Black Cat Cigar Company
Interview of the Month

During a recent swing through Florida, Sam paid a visit to the Alec Bradley Cigar Company. As you know, we're big fans of their cigars and have been selling them successfully for years. Sam sat down with Alan Rubin, President of Alec Bradley, and between scotches, had the following conversation.

SD: So, can you tell me a little bit about your background and what made you get in the cigar business?

AR: Yes. I was in a completely different business up until 1996. I always wanted to find a business that I really enjoyed, something I was passionate about. I've been smoking cigars for over 23 years and when I had an opportunity to sell my other company and find something I truly enjoyed, the cigar business was a natural for me.

SD: When did Alec Bradley sell its first cigar and how did it feel?

AR: We incorporated in 1996 and sold our first cigar in 1997. Based on being a Florida boy, being born and raised here, our first thought was to put cigars on golf courses knowing that it was a natural time for people being able to enjoy a cigar. But being a Florida boy, I didn't realize that half the country was not playing golf six months out of the year. So, my original business plan was a little faulty. We were in about 300 golf courses and our first cigar was called "Bogie Stogie", the golfer's cigar. We produced a really nice, mild cigar and it worked well on the golf courses, but like I said, six months of the year we weren't too busy. We learned to play a lot of cards, my partner and I at the time.

In 1999, we decided to enter the premium market and came up with Occidental Reserve, which was manufactured, and still is, by Henke Kelner. That cigar put us in the premium cigar market. When you ask how it felt, going into the premium market was very special as people were now really complimenting our product.

SD: You and your company are known as very "hands on". You make a lot of trips to the factories to make sure you're getting exactly what you want. What's a trip down there like when you're building a brand? What are you looking for?

AR: Well, first and foremost, you know we work with very high end premium manufacturers in creating these proprietary blends and one of the things we find is that every cigar factory has their own style and their own strengths and weaknesses. Our job is to really find the strengths of these factories and to see if it melds and meshes with what we are trying to bring to the market. Some of the factories we work with may specialize in one type of cigar when we're really looking for something different. When we find the factory that we are most comfortable with to produce a specific product, the best product, that's when the process starts.

SD: O.K. I've always liked your cigars and one of the reasons is probably the reason you just mentioned. You work with the top tier manufacturers in the industry. Can you name some of those factories?

AR: We work with Henke Kelner, Hendrick Kelner, from Tabadom. Henke makes some of the most famous brands in the world. We work with the Torano factory. We work with the Plasencia factory and also with one or two other smaller factories that are very special in quality and construction.

SD: You have had a number of successes over the years. Two that really stand out are Havana Sun Grown and Maxx, your most recent launch. Can you tell us a little bit about Havana Sun Grown?

AR: Havana Sun Grown was a project that somewhat came to us. How I say it came to us is that one day Henke Kelner is sitting in our South Florida office having lunch and he was talking about a wrapper he had just purchased. It was only grown in one year, 1996.

It was a hybrid wrapper that was a combination of U.S. Connecticut and a Havana Seed from Cuba that was grown in Ecuador. Henke was traveling with one of the largest leaf purveyors in the world who was about to buy this farm where the wrapper grew. The purveyor didn't want this leaf as it was only grown once, so after tasting and esperimenting, Henke bought it all with the intention of using it on a brand with his own name.

When the companies Henke worked with caught hold of this, they decided they weren't going to let him come out with his own cigar to compete against their own. When we found out he wasn't going to do his own brand, that's when we committed to buying all of this wrapper.

SD: Havana Sun Grown is one of my favorite cigars and I've enjoyed it since it first came out. For our website visitors, can you give me a brief answer as to what makes this cigar stand out from an Ashton, Montecristo, or Macanudo?

AR: First and foremost, I can tell you that the wrapper is more than ten years old. Also, we use a Peruvian filler which is also ten years old. This Peruvian filler is very special in what it does to the flavor content of the blend when combined with our Dominican filler. It creates a perfectly well rounded smoke that is smooth, flavorful, and creamy, but with that it has some kick to it. This complexity and balance is a very successful combination

SD: Your latest success is Maxx, which I understand just got a terrific rating in the latest Smoke Magazine. Can you tell me about this cigar and how you came up with the name for it?

AR: In our offices, we smoke and test cigars everyday, whether it's a shipment of one of our brands that just arrived or a new blend that we're considering. Many times I have five or ten cigars on my desk going at one time. The way we came up with the name actually, is we were looking for something more, internally, inside our company, as cigar smokers.

Remember, first and foremost, this not just a business. This is our hobby, our passion and we wanted more. More flavor, more complexity, more balance, and more cigar. And with that we said, "Well, you know what? We're gonna take this thing to the max". That's how the name came about. It was about taking it to the max, and that was maximum satisfaction out of a single cigar. Anyway, the cigar and blend came about due to a personal relationship with Nestor Plasencia. We thought we had this cigar near completion and at the very end, we realized the cigar was not right. I was very upset and didn't know what we were going to do. We had a meeting with Nestor, and Nestor being a good friend, saw I was upset. He handed me a cigar out of his pocket and said, "Relax, and just enjoy the cigar. This is my cigar and it's just rolled for me in one size". After a little time, I turned to Ralph Montero, who is the Vice President of our company (and also a good friend to Black Cat) and we looked at each other and both said this cigar is absolutely fantastic.

I looked over to Nestor and said," If you want to do right by me, you'll let me make this one of our branded cigars and put our name on it". At first he was hesitant, but bases on our relationship, he relented and agreed. And that's how Maxx started.

SD: You use the word "passion". I've never talked to anyone in this industry who makes cigars without the word "passion" coming up. Now you're first generation in this industry, this industry wasn't passed down through your heritage. This is not a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 job, as I'm sure your family found out. Are they happy to see you in this industry; are they happy and supportive of you?

AR: I don't think I've ever worked harder or been happier than being in this business. This is somewhat of a small, fraternal industry. Everyone knows when you've done something good or bad. I set a high standard when I named my company Alec Bradley, which are the names of my two sons. We may be first generation in the cigar business, but there is a generation coming up behind me with their name on it. It's very important that I do everything right.

SD: I couldn't agree with you more that this is a small fraternal business. There's not much that goes on that everyone doesn't know about. My lasdt question for you is, what are your two favorite cigars, other than your own?

AR: That's a great question.I would say that more than a brand name, I smoke everybody's cigars. Remember that I've been smoking for a lot of years and this is also my hobby, so I don't always smoke to learn, but also for enjoyment. If I have to pick, if you're looking for a brand, I do like the La Gloria Cubana Serie R and I do like the Tatuaje from Pete Johnson. I thought that was very good, very interesting. I might like one size in a brand and the rest of the sizes may not be to my liking so it's hard for me to pick a brand and say across the board it's what I like.

SD: I'm surprised I finally got an answer from you. I thought you were going to give me a politically correct answer Mrs. Clinton and not name a brand. I lied by the way, I have two more questions. What's in Alec Bradley's future and do you have any great projects on the horizon, something that your fans can look forward to next year or the following year?

AR: Yes we do. We have two projects in the works right now and two more behind them. We are working on a new brand, the Alec Bradley V2L. And V2L does have significance to its name, based on a blend that we've been working on for almost a year.

SD: I thought the V2L was a military missile project.

AR: If it doesn't work as a brand, it may very well be. We see good things in our future. At Alec Bradley, we want to always make it true that when a consumer pays for our product, the experience is worth a lot more than the price paid.

SD: Thanks for sitting down and doing this interview with me. We wish you continued success.

AR: Thanks Sam, to you as well, and thank you for making the trip down here. It's always good to have you here in our office.