I had a convo recently with a Litto Jr whose family makes some of the best cigars in the world (La Flor Dominicana / LFD).
We talked about craftmanship, the impact of fermentation, what aging really means to the flavor profile of the resulting products, not wanting to grow just for the sake of growing, how most of the industry is noise & bullshit is pervasive.
He with cigars, PM with booze, I realized we’re trying to do the exact same thing.
Litto Jr’s whole model is centered around education & connecting directly with people. He doesn’t go after mass distribution nor dump a bunch of product into some random wholesalers. He builds relationships one account at a time, shows up in person at cigar lounges, runs small events where customers don’t just smoke but they LEARN. He walks them through the raw materials, the fermentation, the construction, and how it all ties together. He is not really talking about the SKU LFD has for sale per se but educates about the category and provides an experience. That’s his thing and it works. Because the dude is genuine, because he is knowledgeable, and because his products hold up.
Note: maybe you knew that a good cigar blender is rolling individually filler, binder and wrapper tobacco to smoke ’em separately, get a sense of the flavors/aromas/mouthfeel and that way is able to create the blend that will be the final cigar one will purchase. I had never thought about it. It did not cross my mind — the process so similar to being in a cellar, tasting/smelling casks in order to form a mental picture of which barrels will go well together to make up a blend.
LFD is not a white-label, not made by some anonymous factory; it’s from the Gomez’ farm, under their control 100%, and it shows. Most cigars out there are made by the same few factories and passed off as something special. Same as with booze where most people don't know (care?) where the stuff is made and just follow a label.
Dudes like Litto Jr are trying to flip that. No bragging, just putting in the work and letting the quality talk.
Same thing PM does; the game is the same: keep showing up with good to great products & try to educate.