- I'm just thrilled to have Michael Herklots sit down with us. Can you start, just get us started before I light this, and tell me what I'm smoking. - You are about to light up the Ferio Tego 2023 Elegancia. under Ferio Tego, we do them once annually. So think wine, for example, every year you make however much you can make, perhaps a white and a red. This is my white, so this really is in the style of think White Burgundy, crème brûlée.
You know, it's luscious and big and fatty, but creamy, and... - It's beautifully constructed. I'm looking forward to tasting it. - Let's hope it does what it's supposed to do. - So, when you've been a part of the cigar industry for as long as you have, people come to think of you as a bit of a legend. Can you talk about the, well, the early days of this show. I mean, you mentioned on our walk over here how many years it's been and- - Yeah. My first show was 2003 in Nashville.
I started in the business in 1999, so this is my 25th year in the business. And, you know, it's hard for me to describe the difference in show because it's so much a difference in perspective. You know, walking on a trade show floor at 23 years old and just seeing the industry in one place was an indescribable feeling as a young person starting in this industry.
Now, fast forward, I'm an old person continuing in the industry, but it's not less awesome, but it's much more intimate at the same time. There's not a booth I pass where I don't know someone in it, you know, my first show, I could make it from that end of the hall to that end of the hall in one stop because I didn't know anyone and no one knew me. - Yeah. We just got stopped three times on the way over to your booth to make sure everybody was okay for you to get away for the conversation.
- But isn't it great? I mean, there's not an industry like it, and all of the most meaningful relationships in my life, save for my wife, my family, and my friends growing up, they're all connected to this business. In fact, even my wife I met connected via this business. - This is scrumptious by the way. - Man, I have to tell you, when you just took a puff and I saw the smoke exit- - The mouthful of smoke that I got- - And that to me is everything about that blend.
When you can achieve body that is so mouth-fillingly full, and yet deliver flavors that are so elegant and graceful, it's not an easy thing to do, but I'm proud of what we've done with this. - So I don't know what the term is, but a lot of times when I smoke a lighter wrapper, like, this a Connecticut wrapper? - Ecuador, Connecticut. - So, this lacks the, is it acidity that I'm used to with other Connecticuts?
- So, in true Connecticut, see, a Connecticut shade from the Connecticut River Valley, there is, to my palate, a quite obvious, almost astringency drying effect from that wrapper. - Right. - Almost a bitterness, as well. - And that's not a criticism, it's just the characteristics of that wrapper, and the blends that typically wear that wrapper tend to be lighter bodied. And, so, the behavioral influence of that wrapper is quite dominant in blends like that.
In this case, the wrapper from Ecuador has a bit more flavor, but that blend is not your, what you would consider a conventional, mild Connecticut shade-style blend. It's actually, there's two Ligeros in that blend. One from Nicaragua, one from Dominican. And so the way that blend was composed was done such that it delivers flavor without ferocity. It gives you body and mouthful- - "Flavor without ferocity." - That's a tagline. - I like it.
- That's trademarked. - I like it. (laughs) - Brendan [Scott], trademark flavor, not ferocity, but it's- - That's great. - It's pretty unique. - And it's very evident, and I knew this from cigars of yours that I smoked in your previous role, you're a quality freak. I say that in the nicest way. - No, no, well, it's funny, before we came on camera, you said that I'm a storyteller, and I really think of each blend as a story.
And in order for a story to be interesting, there has to be a plot, you know? I mean, you can't be the same tone. It can't be, you know, those are terrible stories. So you have to have a story that has an arc, that has a start, that has a middle, that has some conflict, and then that resolves in an ending. That's how stories are written. That's how music is written. I'm a musician, you know, I think like a musician, I don't think like a cigar maker.
And so creating blends, though not intentional at the time, I realize now, looking back, I create blends that have a plot, that have a journey, that start one way, take you somewhere else, that have a hook right from the beginning that compel you to take another puff. - So the Ferio Tego story, can you talk about the launch and what's happened since the launch in terms of your expectations and the way things have worked out? - Yeah, we're in March 2024, which is month 30 of Ferio Tego in market.
- Still a very young company - Very young, man. However, if you look at what makes the Ferio Tego story so unique, we have a portfolio of blends, one of which dates back to the mid 1990s. I've been around 25 years, but our company is three years old and we're in market two and a half. And Ferio Tego's brand new.
So, there's a very unique, depending on your familiarity with our story, sometimes there's more or less catching up to do, to understand how a two-and-a-half-year-old brand can have a 30-year-old blend and you know. - Well, it's almost as though the name could have been the Herklot's line. - Well- - Because it's all based on your reputation. Is that fair?
- Look, I think 20 years, 20+ years prior to creating the company, the reason we have enjoyed the success that we've enjoyed is no doubt due to the 25 years, 20 years served above board, right? In good faith and good partnership and friendship and honesty and all that stuff. You know, when, when we started, we put our orders in in January of 2021, we were in market in October, and that was in the COVID boom.
So the only way that's possible is because Quesada in Dominican, Plasencia in Nicaragua, Agroindustrias in Honduras, Cigar Rings in the Dominican Republic, HumidifGroup and Cigar Box Factory in Spain and Nicaragua, all believed in what this was gonna be and moved us to the front of the line at a time when they didn't need more production. You know (chuckles) they didn't need it.
They had it, everyone was at maximum capacity, and here was this brand new business, but 20 years of valuable partnership and honesty and all that I think came together in what is now Ferio. So I wouldn't say that it's just my reputation. Ferio Tego really is the embodiment of what doing business the right way for the right reason looks like. - Well I appreciate the self-deprecation, it's awesome to have a- - I just think it's more than just me.
- Yeah, it's interesting to talk to a musician that doesn't take credit. I mean, it's very unusual unless you're a bass player or a drummer. (laughs) - I am a drummer. (both laughing) I do take credit, you know, I take credit for a lot of the things that I can take credit for, but there are really- - You can't marshal the Hall of Fame producers that you just mentioned. You can't marshal that and turn around an order to a delivery. There's maybe five guys in the room that could pull that off.
- Yeah, yeah. (chuckles) - I mean, you think that's fair? So, I accept the credit that years of working- - Showing up the way you show up. - Relationship and mutual respect and mutual admiration for one another, when I needed help, they came. - Well, and it's really- - And I didn't even mention Davidoff USA, Davidoff USA is our is our distribution partner.
So, you know, as we're talking with our factory partners, trying to get production in the middle of this COVID boom, we gave them forecasts based on what we thought we could just figure out how to sell. And they said, "How do you intend to sell it?" And we said, "We have no idea," "but I know that we can't sell anything" "until we have production, so start making," "by the time they're ready," "we'll have a solution on how to sell."
And in that time, we sat down with Davidoff USA, who I worked for for 10 years, and then worked with for the next 10 with Nat Sherman. And they said, "Well, why don't we talk about a distribution agreement?" So, again- - That's a tremendous accomplishment. - For a brand new business. - Yeah. To put a brand in that level. - We're distributed by Davidoff USA, throughout the United States.
We're manufactured in all three major manufacturing countries of origin, by arguably some of the best manufacturers on the planet. And we've shipped to, since inception, we've shipped to about 1,200 shops. - That's tremendous. - Last year we did just under 900 stores. Of course, some fell off from the 1,200, some are new, and we're turning and burning with regular reorders in about 500 stores. - That's tremendous. - It's awesome. - Yeah, you have so much to be proud of.
It's very rare when you have a line that's as young as Ferio Tego whose principal is standing up in front of the whole association, you know, leading a session as you did. I mean, it's just- - That's been, I'll tell you the, I'm sorry to cut you off. - No, go ahead. - But when you say being in front of the association, one of the things I miss most about my prior roles, because they always involved retail.
As a retailer, I felt a certain responsibility to industry because you're representing the entirety of industry when a customer walks in your door. So that was a connection that I always really, it really resonated with me in a very valuable way because I had meaningful relationships with every manufacturer, because even though we were competing on one side of the business, we were also partners on the other side of the business.
And so when we started Ferio Tego that piece went away and I was concerned that my ability to advocate for industry and be a meaningful part of industry would start to diminish as I became just viewed as more self-interest for my own company. And so I think to some extent that's happened.
I mean, people certainly see Ferio Tego as my first priority, but the fact that I can still do Procigar, still do seminars, still do The Great Smoke and lead some industry things, and the fact that the industry, by and large, is still feels very comfortable with me advocating on their behalf, even if I do have a self-interest. It's cool.
- Well, and it's intriguing because you look at an industry that has a sort of an older generation of leaders that are starting to turn over a lot of their responsibilities to the next generation, and you've been here from such a young age that you're kind of a bridge guy in your group. - I have an identity crisis for sure because I have longer standing closer relationships with- - You're too young to be so old. (Michael laughs) - My peer group in the industry is not my contemporaries. - Right.
- You know, it's the generation that was gracious enough to let me sit with them. - Welcome you. - Yeah. - Yeah. - And that's, you know, it's always, when you're new to a business, you remember the people who reach out and extend their hand and welcome you in, right? Because you're a competition.
So a lot of people look at new people and say, "What is this guy getting in for?" You know, but everyone was new once, and then once you become established, you might remember the people who were there for you, but sometimes you forget to turn around and see who you can be there for. And, so, as a 43 year old with 25 years in, it puts me in a very unique position to be so close with the legacy generation that is now.
And even some of the ones that came before this current legacy generation, and yet be a contemporary of my generation, who many are still new to the business, that I get to kind of bridge those two social worlds is a cool thing. - So, just a short tribute to those that are here and those that are gone. Who was the person or the people that opened the door for you that gave you the confidence and the excitement about cigars to build the legacy you've been able to build?
- Yeah. One of my first bosses, well, there was a guy named David Walker in Boston that gave me my first real opportunity. Actually, the first, first guy was a guy named Butch McCarthy. Then he sold the business to this guy David Walker, and David let me run this little kiosk in a mall. Then a guy named David Kitchens hired me at Davidoff in New York after I worked for a time at the Gloucester Street Cigar Company for a guy named Joe Pasquale.
And it was David Kitchens who really, really saw in me something unique and gave me a lot of opportunity at Davidoff. At the same time, this guy named George Brightman, who was a pretty senior at Cigar Aficionado. And he, too, was very supportive of my obvious enthusiasm for the business at a young age. Those two guys were a huge help and they introduced me to everybody. The one that really I connected with in now an absurdly close way is Manuel Quesada and the Quesada family.
And he, you know, he really is a industry father to me. I mean, it's so bonkers. - No, he's the OG. I mean, he is such a gracious man. - But he would sit me at the table with the original Procigar crew, Jose Seijas, Daniel Núñez, Benji Menendez, - Many who we have on our wall. - Right, right. - Yeah. - You know, even, I mean, when you look at like, that's one of my favorite men on the face of the earth, Litto [Gomez]. - Did you go to his birthday party last night? - I did not go, I did not go.
- I heard it was fabulous. - He was a new company, you know, we sold his products at Davidoff. I went to visit him in the D.R. in 2003, 2004. He had two fields. His factory was a tenth of what it is today, you know, I thought I saw Rocky [Patel] here somewhere. - Rocky's part of it. - Right, Rocky. - We only have so many that fit on the wall. - Rocky, I've known since 2000, since 1999. You know, he was banging on doors.
Jonathan Drew was banging on doors and so we grew up in the business together. In fact, someone asked me the other day, "Who are your favorite boutique brands?" And I said, "That's easy." "Rocky Patel, Drew Estate, La Flor Dominicana." And they're like, "No, no boutique." I said, "My man, when I started- - Those were boutique. - They were boutique. - They're not considered boutique anymore. - But they may be $50 million businesses, but they're still boutique, you know? - The way they think,
the way they craft. - When you start from scratch, and you remember every relationship and you're still privately owned, you know, I mean, Drew Estate sold to a larger corporation that is still privately owned, you know, and the principal Jonathan, is still involved. That mentality is boutique, and who doesn't strive to be bigger, right? I don't know A single boutique on the planet that hopes they never grow.
We all want to grow, but preserving a boutique mindset, I think is- - So, the future for Ferio Tego, just gimme a little background on the name. - Ferio Tego is the motto on our family coat of arms, which is my ring. And in the bottom of the crest is the image of Hercules striking the Hydra, and under that it says "Ferio Tego," which translates to loosely strike and defend. - It's a great name for a brand. - It's a great name for a brand.
- I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's had a meteoric ascent from the launch until now. I think it's pretty remarkable what you laid out as far as what you've accomplished in a very short period of time. - We did a lot in a short period of time. It's a lot.
I mean, we have 10 core blends with a handful of limited editions that we've released throughout the years, plus the two annual limited releases, Elegancia and Generoso, I mean, it's over 50 individual cigars that are within the portfolio. That's a lot for people to catch up on if we are completely new to them.
For those who are familiar with Timeless or Metropolitan, it's perhaps a little easier to wrap your head around, but to start a relationship like we're doing at this trade show, when someone walks over and says, "Tell me about your company, I'm not familiar with it," and we turn around and show, you know, a portfolio that is so robust. They say, "How do we start?" And then it's really, understanding their business in a thoughtful way to figure out the right entry point to our brand.
- This is the first Ferio Tego cigar I've ever smoked. I've smoked many of your other cigars previous. I would like to personally cordially invite you to become a part of this constellation. - Great. - When the time is right for you and become part of the For My Humidor. - Well, I'll tell you, I've actually already submitted my photos and- - That's good.
- We've used the package, the smallest size in a five-pack that we used for years, that just between us girls don't tell anyone, but that project is coming back. So we're excited to get it back in there. - We won't tell anyone. - Right. - We promise. - That's just between us. So, I'm very excited. And, listen, I'm a fan, again, we go back to the beginning. I've known these guys- - Since you walked in. You started about the same time. - Yeah. I mean, we both were newbies at shows together.
- Yeah. - And it's been an incredible relationship. I think we actually became quite close via Fuente, which, of course, Carlito was the first guy to go all in. - Well, Carlito is the man. - In packaging. - Yeah. And funny enough, my first paid gig as a drummer in Boston was for a cigar dinner for the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation in Boston. - I thought you were gonna tell me you were jamming on Lansdowne Street. - No, it's just crazy, man. It's just like so many intersections.
But, yes, I would love to be on that board. - Yeah. It would be a real privilege for us. - I have the entirety of my collection, entirety, from 2002. Every single cigar I own is protected by Boveda. Every one in my house. Let me tell you, there's a lot of- - I didn't set you up for that. - No, no. It's a fact.
In fact, you know, once again, when you respect each other for so long and root for each other for so long, when I suddenly found myself having to take possession of the entirety of my collection within three weeks, I didn't know who else to call but Tim [Swail] and Sean [Knutsen], and I said, I need real help with humidity. I don't know where I'm gonna put all this stuff. And they said, "Send me an address," middle of the pandemic. And I got a- - Whatever it takes. - Generous safety package.
It was a true lifeline to save my collection. - Well, and it's a privilege for us to be associated with you. And I want to thank you for taking the time to have a chat. - Oh, man. - We're gonna send a crew over to your booth, get some more details specific to the lines. If someone is interested in starting out with Ferio Tego, this cigar is a great hello, great place to start somebody. - It's a great place to start to really understand what Ferio Tego is.
You know, it's approachable, but whether you're a first time or early cigar enthusiast- - It's an elegant smoke. - Or you're a expert, you know, you're gonna experience something and remember that cigar afterwards. - Michael, I thank you very much. Look forward to the rest of the show. - Yes. - Thanks for leading us off. - I'm glad we got to do it. - Yeah, really appreciate it. (gentle music)