(tropical music) - We are live at PCA 2024 with the fine gentlemen from Lovely Cigar. Last year we met at the bar. - We did. - We had a chat. And you launched... And I think you launched that cigar. - This one? - Yeah. - Well, we were trying to launch that one last year at the show, but we had some printing issues, so we didn't actually have that cigar at the show, we just had our original blend. - So, it's exciting for us to get exposed to new lines, new players.
- Yep. - And to welcome them warmly into the cigar industry. Boveda has been around since 1997. You guys have been around since 2023. - Kind of. We've kind of been around since like the late 1800s. - Okay. - Oh, I see how you played that. That's a good play. - We've kinda been around for a long time. But we've only been selling cigars since August of '22. - So, has everything gone exactly as planned in your first year? - Of course. Like, It is smooth as silk. - Super smooth.
- Easy. - No bumps in the road. - All the stores are answering the phone. - Everybody's just like, "Please send me stuff." (speaker laughing) Yeah, no issues. No, it's not like a business, it's a storybook. - I'm not a good liar. I'm not. - Has it been hard? - It's really hard to lie for me. - Has it been a hard run? - No, I wouldn't say hard. "Hard" is definitely not the word. I mean, it's challenging.
Challenging, there are some challenges, but I think when you're asked, "How's the last two years been?" - Yep. - I think every business, no matter what business, no matter what industry, the first two years is gonna be rocky. - Yeah. - That's just kind of a given. But I would say the word I would use to describe it is more "surprising." It's more unexpected.
When we thought about making a cigar line, the idea of where we are today, like, physically, like, exactly where our business is today, it was like a five year plan, maybe 10, you know? I remember when we were like, "Well, we'll be at PCA year two," right? And we were. And then I remember the conversations we had. "Well, we'll have a bigger booth, "yeah, like, year five, year 10," you know? - Your booth looks great. - Thank you.
Thank you. - Yeah. - Well, we'll be a show sponsor, you know, five to 10 years. Five to 10 years. And our first 10 years-- - I wasn't with the company, but our first 10 years, the blood, sweat, and tears. - Yeah. - That goes into launching a brand, whether it's a cigar brand or an ancillary accessory brand. - Well-- - It's brutal.
I mean-- - It's brutal, but, like, it's been so rewarding, because we're exceeding our own expectations for where we could have been, where we could possibly have been, because there's even no guarantee when you start a cigar business that you get to where we're at today in your entire lifespan. And so we're growing fast. We're getting recognized fast. And it's been a remarkable, "remarkable," that's the best word, a remarkable two years. - The draw on this is spectacular.
Oh, wow. - That's really good to hear. - How do you do that? (speakers laughing) - Has it been consistent across the line? - We wanna have, you know, number one, a really quality product. If you don't have a quality product, people aren't gonna come back to it. So, if we don't have a quality product, we got nothing. So, first off, we want to have quality. Second off, we want to have good marketing, good presence in the humidor. We want, you know, customers to be able to relate to the brand.
So, really after that, it's part of our story and our marketing. And then finally, it's more about us working with the shops, and the shops working with the consumers, because that's how we work through the shops. So, you know, without a quality product, we can't do the rest of it, you know? We can't do it without the shop owners. And we can't ultimately do it without the people enjoying the cigars. So... - I think everyone that makes cigars wants to make a quality product.
I don't think there's anyone in this room that's saying, "Well, a subpar product's gonna do just fine." - Right. - I think we all have a passion to make a quality product. - I think some people say that. Do you think so? - I think some people are like, "Don't smoke it." - I can't believe that. - I don't believe that. I don't believe that. (speakers laughing) I don't believe that. We love the industry. We love what we do. - Yes.
- So, the quality is, like, when we'd come up with the idea for the blend, when we decided what we wanted for our cigar, I think what leaned on our favor is that us three, I don't think that we're unique palate people. I think we're very normal people. And so, we were making cigars that we would love to smoke. - Well, whoever blended this Maduro-- - And at the end of the day-- - He deserves a hug. - That's us. - Yeah. - Dylan [Masse] and I did that the last time we were down in Nicaragua.
- This is just lovely. - Well, thank you. - And if you haven't followed this podcast and you missed the story from last year, the Lovely Cigar brand dates back into the 1800s out of Green Bay. And these fine folks took it over and revitalized the brand. And you had a stick last year that barely made it to the show. (speakers laughing) - You can say that. - And now you have how many facings? How many, if somebody-- - We have eight total vitolas, if I total those.
So, we have our original [Elegante] X2 [Ain't They Lovely Cigar] blend that comes in one size. That's this first cigar we came out with just to see if people liked it last year. The 162 is what Keith's [Archiquette] smoking right now. We have three sizes in that, a Churchill, a Robusto, and a Corona. And now we have our new Connecticut Maduro. It's called the Bay City Cigar. So, it's actually our new... Yep, that's the Bay City Cigar by Lovely. - Oh. - So, we have Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper.
So, what I'm smoking, you have the San Andrés Maduro. Both of them have a Sumatran binder and all Nicaraguan fillers. So, the only difference really is the wrapper. - I've been smoking cigars with everybody I've talked to. - Yeah. - Every sit down I've had, it's a different cigar. And some are better than others. And this is... (speaker laughing) I just think it's awesome. You're way ahead of the crowd as far as the kind of quality that you're bringing to the marketplace. - Wow. - Thank you.
- Thank you. - How's it been at converting a great idea into stores adopting the line? How's that going? - I mean, it's interesting, you know? I mean, if we get a chance to talk to people, and tell them the story, have them smoke the cigar, a lot of times people are interested enough to want to try us out. So then it becomes, you know, how do we maintain those relationships? Because we can't be everywhere all the time.
So, then it goes down to our marketing, trying to reach people and be present, you know, in social media and everywhere. - Well, I think one of the big ones too, we see a lot of success... We're a small business, we're growing, but we see a lot of success in smaller shops that get a few regulars on board. You know, if we can meet, you know, we go to these shops, we meet these guys, "Hey, try this out, "here's our story," a lot of those regulars love the history. They love the story behind it.
They love the fact that we're also small and we focus on the shops, you know, just as much as we focus on the cigars. And then, those regulars are the ones that are telling people the stories. You know, they sell themselves. - Yeah, I had no idea that Green Bay had such a reputation as being a vortex of cigar production back in the day. - Yeah. - So, I learned that from you guys last year. - Yeah. - And one year later, how's the report card look for where your expectations were?
I know your philosophy, don't have any expectations. - No, that... (speakers laughing) - But how's it measured up? How's it measured up with... - Well, when we originally sat down, we kind of, like, figured, here are the markers that we want to hit, the mile markers as we go. And two years in, we're probably at where we expect it to be five years in. - Yeah. - Oh, so you're ahead of schedule. - We're ahead of where we've planned on. So, like I said, it has not been smooth.
It's been bumps and bruises, and it's been very rewarding and a ton of fun. And we love meeting all these people. And it's just challenges. Like, you know, issues are just challenges that we need to overcome. So, when we overcome those challenges, it's like we grow a little bit more, the business grows a little bit farther, and, you know, it's a lot of fun. - Some of these challenges were...
Because we were expecting to have these challenges down the road, we didn't pay too much, like, we didn't put a lot of thought process into-- - They were delivered early. - Right. - And so when you're there, we're like... We're on this journey that we are very far, further than we want it to be. And we're now like, "Well, what are we gonna do now?" So, it's to our detriment from how fast we are moving. That's where the growing pains are.
You know, if you're blessed with that kind of excitement and growth, that actually is the thing that I would say is the thing that you ask, the growing pains. That's that. - So, there's a beautiful synchronicity that happened last year. Your guy, Wade... Is it Wade? - Wade, yes. - Yeah, yeah. So, Wade... What's his last name? - Forncrook. - Forncrook. - Forncrook. I don't know where that's from. - It's an easy name. - I think it's Irish. - Yeah, it's an easy name. Something like that.
So, we were standing in the bar and I didn't recognize Carlito Fuente, because Carlito has gone through a personal transformation. He had lost some weight. I was like, "Who's the guy in the hat?" And Wade [Forncrook] says, "It's Carlito." So, that's what turned into the introduction at the bar where I met you guys. And we get exposed to this lovely opportunity to talk to guys that are getting started in the industry. Now Carlito's no stranger to making way for people coming in the industry.
So, we interviewed Litto yesterday, Litto Gomez from La Flor Dominicana And it's a classic story of graciousness where Litto moved to the Dominican Republic to start a cigar brand without any real understanding or background in cigars. A very closed Dominican community as far as, you know, family, and tradition, and years, and you grow up in the industry. So, Litto shows up in earnest. And between Jochy [Blanco] and Carlito [Fuente], those are the guys that gave some space for him to--
- They made a path for him. - For him to get going. Who has been helpful to you? Have you had connections at the show or-- - Well, that's one of my favorite things about this industry. So, I come from a business background, very cutthroat. You know, "Hey, who do I gotta step on? "Who do I gotta undercut "to get the business coming into this industry?" You know, Mike [Gehm] had experience, he had a shop, he had worked in, you know, cigars. So, he had to kind of throttle me back a little bit.
He's like, "This isn't like that. "You know, we're all here to help each other out." And it took me a little bit to get an understanding of that, but that's really it. - Yeah. - This industry, it's like, "Welcome to the club, you know, "you're part of the family now. "We're stronger with you," you know? Like, everybody together. Honestly, I don't know that we've talked to anybody that was like, "Get out of my face. "I'm not here to help you." - It's a ridiculously welcoming industry.
- Yeah. - It's crazy. - It is. - Everybody's welcoming. - It's astounding. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah, I originally, when I owned the cigar shop in Green Bay, like, I'd met a lot of people then, you know, coming to the show, and Dave Lampert, you know, Dave Lampert? - Yeah. - Dave was our rep at the shop, and I reached out to him, and we had this crazy idea, and he hooked us up with Carlos Sanchez who runs Tacasa, who makes our cigars for us, you know? And Carlos was like, "Yeah, let's do it.
"I'll talk to you, whatever. "We'll make it work." - And it's such a cool story. - Yeah. - So, the guy knows you from the store. - Yeah, Dave Lampert, he was our rep. - He hooks you up-- - 15, 16 years ago. I called him up, and I was like, "Dave, this is what I'm thinking." He's like, "Call Carlos." You know, I reached out to some of the other bigger names, and they were kinda like, "Yeah, we don't know."
And this is when all this stuff was going on with the FDA, so everybody was scared and everybody was like, "Do you know what's happening?" I'm like, "Yeah, I'm educated. "I read all the news." But people didn't... You know, they didn't wanna do anything. And Carlos was like, "Yeah, let's do it. "We'll figure something out."
And, you know, we didn't want to jump into this like, you know, half a million dollars, a million dollars in debt trying to make it work, so this is all bootstrapped and we're trying to do it ourselves really. So, we need somebody that would be flexible, and really people in the industry are very flexible. - So, is it a full-time gig, is it a part-time gig, or are you guys ham-and-egging it? How does it work for you? - I've never heard of ham- and-egging it before. - What's ham-and-egging it?
Because that might be it and we just don't understand it. - When you're bootstrapping, it's like, "Okay, I got my side gig, "you know, I got my 26 hours at Costco, "I'm doing a little Uber on the side." (speakers laughing) I mean, that kind of a thing. Or is it-- - That's ham-and-egging it? Then we're ham-and-egging it. - Yeah. - Yeah. (speakers laughing) - So, the hobby becomes... - Well, the idea is the transition, right?
So, we wanted to build this up to the point where it's supporting us and our families, and it's a sustaining business that we can, you know, eventually pass on to our families, you know, pass down. - We all have day jobs. - The more of these you get in people's hands to get a test drive, you're gonna sell this cigar. - Thank you. - I appreciate that. - I mean, just from the get go, the cold draw, the start, the whole... I mean, it's just delicious. I mean-- - Thank you. - And I'm no connoisseur.
I'm kind of a cigar freak, because I pound through so many of them. But I just think it's a delicious cigar and you really should be proud of what you put out. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Yeah. - We are. - And I'm not just saying that to get in your good graces. - Yeah. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. We believe you. (speakers laughing) You asked us to be here. (speakers laughing) - Well, it's great for us to have that initial conversation last year.
You get a trip around the sun, and you come back, and you get to update, and you're on pace on your five year plan in year two or starting year three, whatever it is. - Right. - That's exciting. - Yeah, absolutely. That's 100%, very exciting. And, you know, we meet all the time, and we have a chat group where we're talking to each other every day. - Yeah. - You know, it's-- - Not during business hours. - Yeah, yeah. (speakers laughing) - Our employers are watching.
- Not during ham-and-egg hours. (speakers laughing) - Yeah, always off the clock. (speakers laughing) - Well, they won't see this. - They will. (speakers laughing) Yeah, they will. My boss has watched the video last time. - Okay, so you're gonna put it on your-- - His boss loves cigars. - My boss loves cigars. He loves our cigars. - Yeah. (speakers laughing) - Well, what can we do to be more supportive? How do we help you forward your vision? - Well, I love coming here and talking to you.
I'd love to do this every year with you. - I love-- - So we could give you more-- - I just think it's cool. It's like watching a baby elephant grow up. - Yeah. (speaker laughing) Yeah. - You know? - And then you come in here, lumbering in here after five years, and we will have the check again. - You are giving us a video docuseries on our growth. And that's-- - It's a great deal. Plus we get to do time lapse photography to see who degrades fast. - Yeah. - Right. I'm getting gray.
- Yeah, I didn't have a mustache last year. I have one this year. - It's really quite fantastic. - Thank you. I tell him that all the time. (speakers laughing) I tell him, "You should never shave that." - Yeah. - "You should really "grow it out too." - Yeah. - But, yeah, we would... To help us out, just exposure, more exposure. - Yeah, more introductions, more friends. - More exposure. This year is marginally different than last year.
Last year, day one, we were kind of in a corner, kind of flagging people down like, "Hey, hey, have you heard of Lovely? "No?" And if we could get someone to talk to us, they did. But this year, people are coming up to us, and being like, "I've heard of you. "I've had your cigar." And it's so different how people are now seeking us out. And to where we're gonna be next year, I'm excited. I don't even wanna put a ceiling on it. - Back to this. This is the Maduro? - That's the Maduro.
- This is announced at the show. This is-- - This is announced. - We have that Toro. And then we have a Robusto Gordo as well. Hand delivered yesterday. - Thursday. - Thursday. - But they got here just in time. Flew them in. He had one suitcase full of cigars. - By the man himself. - By Carlos [Sanchez]. He brought them from Nicaragua to Florida and then flew them in on Thursday night. - Beautiful. Any big surprises?
Anything that sort of knocked you on your heels that you're willing to talk about in that first year? - The first year? - I think for me, the reception, like, we weren't sure if anybody would really even like our cigar, like our story. - We could have left with nothing. - We felt like we had a solid product. - Yeah, we felt good about our cigar. We felt good about our story. But you never know how people are gonna react to it.
So, we're we're coming into this like, we're excited, we're pumped, but you know, are people gonna respond to us? - Are they gonna give us time of day? - Yeah. - Yeah. - And people really have... Like, when we tell them the story, nobody really knows the history behind that. They know a lot of the big family histories, like the Fuentes and they know all that history. But there's a tremendous amount of just American history in general that people don't know about, and people really like that.
They're as excited as we are. - That's what got my attention. I mean, we had that conversation at the bar. And I'm like, "This has got some drama to it. "Let's do it." It's got history and you guys are obviously great personalities, lovely people to be around. I mean, it's a Lovely Cigar.
- Well, one of the things that really surprised me, this is our second year, you know, presenting at PCA, we're a newer company, the first year it was kinda people, you know, we had a booth tucked way in the back and, you know, we had a nice little spot, and people would come by, and say, "Hey, I like the name, that's interesting. "Let's talk." This year, something that really blew me away is we've had multiple people come, "Hey, you're the first booth I wanted to see.
"I've been seeing your stuff. "I've been hearing about you guys. "I wanted to come and talk to to Lovely." It wasn't just like a passing by on our way just after we've talked to everybody else. We've actually had a handful of people that said, "We heard about you, and we want to come and see you." The second year is pretty... That blew me away. It's very humbling. That put me backwards. - Oh, my goodness, really?
- Yeah. - Well, I had a guy yesterday that came up to the booth to get a bag, because one of our standard things that we do is we provide bags so people can keep their cigars from disintegrating when they're in Las Vegas. So, the guy came up and he was smoking one of your cigars. And I said, "So, what do you think of that stick?" And he goes, "I've never had--" I said, "Have you had it before?" And he goes, "Never had it before, never heard of it before. "But I really like it."
- Wow. - That's huge. - Yeah, and cigar guys share cigars and share cigar recommendations with their buddies. I mean, I can't tell you how many things I would never have tried on my own wandering through a humidor, that somebody's smoking it, and they say, "How do you like that? "And what do you like about it?" And they talk and you get that connection, that personal connection. And all of a sudden you're trying something that you never would've tried before.
So, that's cool when you've got that happening at the show, a guy walking around like, you know, how the race cars put the brands on the race car, this individual's walking around carrying your cigar. And I, of course, recognize it, because, you know, I naturally have an affinity for you guys. - Thank you. - I'm pulling for you. And I wanna keep doing this with some regularity, so that we can follow the story of Lovely Cigars, and you cats and what you bring to the party.
- Yeah. - Well, I want to thank you too, you and Boveda, like, I mean, you guys have done a lot reaching out to us when we were very new and helping boost this up. But also the fact that I don't know how we would make this show happen without Boveda realistically. We load our bin up, we ship everything here with the Boveda packs, and, I mean, you set a box out for an hour, and they're falling apart, if it's not the display boxes.
But our stuff, I don't know what we would-- - We don't even think that there's another option. - Right. - You know? It's that you guys are that ingrained in... You guys are perfection in what you do. And there's just no other... You're the go-to. - So, I didn't say anything about doing a commercial for Boveda. - No, you didn't, but it's just what we do. - I appreciate it. - Well, you said-- - We use your stuff. - How can you guys help us? You are helping us. - Yeah.
I don't know how the show would happen without Boveda. - Well, if you need more bags for your storing your stuff tonight or whatever, help yourself. - Yes, sir. - Thank you, sir. - We'll hook you up. - At the end of it, at the end of the day, like, we are three people from Green Bay, Wisconsin. We are three cigar lovers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and we're making cigars that we want to smoke. And it turns out that we are normal cigar smokers.
And when we make a cigar that we love, like, it turns out we aren't unusual, we aren't unique. So many other people love it too. - I sincerely think this is a gem. - We're not, like... I don't know, we're very normal. And so, we're making a cigar for very normal cigar smokers. And it turns out that's a lot of people, you know? - You're so far beyond normal, I don't know how you're gonna convince me for that. - I don't know. You should see it though. We build relationships with everybody.
Every time we come back to the hotel, Wade starts dancing with the bellman. We've found out the guy likes to stretch and dance. - Rex. - Every time we get back... Yeah, Rex, we start dancing with him. - He's a gem. He's just a sincere guy. He came by to say hi this morning. And I'm looking at him, and I'm like, "I know this guy. "This is the guy that reminded me who Carlito is "when I didn't recognize him last year." And that's the way this all evolved.
So, congratulations on a year under your belt. - Thank you. - And your second PCA, this is all accurate so far. - The third one, we just walked... The first one we came to, we just walked around just to look at what-- - So, this is your third PCA, second exhibiting. - Yep. - It's a cigar family. - Right. - And this cigar family has been incredibly good to us. Our guys get sentimental. Our founders were involved in that interview with Litto [Gomez] and his son, Tony, yesterday.
And they get sentimental, because it is hard, and it does take commitment, and a lot of grit to hang in there. - Well, there's these high highs, and then you run into a bump in the road, and you're like, "Are we gonna make it through this?" And then, you get highs and lows, and the highs are really high and the lows feel like they're terrible, but you keep putting one foot in front of the other, and moving forward, and we get to have these great conversations.
- So, show your label to the camera and then tell people where to go to visit the website. - Lovelycigars.com. Pretty simple. - Pretty easy. - Yeah, it's lovely. It's a Lovely Cigar. A lovely bunch of guys. I'm grateful that you endeavor to share your story with us. We're gonna stay tuned. Try a Lovely Cigar today. (tropical music)