(upbeat blues music) (upbeat blues music fades) (soft guitar music) - There's a story inside every smoke shop with every cigar and with every person. Come be a part of the cigar lifestyle at Boveda. This is Box Press. - It's a real privilege to talk to you. And my question to get the ball rolling in this sort of a celebration of a friendship that's lasted many years, my question is what did you think of Sean and Tim when you met them? - I thought they were good looking.
(gents laughing) No, no. Obviously, they're still very, very good looking but, you know, they just come across very easy to get to know and eventually get to love. You know, it's something that grows, that, you know getting to the first day came to me they had an idea and I don't recall exactly where it was. Could have been a Cigar Aficionado event.
I don't recall where, but come up with me with this event, because I think they have heard that or they had read somewhere, probably back then was a tobacconist publication for the smoke shops. Because back then, I don't even know if there was Cigar Aficionado was even speaking about humidity or things like that. - Probably not. - But they saw that I was working with it. I had an interest in it, I believed in it. And they brought this subject up and we just got into a conversation of humidity.
Humidity in every step from the planting of the seed, and I'm not exaggerating, all the way to when the cigar is removed from the box, fluctuation of humidity has, it's incredible the effect it has on the overall experience of enjoying a cigar. And I recognized that. I didn't know how to control it. We were the very, very first in the entire cigar industry to really create an aging room.
And we were the very first in the entire cigar industry to humidify that aging room and keep it at a constant temperature, you know 365 days a year, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. But it wasn't perfect. And I knew, and I'm always looking for perfection. I knew it wasn't perfect because first of all, I realized that some cigars were aging differently than others because we have different blends. And I didn't really know the reason why.
But as the company grew I started building different aging rooms and with different temperatures and different humidities because I compare cigar makings a lot to a cooking or a chef, a great chef. You know, you don't cook a four-inch bone-in ribeye at the same temperature and the same length of time that you do maybe a two-inch Chilean Sea Bass or a one-inch Chilean Sea Bass. You adjust it because you know the results you want to achieve.
And they started speaking about, you know they started speaking about humidity and two-way humidity, which is very important. Because normally what's done or was done in the industry, things are dry. You throw water everywhere and hopefully something's absorbed. Or you get burlap sacks or you put bags I mean, buckets of water, and you put burlap sacks or something for it to give off humidity. But you have no control of uniformity of that humidity.
And I remember, if I remember correctly, I go, "My god, does this work." Obviously, even though after they proved to me over years, years coming to visit me back and forth, they proved that it worked. I ate the solution. And you know, I stepped on it and bounced on it to see if it was gonna break. Because from the moment I met Tim and Sean to the moment that we actually sealed the negotiations the deal to use the product, it might've been two years.
And during those two years, my father's phone did not stop ringing by critics. Some of them, the most powerful and most influential people in the cigar industry that their son was crazy, that their son is gonna destroy the brand because this pack was obviously gonna break and it's gonna ruin the cigars. And we're gonna have lawsuits and everything against us. My father said, "Son, are you sure "you know what you're doing?" I said, "Dad, I believe in this. "This is a solution."
And I remember that I said, "Dad, the cigar industry has a bunch of carts." They build all these wagons and carts, but nobody's ever decided or found out you need a horse to pull it. And my father always believed in me. He always supported me. Never, never, never discouraged me for anything I believed in. And today, many, many years, many years have gone. Almost two decades? - Yeah. It's been 20 years. - 20 years. Amazing, huh? 20 years.
Basically in the beginning- - 22 since you started putting it in the boxes. - 22 years since we started putting it. Basically, at the launch of Fuente OpusX it was a time of my life where so many exciting things happened. Today, a lot of people wish they could use it. Because no one could deny it works. And no one could deny or diminish the contribution that Boveda has done for the world of cigars and people who love cigars so much. It's unquestionable, it's unchallenged.
It's definitely the greatest product ever developed. It's the greatest product ever introduced, the greatest product to ever enter the world of cigars. - That's very nice. Thank you, that's a compliment. - You're welcome, you're welcome. - Well, you were very instrumental in helping us establish that leadership in the marketplace.
And, you know, Sean and I talk about all the time just your vision and your leadership and your courage to do things that are different and outside the box to change it, to get things better. Just even, you know, taking molds. I mean, you could tell that story, but how you said there's a better way to do molds versus wooden. - Yes, that's right. But you said were, I still am. - Yeah. - Yes. - I still am. I've never felt more optimistic, more energized.
My vision is just, you know, and I'm just ready to continue to drop napalm continuously and create new things. But yeah, the molds, the molds. It was impossible to increase productions. It was wooden modes. But, you know, at one time they used to sail across the ocean in wooden ships. Today there're no longer those wooden ships put together with the old boards and everything even though they're beautiful and they're collectible and I would like to own one.
I remember we couldn't make production couldn't make shaped cigars because no one was making shaped molds. That was a thing of the past. And it was something that I only saw in old black and white photographs of my grandfather. And studying the history of cigars going back to the heyday, so to speak which I think we're living in today. But when you go back to the '40s and '50s 70% of cigars were Figurados. But then for decades, it was just not even available. No one made them.
No one was making molds. We went to the mold maker, there was only one mold maker, Fulgueira, out of Tampa. He used to supply the industry. First of all, you had to wait a year a year and a half to get a mold. It was difficult. His equipment was so obsolete and old that the bushings, he didn't have time to stop it, you know, change the bushings and all the things. So, you know, the ring gauges were, you know they were off and there were variations. And, you know, that has fins and they chip.
You have to be putting it together. Plus wood, wood expands and contracts with moisture and you need moisture in tobacco. But something used to occur in the cigar industry that is amazing. When we talk about humidity, again, everything's around humidity. When you press the cigar, you press it from the top to bottom. Then you rotate a corner turn. So you press it again, that other side, so you try to get it round.
And you take any edge off because no matter what the pressure's from the top to the bottom. And no one realizes that wood absorbs. And tobacco has natural essential oils. Those oils get in the wood. So the binder, before you apply the wrapper when you go turn that cigar you may have a little sticking and everything. And when you turn it, you could get a micro fracture or maybe a fracture in the binder. So what happens is when you light your cigar the heat from the tobacco burning expands.
But there's a micro fracture in your binder. People, something that no one ever thought about, with the wood, it would fracture. So if you have a delicate wrapper, like a Sumatra from Ecuador, or you know, some lower primings that are the sweetest part of the plant, or African Cameroon or something, there's a chance with that expansion, that wrapper will crack. We always used to blame the wrapper and the tobacco growers and there's a reputation, "Oh, the tobacco's very brittle, very brittle."
It's humidity, but it's also the binder expanding. - It's expanding, yes. - Since we went from wood to the polymer the new type molds, never had that problem again. - Amazing. - It's incredible. And all you have to do is believe. - Yeah. - Believe - That's right. - Believe. - And you pioneered that. When we first started, we would talk to anybody who would listen to us.
And so we met with and literally every major manufacturer at that time, but nobody had any reaction to it other than no thank you. But here we met with the one manufacturer that didn't need to do anything differently at the time. And I remember when we first met, it was actually in Vegas at the RTDA show at that time. The first miracle that happened was the fact that we were able to get you away from the booth at that time. To a couple of these young hunks. - Same miracle today. - In their 20s.
- Well, I haven't been to my booth, that's why. And I intentionally did not go to my booth because for the last four days you guys have been been. Exactly. - Yeah, that's right. That's what we had to do today, too. It was a miracle that we got you away. But there's one thing that you said that was so impactful to both of us. You said, "If what you do is just provide humidity, "I want nothing to do with you." - Yes. - But if you do what you say you do this is gonna revolutionize the industry.
- That's correct. - And all the other people that we've met with in the industry, they don't see that. They don't look to benefit and really showcase the passion that you and your family do so much to say, we can get better. And everything that you do in your pursuit is to say how do we get even, you know, this much better, and so on. That was a big risk for Fuente to step out. - Yes, it was. - It was huge.
And it was like, we have so much gratitude for you and your visionary aspect of that to bring it on the forefront, to really give us credibility at that time. And it means the world to us. And we were able to stick around and be here 26 years later. - You know what, I'm very proud. I'm very honored of our friendship above everything.
And if you two wouldn't have been as impressive and good looking, and I didn't mistake you for a movie star, I would never have spoken more than three words with you. (gents laughing) But no, it's grown beyond that. It's a family relationship, it's a friendship. And it's something that's been beneficial not only for our mutual companies, but for the world. And that's what we do. I mean, that's what we want to do. That's what we strive for, is share the love.
And how better way could you share that love than protecting the products? Just like you protect your children. - Yeah. - Yeah. - And the cigars are like my children. And to have the opportunity of something that protects them and hands them, allows them to properly age, - Yes, that's right. - Without losing the essential oils that give you the aromas and flavors, it is a win-win for everybody. - Amen to that. - Amen, amen, absolutely.
- Amen. - Well, in part, you know, in the great part we talked about the friendship, but over these past 22 years is that you are just, you are a real person that has a heart for other people, as well. And you do that in so many other areas. But we've recognized that just in our relationship to you.
- Well, I wanna also thank you for all the years that not only physically, but you have financially supported Cigar Family Charitable Foundation of this, you know, as you know, a 501(c)(3) foundation that 100% of the raised goes directly to help the children, everything from health through education through just life skills and so forth. And you've been very much involved in supporting that.
I want to thank you and the entire Boveda team and everybody you reach and everything because without being able to achieve a great product and reach the people, you're not able to give back. But I believe in life that you, I've been blessed with this opportunity, this privilege. I have the obligation to share that with the rest of the world and those in need especially. So, you know, thank you for being a big part of it both of you and, of course, your entire team and everything.
- Well, it's an honor to do, you know, what little part that we do and can, compared to everything else, but it's just an honor. We remember the transition of the foundation you know, when that whole thing started. And the idea was already hatched, but now everything was in motion. And when you were buying land and negotiating all of that, remembering back to that time and seeing where it has today and the level of work and effort that has been put in it is run so professionally.
It's just absolutely amazing. - No question. - And then to meet the little children there when they're older, seeing them when they're younger but then older and they've become doctors, dentists and professionals, and they're so educated. And if people had the opportunity that we had to see what it was like in that region, in Bonao before that development of that, it is absolutely life-changing and so impactful. And it's just so neat to see.
- There was no running water, no electricity, no schools. It was the most violent community in the entire Dominican Republic where criminals used to hide because there was no law enforcement. We did not know it's surrounded by gold and nickel mines. We just knew they were the richest and most fertile soils in the Dominican Republic, and, I believe, the Caribbean. We went there, but once we were in and committed, you know, we had a reputation. And everybody said we're gonna fail.
It was impossible to achieve what we wanted to grow a wrapper, not only establish one of the most sought after trademarks in the world, you know, definitely for premium cigars, but we didn't know what we were walking to this social conflict and just disaster. And within the six months, you know, children were coming up to us, barefoot in a hand-me-down clothes, looking for work, six and seven years old. And I said, "Why aren't you in school?" They said, "There are no schools."
And their parents putting pressure on us and say, "If my children don't, "if you don't give them work, they don't eat." They have to find something in chores to do so they could eat that day. And it was incredible. We started with the idea of small little classroom. It turned into a 26-acre project. And as Sean was saying, and Tim these children that were looking for chores or jobs to be able to eat are now doctors, teachers, engineers entrepreneurs, have their own companies.
But they don't go to New York or Chicago or leaving to a major city like a lot of people want to do to escape this misery, they come back to their community because one thing we teach them the philosophy of giving back. You've been given a gift by big hearted people. You have a responsibility to give it back. And it multiplies. And that community was the most violent community. Today you see people with gardens that didn't exist, lawns.
People are building. Students who are professional now going back and building homes for their parents with double-pane windows for hurricanes with electric gates. You know, teachers. The teachers and the some of the teachers in school graduated from that school. Some of the doc, the doctor that goes there, he's a medical graduate. It's incredible. It's the greatest gift of life is to have the opportunity and to be able to give and to see the results that you could achieve.
It's a miracle, that's really what it's all about. - That's right. - Yes. Absolutely. - For people that can't see it, it is truly, it's amazing. - Well, I'm just gonna say one thing. You know, you're speaking about this. God speaks to us in many different ways. Too many times I've been called by my cleaners because they're very honorable people. I just realized, I had just realized, and thank God because today's the last day of the show I would've gone home with a $20,000 check.
I just realized I haven't given it to the CFO of Cigar Family yet, a $20,000 check for Cigar Family Charitable Foundation. Before you know it, who knows, man, it might have been ruined. I would've forgotten about it. So thanks for reminding me. (gents laughing) Dallas! Here, pass this to Dallas because I'll forget again. - Make sure that gets there. - Thank you. - Oh my God, thank you all. Listen, I could speak to you for hours and hours.
There's just so many stories we could all to share together. Yeah, it's really, it's not about the cigars it's about the people. And I, again, I'm very privileged and honored to have been blessed with this relationship, which is really is something spectacular. So I want to thank each and every one of you and just everyone who supported Boveda who believed in Boveda, and, you know. - Thank you. - Carlito, thank you so much. - And, you know, keep doing what you're doing, man.
Just keep humidifying the world, man, and keep us young and fresh. (soft music) (children singing in Spanish)