame of mind that you're in.

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It just feels that way to

meet you and to listen to you.

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And I love the word amassment,

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and I'm serious if it isn't a word,

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we're going to make it a word.

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- We're gonna have to look

that one up in the dictionary.

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So whoever's watching this,

please pull out your phones,

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Google amassment, and

if something comes out,

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send me an Instagram message or something.

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- We'll have our staff look

it up while we're talking.

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But if it's not a word,

we're gonna make it a word.

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But to aggregate all the

things you talked about,

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the frame of reference

you are elucidating,

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I think you are intentionally,

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and that's a great word,

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intentionally it feels

like you're in that.

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And the word that is on the

front of my mind about it

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is serenity.

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There's a serenity about being on purpose

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and being in alignment with your values

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and being, projecting from your heart

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into not just some academic exercise

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and how to make spectacular cigars.

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I mean, there's nobody in the room

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that's gonna argue with the fact that

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it's a premier storied

tradition of cigar excellence

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that you've been a part of,

and that you continue to.

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- I'm a happy person.

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The work we've done over the

last, let's say my career,

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which is basically 25 years, let's say,

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20 years of leading and

running the family business,

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and then maybe five, 10 years

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of actively working within

the business before that,

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I'm happy. I'm content.

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What we've managed to

build with our partners

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is magnificent.

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Today, I see, for example,

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one of the main brands

that we've been developing

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in the eastern hemisphere of the world,

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which is Arturo Fuente,

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one of my father's

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very, very best friend Carlito Fuente.

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And the amount of satisfaction I get

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from understanding and seeing

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the combination of 20 or

30 years of development,

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of education to the market,

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and seeing the satisfaction

in the eyes of the consumers.

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You need to remember that we

were doing this in Europe,

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in Asia, in the Middle East,

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where 15, 20 years ago, nobody, nobody

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would smoke a premium cigar

if it wasn't a Cuban cigar.

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Nobody.

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And that was quite interesting because

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you came with a different

offering to the table.

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As good as it may be,

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it was considered a lesser product

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by consumers, which had been,

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I don't wanna use the word indoctrinated,

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but let's say they were used to

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consuming a certain type of product,

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and they were having a hard

time considering something else.

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Same thing happened in the

wine industry, by the way.

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I remember as a small child,

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there would only be Bordeaux on the table.

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And even if we pulled

out the best Burgundies,

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sometimes it was challenging,

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yet alone, Spanish wines,

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yet alone, Italian wines.

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And my goodness, if anybody

ever spoke about American wines,

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and here we are-

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- Sacrilege.

- Sacrilege.

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And here we are 20 years

later, 30 years later,

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and you know, California's

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are definitely part of the most

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prestigious offerings there are.

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Italy has some of the most

elegant wines in the world.

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Spain has some of the most

delicious wines in the world.

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So the cigar industry

followed the same trajectory.

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And being part of that change,

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being an engine of that change

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was very, very difficult.

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And today, I can sit back,

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I'm very, very upset and very sad

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that my father's not next to me,

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to be able to sit back and see

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the fruits of the work that's been put in,

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sit next to his friend

Carlito and puff on cigars,

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and kind of look back and say,

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"You know, we did it."

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And not in terms of the business,

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but in terms of changing

the entire mentality

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of three generations of cigar

smokers at the same time.

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That is an unbelievable achievement.

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And something which we're

absolutely proud of.

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And you need to realize that in 1964,

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when we started importing

non-Cuban cigars in Europe,

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because we happened to

be the distributors of

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many Cuban cigars in Europe,

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my grandfather launched Cohiba

in the European markets.

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We were very involved in Cuba.

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My grandfather was best

friends with Che Guevara

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before the revolution,

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and he was the largest exporter

of Cuban tobacco in history.

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We had a huge role to play in Cuba.

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But to see that he brought in cigars

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from the Dominican Republic

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and later from Nicaragua

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and through him and my father,

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and then later on, my brother and myself,

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created a change in the industry

in terms of the consumers,

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in terms of what was accepted.

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That's an enormous satisfaction.

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And I'm sitting here at the PCA in 2024,

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and I've spent the whole morning

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with international distributors,

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people from all walks of life

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in every place in the most

remote places in the world.

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People from Australia.

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I mean, this is the

other side of the planet.

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And these great cigars

are now being appreciated

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at their just value.

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They're being appreciated

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at the level which they

should be appreciated.

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Don't be surprised that I use

the word content or satisfied.

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It's an enormous satisfaction

to see this happening.

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That's on one side.

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On the other side, I've

been developing cigars

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over the last 20 years,

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but putting them onto market,

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and I see what it does to people.

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I see how much satisfaction

it brings people.

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I see how much curiosity people have.

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I see how much love, how much affection

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and friendship that creates.

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And there's nothing to say.

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Nothing to say.

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When you are able to create emotion,

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when you're able to

create the human links,

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I call them the golden links

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between human beings, between people.

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There's no money in the world

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that comes close to the

satisfaction of what that brings.

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And I've been blessed, I've

been blessed to feel this.

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I've been blessed to be part of this.

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I've been blessed to be living this.

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And content is what it does.

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- Well, in a sense,

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well, as I'm listening,

there's two extremes,

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one is isolation and one is connection.

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And I think

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I'd be interested to hear

what you think about this.

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I think you've been

involved in an industry

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that has a privilege of creating

connections between people.

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- I believe that the world at any level

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is a series of contractions and dilations,

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contractions and dilations.

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I think that you don't have a connection

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without having the isolation as well.

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And these are cycles that

one has to go through

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to be able, well,

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- It's natural.

- It's a natural cycle.

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You need to go into an isolation

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to be able to create certain things.

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It's not possible to create a cigar

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without a certain amount of isolation,

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whether it's in your thought process,

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whether it's in the static, in

the noise, which is going on.

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And so I think they're

related, to be honest with you.

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Nothing is complete without

the cycle of both of them

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happening together.

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- So you mentioned your father

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and you talk about missing him.

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How long has he been gone?

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- My father passed away 20 years ago.

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- 20?

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- Yeah. Mine, 1992.

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And how different is that craft today

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than it was when he was

in the center of it?

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- I think he would've been very proud of

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the direction the industry has taken,

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some of the industry,

some of the industry.

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I believe that he would agree that

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the industry has never been better

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in terms of what it's capable of

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delivering to the consumers.

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The quality of the cigars today

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is at a level which I've never seen it.

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And I think that's spectacular.

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A lot of people speak about

the old days, the nostalgia.

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"Oh, Cuban in the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s.

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Yes, the, 1980s, 1990s.

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Those cigars are gone

and will never be back."

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I completely disagree.

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You know, I still have vaults of cigars

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from the 1930s, 40s, 50s,

60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

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And I'll be honest with you,

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when I look at the quality

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of what's coming outta

the factories today,

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the good factories,

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what Fuente is producing today,

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I don't think anything ever came close.

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I'll be honest with you.

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Where I'm very worried

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and where I'm strongly opinionated

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is on industry becoming too

big, tobacco becoming a problem,

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people cutting corners

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because you have these

explosions in demands

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in the business.

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And this is a very, very big problem,

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which I'm very worried about.

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Same thing happened during the boom.

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I mean, now it's disastrous.

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Last year, for example,

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there was no tobacco,

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very little tobacco coming out of Ecuador

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because of environmental.

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Indonesia's gone,

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the Connecticut shade from

the valley has disappeared,

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Sumatra, Indonesia has disappeared.

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The old style Cuban

wrapper has disappeared.

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Cameroon's one of the

only, if not the only

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of the old style

wrappers, which our family

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and our partners are keeping

alive by the thread of it.

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But this is very, very scary.

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And so basically what you end

up with, is you end up with

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a lot of manufacturers using

a lot of the same tobacco.

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This is very, very, very dangerous.

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And this is something where

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I definitely yell and scream all the time,

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and people know me by it

and I'm very opinionated.

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Beware about the tobacco,

be very, very aware.

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Another thing I'm very worried about is

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this whole story with ring gauges.

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The way I've seen the industry

go in the last few years

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with the bigger and bigger ring gauges,

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I'm against it.

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I think it's not natural.

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I think that nature produces

tobacco in a certain way,

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in a certain form, in a certain size.

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I think that the balance of

cigar up to a certain ring gauge

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is God's particle.

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It's natural, it's how it should be.

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The balance of the tastes

are at a perfection

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for a reason.

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Once you start wanting

more and more and more,

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you start genetically modifying

seed to get bigger plants,

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to be able to roll bigger ring gauges.

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And I believe that you're

losing a lot of the elegance.

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You're losing a lot of the

balance in the product.

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And I think that it was

done for the wrong reasons.

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You know, wrapper is the most

expensive leaf of a cigar

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by far.

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By a multiple of many,

many, many, many, many.

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It would make sense that

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certain manufacturers would

promote bigger ring gauges,

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because you blow up the amount of binder,

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sorry, the amount of filler

that you have in a cigar,

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the wrapper becomes less importance.

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But this is not what is

creating the balance.

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There's a reason why, for example,

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typically, you take a Fuente, for example,

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typically, you are in very

traditional ring gauges.

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There's a reason for this.

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Carlito being one of the

master blenders of the world.

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There's no question about it.

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There's a reason people like this don't go

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crazy in the ring gauges.

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There's a reason why

in the Meerapfel cigar,

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the biggest ring gauge I have is a 52.

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And that's by far the biggest.

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You know, I have 50s, I

have 48s, I have smaller,

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in today's world, smaller ring gauges,

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because I don't believe

that you can create balance,

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I don't believe it.

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And so this is another one of my,

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where I'm very verbal about it,

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is the whole swing in the ring gauges.

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Now, saying that there are exceptions,

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there are people out there

that have managed to create

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relatively balanced and decent cigars

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in the big ring gauges,

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but in my humble opinion,

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it has certainly not been the majority.

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- Yeah, I've always,

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and I'm a relative novice at cigars

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compared to the experience

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that the people I've had a

chance to speak to in this forum.

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- And I'm sorry to interrupt.

- Go ahead.

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- I don't make cigars to sell them.

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I never have, never will.

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My point is not whether

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I'm doing something to

please the consumer,

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because he's asking,

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if I don't believe in

it, I will not do it.

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End of story.

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And that's very, very important.

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It pleases some and it upsets

others, but it's who I am.

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And you are gonna get who I am,

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and I am gonna be what you are gonna get.

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It's as simple as that.

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And therefore, what we

create, what I create

Speaker: 00:19:42

is what I believe in, what

I strongly believe in.

Speaker: 00:19:47

And some people believe that

I'm opinionated and hardheaded.

Speaker: 00:19:53

I don't see why they would

ever believe such a thing.

Speaker: 00:19:56

But the point is, that's

what it's gonna be.

Speaker: 00:20:00

It's not made to appeal to the masses,

Speaker: 00:20:04

it's made to appeal to those

who agree with my palate.

Speaker: 00:20:10

- Well, and it's arguable

Speaker: 00:20:11

that there's probably only

10 or 15% of cigar smokers

Speaker: 00:20:14

that'll ever have an opportunity

to smoke a Meerapfel cigar.

Speaker: 00:20:17

- Why is that?

- They're just not,

Speaker: 00:20:21

I don't see them everywhere mass produced.

Speaker: 00:20:24

- Let me tell you

something, my dear friend.

Speaker: 00:20:27

Six years ago, when we were getting ready,

Speaker: 00:20:30

because I started

developing this product 20,

Speaker: 00:20:32

when father passed away.

Speaker: 00:20:34

Six years ago,

Speaker: 00:20:36

we had the financial

department of the company

Speaker: 00:20:38

gather around the table

Speaker: 00:20:40

and they said, "Okay, how are

we gonna price this cigar?"

Speaker: 00:20:44

You know, these are the

oldest tobaccos on the planet

Speaker: 00:20:47

on a production cigar by a mile.

Speaker: 00:20:52

These stocks are,

Speaker: 00:20:54

you can't put a value on on this.

Speaker: 00:20:57

How can you put a value on something

Speaker: 00:20:58

which is 20 years old, 25 years old?

Speaker: 00:21:01

You know, some people

make small batch runs.

Speaker: 00:21:04

This is on a production cigar.

Speaker: 00:21:05

The closest thing to this

Speaker: 00:21:07

is going to Christie's or Sotheby's

Speaker: 00:21:09

and buying a cigar on auction, okay?

Speaker: 00:21:11

So there, ah, we're gonna,

Speaker: 00:21:13

and I said, listen, it's very simple.

Speaker: 00:21:15

I wanna price the cigar as

low as we can possibly go.

Speaker: 00:21:20

I don't know if it was $50, $60.

Speaker: 00:21:21

I don't know exactly what it was.

Speaker: 00:21:24

They said, "You're out of your mind."

Speaker: 00:21:26

The cost to keep this

tobacco for 20, 25, 30 years.

Speaker: 00:21:31

You know, we cannot do this.

Speaker: 00:21:34

And my answer was,

Speaker: 00:21:38

"We are gonna produce cigars

to an offer experience."

Speaker: 00:21:43

And I do not wanna cater

Speaker: 00:21:46

for the half a millionth

of a percent of the world

Speaker: 00:21:50

who could afford to pay $1,000

Speaker: 00:21:51

or $2,000, $3,000 for a cigar.

Speaker: 00:21:54

That doesn't make any sense.

Speaker: 00:21:56

There is no reason

Speaker: 00:21:59

that someone who can save

up a bit of his money,

Speaker: 00:22:03

instead of buying five cigars

at $10 or six cigars at $10.

Speaker: 00:22:07

If once a year he could

save up a little bit

Speaker: 00:22:09

and have the experience of

enjoying Meerapfel cigar,

Speaker: 00:22:13

I wanna be able to offer that to him.

Speaker: 00:22:15

So forget your craziness as

of what the tobacco is worth,

Speaker: 00:22:19

or what's the cigar is worth.

Speaker: 00:22:21

It's all about offering the experience

Speaker: 00:22:22

and that's what I want to do.

Speaker: 00:22:24

And it created mayhem and the

company, but we stuck with it,

Speaker: 00:22:27

and we went with it, and

they respected my will.

Speaker: 00:22:30

And that's what we're doing.

Speaker: 00:22:32

- And it works.

Speaker: 00:22:34

- That's besides the point.

Speaker: 00:22:36

The point is, anybody in the world can,

Speaker: 00:22:41

well, anybody in the world,

all things being equal

Speaker: 00:22:44

can go out if you can find it.

Speaker: 00:22:45

That's the only problem.

Speaker: 00:22:46

- That's the the point I was making.

Speaker: 00:22:47

- The only problem is if you can find it,

Speaker: 00:22:49

because there's 613 boxes of each SKU,

Speaker: 00:22:53

there's only X number of SKUs.

Speaker: 00:22:54

There's only whatever hundred

retailers in the world

Speaker: 00:22:58

that have been selected that,

Speaker: 00:22:59

you know, we can't do more.

Speaker: 00:23:00

It's, you know.

Speaker: 00:23:02

- Being that small of a production,

Speaker: 00:23:05

do you find there are individuals that

Speaker: 00:23:08

traditionally come back again and again

Speaker: 00:23:10

and hoard that product?

Speaker: 00:23:14

- We try that it doesn't happen.

Speaker: 00:23:16

Because it's all about giving

Speaker: 00:23:17

a special experience to somebody.

Speaker: 00:23:19

We try for it not to happen.

Speaker: 00:23:21

We're trying to,

Speaker: 00:23:24

we're trying to get away from,

Speaker: 00:23:28

for example, what happened

to Pagani or Bugatti

Speaker: 00:23:31

or to Patek Philippe.

Speaker: 00:23:33

We're trying to get away from that.

Speaker: 00:23:35

Where the guys who buy a Patek,

Speaker: 00:23:37

you know, they're big accounts.

Speaker: 00:23:39

Whatever comes into the stores,

Speaker: 00:23:41

they collect, they put

away, and that's it.

Speaker: 00:23:43

They're the Patek buyers.

Speaker: 00:23:44

Or the guy who buys the

Pagani or the Bugatti,

Speaker: 00:23:47

he's first on the list to be able to buy

Speaker: 00:23:49

the next Pagani that comes out.

Speaker: 00:23:51

And sure, the cigar is definitely

in the same philosophy.

Speaker: 00:23:56

It appeals to the same kind of,

Speaker: 00:23:58

but we're trying to get away from that.

Speaker: 00:23:59

We want everybody to be

able to experience it.

Speaker: 00:24:03

And I think it's important.

Speaker: 00:24:05

And that's why we priced it.

Speaker: 00:24:06

I mean, it's funny, I'm

gonna say priced it so low,

Speaker: 00:24:08

and some people were like, oh

my God, it's crazy expensive.

Speaker: 00:24:10

And of course, it's a lot of money.

Speaker: 00:24:12

But in terms of how we see it,

Speaker: 00:24:13

and in terms of the value of

the tobaccos and everything,

Speaker: 00:24:16

we kinda say we priced it so low that

Speaker: 00:24:19

as many people as possible could access it

Speaker: 00:24:22

and could be able to have that experience.

Speaker: 00:24:24

And that's important for us.

Speaker: 00:24:27

- We gathered to remember a friend

Speaker: 00:24:30

that had passed away about a year ago,

Speaker: 00:24:32

a gentleman, 55 years

old, lover of cigars,

Speaker: 00:24:36

a close friend of Vartan

[Shahverdian] out in Arizona,

Speaker: 00:24:40

who I'm sure you know.

Speaker: 00:24:43

He had a collection of cigars

Speaker: 00:24:46

and his pinnacle of his collection

Speaker: 00:24:50

are all the Meerapfels.

Speaker: 00:24:52

And all the other cigars

Speaker: 00:24:54

were liquidated in the

process of these friends.

Speaker: 00:24:58

And then the crown

jewel of the collection,

Speaker: 00:25:02

the crown jewels of

the collection was this

Speaker: 00:25:05

pretty massive collection of your cigars.

Speaker: 00:25:09

It was his idea of the

quintessential cigar experience.

Speaker: 00:25:14

He just loved your cigars

Speaker: 00:25:17

and

Speaker: 00:25:19

calmly, peacefully, cooperatively,

Speaker: 00:25:22

a group of about eight or nine gentlemen

Speaker: 00:25:25

figured out a way to share these cigars

Speaker: 00:25:28

and compensate the estate

for them and so forth.

Speaker: 00:25:31

Just spectacular to watch a

sense of reverence to an art.

Speaker: 00:25:37

I mean, it's a very special experience

Speaker: 00:25:43

to enjoy one of your cigars.

Speaker: 00:25:45

- We've been blessed.

Speaker: 00:25:46

Joshua [Meerapfel] and

I, we've been blessed.

Speaker: 00:25:47

We grew up with the finest

cigar makers in the world

Speaker: 00:25:51

as mentors.

Speaker: 00:25:54

And these fine gentlemen

Speaker: 00:25:58

not only make the best

cigars in the world,

Speaker: 00:26:02

they also select the finest

tobaccos in the world,

Speaker: 00:26:05

which some of it came from

our fathers and grandfathers.

Speaker: 00:26:11

And if we're able to add

a stone to the edifice

Speaker: 00:26:18

and be parts

Speaker: 00:26:24

of a world which,

Speaker: 00:26:29

let's face it,

Speaker: 00:26:34

being part of something

which is part of us,

Speaker: 00:26:38

that's what we all aspire to.

Speaker: 00:26:41

My father left way too early.

Speaker: 00:26:44

I understand yours did as well.

Speaker: 00:26:46

- He was 79. I'm the younger.

Speaker: 00:26:48

- It's still way too early.

Speaker: 00:26:50

- Anytime is early.

Speaker: 00:26:54

- You aspire to making

fatherly figures proud.

Speaker: 00:27:02

I was a very young man

when he passed away.

Speaker: 00:27:04

Very, very young man.

Speaker: 00:27:06

And the closest thing to my father was

Speaker: 00:27:09

the mentors I had around me,

Speaker: 00:27:12

the Carlito Fuentes,

Speaker: 00:27:16

the Edgar Cullmans,

Speaker: 00:27:21

my grandfather, of course,

that was still alive.

Speaker: 00:27:25

And so I spent many, many years

Speaker: 00:27:27

and in a way still today,

Speaker: 00:27:29

try to make my mentors proud

Speaker: 00:27:35

because I believe that it's this search

Speaker: 00:27:39

of making our mentors proud,

Speaker: 00:27:43

that rewards us with elevating ourselves,

Speaker: 00:27:48

striving for being a better

person and doing better things

Speaker: 00:27:54

and being more successful in what we do,

Speaker: 00:27:56

not in terms of monetizing it,

Speaker: 00:28:01

in terms of improving our arts.

Speaker: 00:28:09

And I think that was the

biggest privilege in my life,

Speaker: 00:28:12

is being able to try to follow

the footsteps of these giants

Speaker: 00:28:21

that definitely inspired me,

Speaker: 00:28:29

and still today, push me to

try to become a better person

Speaker: 00:28:34

and perform whatever it is that I'm doing

Speaker: 00:28:38

in a more adequate way.

Speaker: 00:28:40

They're never happy.

Speaker: 00:28:42

My father was never happy.

Speaker: 00:28:43

My grandfather certainly was never happy.

Speaker: 00:28:45

Carlito's never happy with me.

Speaker: 00:28:47

But I think that's the whole point.

Speaker: 00:28:49

And I think you only understand

that very late in life.

Speaker: 00:28:54

You understand that's what,

Speaker: 00:28:56

and I see your eyes.

- Oh, totally.

Speaker: 00:28:59

- I see your understanding that.

Speaker: 00:29:00

- Litto made the point yesterday.

Speaker: 00:29:01

Litto Gomez made the point.

Speaker: 00:29:04

He pointed at me,

Speaker: 00:29:04

we were having the conversation,

Speaker: 00:29:05

he pointed at me and he said,

Speaker: 00:29:07

"We're close in the same generation."

Speaker: 00:29:10

He said, "Our fathers didn't tell us

Speaker: 00:29:13

that they loved us every day.

Speaker: 00:29:17

Our fathers showed us in their actions

Speaker: 00:29:22

and in their comportment, the

way they handled themselves,

Speaker: 00:29:26

the example that they gave."

Speaker: 00:29:29

He makes this point.

Speaker: 00:29:30

And I thought, you know,

that's spectacular.

Speaker: 00:29:33

I can count the times my dad

said, "I love you" on one hand,

Speaker: 00:29:39

but he said, on numerous occasions,

Speaker: 00:29:44

"either I'm not happy with

this or I'm proud of you."

Speaker: 00:29:49

The last words he said to

me was, "I'm proud of you."

Speaker: 00:30:05

- That's actually the last words

Speaker: 00:30:06

my father said to me as well.

Speaker: 00:30:08

- Hmm.

Speaker: 00:30:09

- Sometimes you wonder if

they know what's gonna happen.

Speaker: 00:30:13

And it's the final gift

that they give us as sons.

Speaker: 00:30:18

This industry is the most

wonderful and beautiful thing.

Speaker: 00:30:23

The consumers are very fortunate

Speaker: 00:30:24

that they can experience

it through the products

Speaker: 00:30:27

and through gatherings,

through the accessibility.

Speaker: 00:30:31

What's one of the only industries

Speaker: 00:30:33

I've ever witnessed where

Speaker: 00:30:35

a consumer and a manufacturer

would spend time together.

Speaker: 00:30:38

You would typically not see

Speaker: 00:30:39

somebody walking around

with a Louis Vuitton bag

Speaker: 00:30:43

having a conversation

with Bernard Arnault.

Speaker: 00:30:46

You would typically not see

somebody driving a Ferrari,

Speaker: 00:30:49

sitting down with a CEO of Fiat

Speaker: 00:30:54

or the Scuderia Ferrari.

Speaker: 00:30:57

The cigar industry is all about

Speaker: 00:30:59

love and respect and connection.

Speaker: 00:31:04

And that's why you have

Speaker: 00:31:05

gentlemen like yourself

and like Carlito [Fuente]

Speaker: 00:31:09

and Jorge [Padrón] and

Litto [Gomez] and myself,

Speaker: 00:31:12

and all of the people around you today

Speaker: 00:31:18

that are so excited to come here.

Speaker: 00:31:22

They're so excited to come here.

Speaker: 00:31:23

Why am I so excited to come here?

Speaker: 00:31:26

Because I get to sit with our consumers.

Speaker: 00:31:29

I get to sit with my consumers

and share a cigar with them

Speaker: 00:31:34

and listen to them

Speaker: 00:31:36

and hug them and give them a kiss.

Speaker: 00:31:39

What other industry in the world

Speaker: 00:31:42

would the CEO or the president

or the owner of a company

Speaker: 00:31:44

get so excited to sit

down with his customers?

Speaker: 00:31:48

This is the best industry in the world.

Speaker: 00:31:53

- It's been a real blessing for me.

Speaker: 00:31:56

I mean,

Speaker: 00:32:01

the gentleman that I've met,

the families that I've met,

Speaker: 00:32:04

it's just been remarkable.

Speaker: 00:32:06

And the inclusiveness and the brotherhood

Speaker: 00:32:12

and just the consideration

that people show each other,

Speaker: 00:32:18

it's unusual.

Speaker: 00:32:19

You're very correct in that.

Speaker: 00:32:21

It's not like anything

else I've ever experienced.

Speaker: 00:32:26

- There's not very many

industries like this.

Speaker: 00:32:29

You have intergenerational businesses,

Speaker: 00:32:33

which is becoming very rare.

Speaker: 00:32:35

And around this floor here

Speaker: 00:32:37

you have businesses which are

30 years old, 50 years old,

Speaker: 00:32:42

a 100 years old, 120 years old.

Speaker: 00:32:45

Our family's been in the

business for 400 and some years.

Speaker: 00:32:49

Where in the world do you find this?

Speaker: 00:32:53

Where in the world do people

dive and lose everything

Speaker: 00:32:57

and decide, you know what?

Speaker: 00:32:59

this is exactly where I want to be

Speaker: 00:33:00

and I'm gonna rebuild it from the ashes.

Speaker: 00:33:03

Happened to us.

Speaker: 00:33:05

Close to every generation

for the past 400 years.

Speaker: 00:33:08

What are the probabilities

of something like this?

Speaker: 00:33:12

Many people don't know.

Speaker: 00:33:13

We were pirates in the 1600s.

Speaker: 00:33:16

The name Meerapfel comes from

Speaker: 00:33:19

an old named Aramean name Araphel.

Speaker: 00:33:24

Araphel means smoke.

Speaker: 00:33:26

We're trading tobacco from

Spain to the new world.

Speaker: 00:33:29

It means smoke.

Speaker: 00:33:31

They were Jewish pirates in the 1600s

Speaker: 00:33:33

that were trading across the Atlantic.

Speaker: 00:33:35

Then they had to,

Speaker: 00:33:38

there was the,

Speaker: 00:33:40

what do you call them in Spain,

Speaker: 00:33:45

had to get away in the early

: 1700

Speaker: 00:33:49

to a village called Meckelfeld.

Speaker: 00:33:50

And like many families,

Speaker: 00:33:52

they arrived to Germany,

they Germanize the name.

Speaker: 00:33:54

Araphel became a Meerapfel.

Speaker: 00:33:56

What does meer mean?

Speaker: 00:33:58

Meer means the sea in German.

Speaker: 00:34:00

So they went from smoke to Meerapfel.

Speaker: 00:34:03

Apfel is an apple, the

sea apple, Meerapfel.

Speaker: 00:34:06

This is crazy history.

Speaker: 00:34:08

It's insane history.

Speaker: 00:34:10

Where do you find something like this?

Speaker: 00:34:11

- It's wonderful.

Speaker: 00:34:12

- And who in their right mind

Speaker: 00:34:15

would keep a name like Meerapfel.

Speaker: 00:34:17

Nobody can pronounce it.

Speaker: 00:34:18

It's wonderful.

Speaker: 00:34:20

People usually would change

it to something like Smith

Speaker: 00:34:23

or Jones or, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:34:27

- Yeah, they do a rebranding.

- A rebranding of it.

Speaker: 00:34:32

But excuse my French, fuck it.

Speaker: 00:34:35

This is who we always

were, this is who we are.

Speaker: 00:34:38

You know what, if you can't

pronounce it, forget about it.

Speaker: 00:34:42

- Do your best.

Speaker: 00:34:44

- It doesn't matter.

Speaker: 00:34:45

It's not what it's about.

Speaker: 00:34:49

It's not what it's about.

Speaker: 00:34:52

And with that family heritage

and that family tradition,

Speaker: 00:34:57

there's no surprise

Speaker: 00:34:59

that things are what they are today.

Speaker: 00:35:01

- Yeah.

- There's no surprise that

Speaker: 00:35:03

you have all of these wonderful people

Speaker: 00:35:04

on the shop floor today.

Speaker: 00:35:06

I mean, right around you,

who do you have here?

Speaker: 00:35:08

You have Oliva.

- Yeah.

Speaker: 00:35:10

- And some of the Olivas

are still circulating there.

Speaker: 00:35:13

You have Fred [Vandermarliere],

Speaker: 00:35:15

which has also been in

the business for ages.

Speaker: 00:35:18

You have Carlito [Fuente],

which is right there.

Speaker: 00:35:20

And you have Rocky [Patel],

which is over there.

Speaker: 00:35:22

And you have Litto [Gomez],

which is over there.

Speaker: 00:35:24

And you have, these are

all family businesses

Speaker: 00:35:27

and they're all there

Speaker: 00:35:28

and they're all happy to be here.

Speaker: 00:35:32

Don't be surprised.

Speaker: 00:35:33

There's a reason why

when you smoke a cigar,

Speaker: 00:35:36

there's so much pleasure involved.

Speaker: 00:35:37

And I can tell you something,

it's more than just the cigar.

Speaker: 00:35:40

- Hmm.

Speaker: 00:35:41

- There's some fairy dust

in here, I can tell you.

Speaker: 00:35:44

And that's all the love and the passion

Speaker: 00:35:45

of all these guys in the industry

Speaker: 00:35:48

which care so, so very much.

Speaker: 00:35:51

- So having no understanding

Speaker: 00:35:53

of any of the tradition

or any of the families.

Speaker: 00:35:55

I'm in a cigar store, I'm

with a group of people.

Speaker: 00:35:59

We're smoking cigars, we may

be playing cards together.

Speaker: 00:36:02

We're having a good time.

Speaker: 00:36:06

Without knowing,

Speaker: 00:36:09

we get a taste of all that you

describe, all this tradition.

Speaker: 00:36:15

- Of course.

Speaker: 00:36:17

Why do you get so emotional

when you smoke a cigar?

Speaker: 00:36:20

- Do you get so emotional

when you eat a piece of bacon?

Speaker: 00:36:22

- No.

- Alright, so why?

Speaker: 00:36:25

- It's a great question.

Speaker: 00:36:28

- You get emotional when you drink a Coke?

Speaker: 00:36:30

- Not at all.

Speaker: 00:36:31

You get emotional when

you bite into a tomato?

Speaker: 00:36:36

- It'd have to be a really good tomato.

Speaker: 00:36:39

- Because the person who did it then

Speaker: 00:36:42

is putting a lot of love into his tomato.

Speaker: 00:36:43

- Yeah, the love comes out.

Speaker: 00:36:46

I think it's because

of the love comes out.

Speaker: 00:36:48

- Of course.

Speaker: 00:36:50

It's what I call the fairy dust.

Speaker: 00:36:51

The guy who's making it,

the guy who's behind it,

Speaker: 00:36:54

there's a piece of him, the fairy dust,

Speaker: 00:36:56

there's something going on.

Speaker: 00:36:57

- Well, it's certainly a privilege

Speaker: 00:36:59

to share some fairy dust with you.

Speaker: 00:37:03

- It's my privilege.

Speaker: 00:37:04

- I could talk to you all afternoon.

Speaker: 00:37:06

I could care less if we break

now or if we keep going.

Speaker: 00:37:10

But I don't want to impose.

Speaker: 00:37:14

What a privilege.

Speaker: 00:37:16

- It's my privilege.

Speaker: 00:37:18

And I have to say that

Speaker: 00:37:21

and I said it once, I said it twice.

Speaker: 00:37:24

And actually, the proof's in the pudding.

Speaker: 00:37:30

There's a reason I put Boveda

to take care of my cigars.

Speaker: 00:37:34

There's a reason for that.

Speaker: 00:37:35

- What is that?

- It works.

Speaker: 00:37:40

- Simple.

Speaker: 00:37:45

- You know what the product is.

Speaker: 00:37:46

You know how fragile Cameroon is.

Speaker: 00:37:52

You need a hell of a system

to keep this thing protected.

Speaker: 00:37:56

You don't have a choice.

Speaker: 00:37:58

If you wanna smoke it at this

level, it has to be perfect.

Speaker: 00:38:02

- Love those Cameroons.

Speaker: 00:38:05

- Thank you. So do I.

Speaker: 00:38:06

- Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: 00:38:08

Thank you so much.

- Thank you very much.