Emilio Cigars and 1502 Cigars enter into distribution agreement

Press Release, September 24, 2012

Global Premium Cigars and Emilio Cigars Enter Distribution Agreement

    Enrique Sanchez Icaza, owner of Global Premium Cigars, makers of 1502 Cigars manufactured in Esteli, Nicaragua, and Gary Griffith, owner of Emilio Cigars, announced today that they have entered into a distribution agreement. Under this arrangement Emilio Cigars sales staff will bring the 1502 cigars to market, while Sanchez Icaza will continue to focus on manufacturing and product development along with retailer support and education about the brand. Sanchez Icaza will continue to handle sales in the state of Florida as well. The cigars will be warehoused and shipped from the Emilio Cigars facility in Vineland, NJ.

    "I am delighted to be able to help another boutique manufacturer benefit from our existing shipping and billing facilities, and even more happy that we were able to make this arrangement with a dear friend" said Griffith.

Sanchez Icaza added: “I am very proud and honored to have Gary carry our 1502 Cigars. He is a true friend, great entrepreneur and a great cigar guru. I am sure our business relationship will be very successful!”

Product should arrive at the Emilio Cigars warehouse within a week, and begin shipping immediately thereafter.

Grand Opening Announcement

It's been quite some time in the making, but we're finally close to opening our newest location - Total Tobacco in Newtown Square, PA.,  located at 28 Alpha Dr.

We will open for business on Monday September 17, 2012 and hold the official grand opening ceremony on Saturday September 22, 2012.

The store features a spacious walk-in humidor with a terrific selection of cigars and accessories.

We look forward to meeting the many new friends we will make, and seeing many of our old friends. Please consider joining us on Saturday the 22nd.

Process vs. Results

"We don't do it that way" and "We don't do it that way" can be two different things.

Confused? So are many people.

When you tell me you don't do it that way because you've just never done it that way you're telling me you're too invested in your process to look for better results. Having the same daily routine yields the same daily results. You're letting your process drive your life, and you've relinquished control of your future.

When I tell you I don't do it that way, I mean I don't let processes dictate what my maximum achievable results are. I decide what the results are that I want, and develop a strategy to achieve them. I don't let time of day dictate which tasks I'm focused on.

Two different things. Exact same sentence.

The Importance of Smell in Memory

I listened to an interview on the radio today by a woman who had traveled the world to find all the essential essences needed to create a perfume that would remind her of not only where she had found them, but that suited her particular scent profile.

This set me to thinking, as I occasionally do, about what it is that draws some of us so strongly to particular flavors and overtones in our cigars, and what causes us to not dislike, but at least less enjoy others.

A part of the discussion centered on evocative memory, or the idea that smell and taste can bring us to places in our past, both pleasant and unpleasant, that have had a distinct influence on us. Indeed, I agree with this concept, as I can well remember the distinct aromas that lingered in my great grandmothers kitchen; bacon, cooked cabbage, and the crisp clean taste of the water from the hand-pump at sinkside. Each time I detect a similar smell I am brought back instantly to those days when I was 9 or 10. I can immediately see the entire layout of the house, hear the tinkling of the glass chimes on the screened porch, and picture the enormous collection of salt and pepper shakers that spilled from every available display space in her home. I can remember rifling through the stacks of fading sepia photos in her attic, wondering who each and every person was, and how they were related to me.

Taste and aroma are powerful reminders of the past, but as cigar smokers perhaps we must be cautious that we not let either prematurely lower our expectations of a cigar based on prior experience.

One of our employees rather crudely describes what I perceive as earthiness in a cigar as "that cow pie smell," and won't smoke anything that gives him that impression on pre-light. That's a shame, as I've certainly smoked a few cigars that gave me that sense when I smelled them, but immediately blossomed into true gems once the torch was applied.

You see, taste and smell at times can have a certain dissonance to them, whereby we may initially be turned off by the smell of the unlit tobacco, yet surprisingly pleased by its taste once we smoke it. Sort of a "Don't judge a book by its cover" moment.

Each of us have very different capacities to taste and smell, and I always enjoy the differing reflections customers give to a smoke. Some have very discerning palates, and quickly grasp the nuances of subtle hints of flavor provided by the tobacco. Others are constantly perplexed by descriptions like "subtle hints of nutmeg" or undertones of leather and spice."

What's important is that you not let someone else influence your decision to sample a blend based on their judgment. What your friend or neighbor dislikes may become an everyday enjoyment for you. Indeed, don't even let the best of tobacconists dissuade you from smoking a blend you enjoy, for in the few hours a day or week we're given to truly enjoy our cigars we should smoke those that satisfy us most.

But attempt this, if you will: Try to remember while smoking. Think of those special moments and memories that are brought back to you by certain flavors and smells. Distill the essence of all you're experiencing into a flash of memory, and recall the best times of your life. That is what cigars are all about.

First published September 27, 2009.

You did what?

In all my years managing people in these tobacco shops I've come to realize that I can generalize people into two very simplified classes of employees.

There are those who come to me and say "What do you need me to do today?" and afterward say "I've finished that, what can I do to contribute now?"

Then there are those who occasionally come to me and say "Look what I just did!" to distract me from the hundreds of things they should have stayed on top of on a daily basis, did not do, and hoped I didn't notice.

The former will earn my respect, admiration, and advancement. The latter I am unimpressed by.

Folks, I don't miss much, if anything. I just keep track.

Decide which you are and become it, but remember there are either rewards or consequences.

The choice is always yours.

Milton Bernal - Pintor Del Tabaco

A week or so ago a painting appeared in my Facebook news feed of Alejandro Robaina. I was immediately struck by the image, and sat in wonder at how much the artist had accomplished with so deliberately limited a palette.

You see, Senor Robaina holds a very special place in my heart even though I never met the man. He, through his tutelage of my dear friend A.J. Fernandez, has blessed me with more knowledge than I ever imagined I could attain about cigars and tobacco.

I immediately set out to discover more about the artist, Milton Bernal, and what I've discovered is that I'd somehow managed to overlook one of the most amazing of talents.

This morning as I had my coffee I summoned up the courage to contact Senor Bernal, and ask his permission to try to bring awareness of his work to my readers, and he graciously agreed. So I give you just a taste of what he does, but implore you to delve further into his work yourselves, and come away as awestruck as I have become.

Here's what's remarkable: every painting incorporates tobacco into the creative process, and not just as you might assume. Bernal manufactures his own papers of vegetable fibers, paints the initial images in oil, and then carefully incorporates either pigments from, or actual overlays of tobacco into each.

Many of the paintings reinvent historic masterpieces using these techniques in imaginative new ways that simply astound. Others, of his own creation, are so distinctly unique that he may well have developed a style that others will emulate far into the future.

I encourage you to take a moment, look at his web site, and then research deeply beyond that. As La Musa kept putting it when she reviewed his portfolio today: "Wow!"

To learn more about Bernal and the processes he uses to create these marvelous works read this interview from Progreso Weekly

News Release: Chattanooga Tweetup Cigars

 

#CHATweetUp2012

Twitter, Everywhere – What started last year with the inaugural Tweetup event at Burns Tobacconist (@burnstobacco99) and was put together by the hard work of David Jones (@dmjones1009) tikibaronline.com has grown into the massive event that is expected to converge on Chattanooga on August 24^th and August 25^th. To commemorate the united voice of cigar smokers on Twitter  Emilio Cigars and Miami Cigar & Co. have joined forces to release a limited edition set.

The cedar box of 2 cigars will contain a cigars made just for this historic event. The Añoranza in a box-pressed Churchill, and the debut of La Musa Melete from Emilio cigars in the same format. These sizes will be limited to 300 boxes of 2.

Gary Griffith (@emiliocigar) states,  “We are delighted to be releasing this joint project with Miami Cigar and Co., dear industry friends, on behalf of Burns Tobacconist, one of the finest retailers in the country. We chose this opportunity to release this special size of the new La Musa Melete blend, and as the first appearance of the blend on the market.”

In their second year supporting the Tweet-Up, Jason Wood (@miamicigar) VP of Miami Cigar adds, “Cigar smokers on twitter have become a driving voice in the industry. These aficionados are passionate about our craft, and we wanted to share with them something special.”

If you can’t make it to Chattanooga, you can follow the festivities via the twitter hash-tag #CHATweetup2012