Cigar Hustler Podcast Special Episode Martin Schuster

Episode Summary

Martin Schuster, fourth-generation head of the German family business Schuster Tobacco (founded 1909) and owner of Bentley Cigars, sits down with the Cigar Hustler Podcast to talk about bringing a 115-year-old European cigar house into the United States. Schuster explains how his family factory in Bünde, Germany still does nearly everything in-house — producing the boxes as well as the cigars — making high-quality boutique cigarillos with no aromas and no filters, using tobacco sourced from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Cameroon. He notes they are one of the last families in Europe still operating this way.

The conversation covers Schuster's own path in the business: growing up playing in tobacco, his first solo trip to Honduras at age 14 to visit longtime friend Christian Eiroa, and his decision to build Bentley as his own project so he wouldn't simply be known as "the son of Philip Schuster." He became CEO in January after his father's retirement, and describes his dad as an ever-present advisor who crosses the street to the factory daily but respects his decisions. The family also handles European distribution for US-market brands including Foundation Cigar Company, CLE and Aganorsa Leaf, and Eiroa's operation warehouses Bentley product in the US.

On the US launch, Schuster reveals the company became a US corporation just days before the interview, with John Carney installed as CEO. The plan is deliberately slow and organic: no thousands of doors at once, no rush, step-by-step growth with a sales force and consumer events to follow. Bentley currently offers two blends — the green signature blend and the white Connecticut — across five sizes, with limited editions, a possible third blend, and small cigars/cigarillos for the US all under consideration. He also teases an "AI Project" cigar, John Carney's idea, where consumer input shapes the blend, fitting Bentley's "driven by taste" philosophy.

Schuster contrasts doing business across roughly 28 European countries — each with its own tobacco regulations, taxes and excise rules, with Azerbaijan the newest addition — against the comparatively open US market, which he says he approached late out of respect. He also explains the Bentley name: trademarks dating to the 1960s and the 2010 purchase of the Bentley Pipe Company, with no connection to the automaker. He closes with his father's core advice: keep both feet on the ground, no big egos, and remember the consumer is king.

In This Episode

1. 01
   115 Years of Schuster Tobacco
   Martin Schuster on the family factory founded in Germany in 1909 and its traditional, in-house production of boutique cigarillos.
2. 02
   How European Cigarillos Are Made
   No aromas, no filters, tobacco from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Cameroon, and even the boxes built on site.
3. 03
   Meeting Christian Eiroa at 14
   Schuster's first solo trip to Honduras and the decades-long friendship and distribution relationship that followed.
4. 04
   Distribution Both Directions
   Schuster Tobacco distributes Foundation, CLE and Aganorsa Leaf in Europe while Eiroa warehouses Bentley in the US.
5. 05
   Taking Over the Family Business
   Becoming CEO in January, building Bentley independently first, and how his retired father still shows up at the factory as an advisor.
6. 06
   Bentley Cigars Goes Corporate in the US
   The brand's new US corporation with John Carney as CEO, and why Schuster waited years out of respect for the American market.
7. 07
   The Blends and What's Next
   The green signature and white Connecticut blends in five sizes, plus limited editions, a possible third blend, small cigars, and the consumer-driven AI Project cigar.
8. 08
   28 Countries, 28 Rulebooks
   Navigating European tobacco regulations, taxes and excise from Germany to France to a brand-new market in Azerbaijan.
9. 09
   Feet on the Ground
   His father's lasting advice about humility, avoiding big egos, and making cigars for the consumer rather than yourself.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

One, two, three! Alright, you ready? I'm ready. Okay, so we are here with the one and only Martin Schuster of Schuster Tobacco, Bentley Tobacco.

Your generation, your family's been in the cigar industry for over a hundred years, that's correct? Yeah, absolutely. And now you're finally kind of making your way into the US market, right? So, I mean, I just - Move the microphone closer to me.

Yeah, slide that closer to you. Okay, okay. I will do. Perfect.

There you go. So, it's hard for me to smoke cigar wine. Yeah, there's a whole moving process. So, how long has your family honestly been in the tobacco industry?

My family business is founded in 1909 by my grand-grandfather in Germany, so we are here for 115 years now. So, over 100 years. Yeah. You know, what's really kind of fascinating is that you're, so you guys make your own cigars.

Yeah, absolutely. We're cigar makers. We have a cigar factory in Germany, very traditional, very high quality boutique cigarillos. Right.

We use raw material from all over the world, so from Brazil, from Dominican Republic, from Indonesia, from Cameroon. And yeah, that's where I grew up in the business. So I'm first generation and I, as a kid, I played in the tobacco. Right.

That's funny because, you know, I always get the questions always ask me, do you smoke cigars around your kids? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. Like, this is perfectly fine. You know, they're going to be OK, I promise you.

And then like when you go to the when you go to Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, you always see somebody's you know, there's always kids around it and all these other things. So I just it's funny that it's demonized in our society so much when in all reality, it's not that big of a deal. Okay, so you make your own cigars, right? And you sell all across Europe.

Yeah, yeah. And a lot of that's more common in Europe is more like smaller cigars, I would assume, right? Yeah, it's a very traditional way, you know, the products we produce are without aroma, without filter, so it's just natural tobacco. And there is a tradition in Holland and in Germany for that.

So, in the last years, there was more interest from other countries in what we're doing, because it's authentic, it's real, it's a lot of handwork, and yeah, it's a good point for us at the moment. Are there any other families that do the same thing that you do that are still kind of in existence, or are you like the only one? We are nearly one of the left in this industry, so we do everything on our own. So we produce the boxes.

We produce the cigars. So there are some wood and some tobacco shipped in our factory and at the end of the process we have nice little boxes with small cigarillos. It's very fascinating and this process in that way we do it, it's really unique. Okay, so now you also handle a lot of distribution.

S. market. Now you're seeing a lot of these companies like Foundation, CLE going overseas, right? You handle that distribution?

Yeah, we do that since years. And Roma, too. Roma, yes, absolutely. For us, it's important that we have long-term relationships with our partners and we want to be like a good partnership for that.

So, with Christian, I have a very long relationship. The first time for me in Central America was when I was 14. So my father sent me over to Honduras. It was my first trip and my first trip alone.

You went by yourself at 14? Yes, yes, yes. Wow. But it was easy because I knew Christian, so that was fine for me, but it was an experience.

How old was Christian at that time? I don't know, really, but Christian was in... Right? John Carney's in the background.

So it's a 16 and a 14 year old running around? No, Christian is older than me. So he was in Germany two years before. So I was 12 and I first met him.

What, did you guys go to party or something? I mean, obviously you developed a friendship with him, right? Yeah, but the German people are very, they're not so interesting. So we are so hard party people.

So, Christian sit in Germany in Bündel. So, Bündel is an ancient cigar town in Germany, but it's a small city. We have 46,000 habitants and there's not much to do there, you know. Gotcha.

Yeah, and if you ask Christian about this trip, he will tell you about a cold basement because it's very cold in Germany compared to here, Florida. Right. And he will tell you something about food. Right.

And that's about it? Yeah, my mother was a little bit, yeah, she didn't exactly know what to do because Christian wants cornflakes and pizza, so I cannot give him pizza all the time, but okay. So, okay, so you have these relationships, you know, obviously you've known Christian for a very long period of time, and now you have Bentley Cigars, and you're looking to come into this market, into the US market, which is interesting because a lot of these companies are going the other way, right? So why didn't you tap Christian to handle the distribution for that brand?

Yeah, the thing is, we wanted to create a brand for long-term runs. So my goal was first, of course, Germany, Europe, where our home markets are. And of course, we had this discussion and he is doing the warehouse for us here in the US, so we're working together on that. But he gave me an honest advice and said, if you want to be successful in the market, you need somebody here taking care for everything, because I personally cannot be here all the time, so I need somebody who really understands what we wanted to do with the brand, who understands our philosophy behind, and so, yeah, I had no rush, you know, for me it was not that I have to do something, so I invested everything I had to develop the brand.

But I have no pressure to make the next steps, so, and, yeah, this year it was perfect timing. , see all the reactions are from the customers and from the consumers. And, yeah, in summer we had the chance to come together with Connie, and he is a perfect fit because we are on the same page. Well, I mean, as he was walking in and out of this office, "perfect fit" is not necessarily the best term for Mr.

John Carney, as he knocked over like 75 things as he's walking around. The studio looks a lot bigger than I want to show that it is in person, I'll tell ya. It's like the Hulk walking in here or something. Okay, so, all right, so you kind of start here.

It's been what, about two months, I'd say? Was it kind of a trial basis for John? Was it, you know, "Okay, hey, Because, you know, as you informed us, like, you've officially become a corporate, a corporate, a corporate, a corporate, a corporate, why can't I talk? Words are fun, huh Mike?

Words are fun. , right? And you've tapped him to be CEO, correct? Yes.

Okay. So, was the first two months like, you know, hey, we're friends, and I think that you're capable, but let's kind of see what you can do, or did you already kind of have that planned out? Like, yeah, you're going to be the guy, let's start facilitating this, and let's start kind of mapping out a plan. In the summer, when we had the first discussion about that, we figured out that we had some homework to do before we can really start.

So that's why we said, okay, let's take some time, what we need to do our homework, to do it really properly. So when I do something, I want to be sure with that, and I want to have a good feeling with that. Yeah, that's why we took the time and, of course, it's a question of scheduling, so I wanted to come here to be corporate, so now in November we had the chance, so I flew in on Saturday and since Tuesday we are corporate, and so since Tuesday. It's official.

It's official and he is our CEO now, so. He's the CEO. He's the boss. He's the guy, he's the boss, at least on paper, at least on paper.

Okay, so just kind of jumping back real quick, so you handle all operations for the Schuster family? Yes, yes. You're the top guy? Yeah, I'm the CEO since January, so my father retired.

Okay, was it a forceful takeover or did he go quietly? Like, what does that look like? You know, I mean, honestly, I know that I'm saying it kind of jokingly, but, you know, I have my own kids, right? And, you know, maybe one day, who knows, if this grows up and becomes big enough, you know, You know, would I hope for my sons to take over or even my daughter or, you know, was it, what was it for you?

Did you want it? I mean, you were obviously been around tobacco your whole life, right? So tell, tell us a little bit about that. And then, you know, how did that, what's the exit strategy look like for your dad?

For what you can say. Once you're in the industry, you never can escape from that. Like the godfathers. That was clear for me, so it was clear for me to be in the cigar industry.

Okay. And, of course, I have a very strong emotional binding to our family business. Right. So, when I started with Bentley on my own, I wanted to make my own experiences.

You know, it's a few years ago, so I was a little bit younger and I wanted to do my own. So I hated to take over something and be the son and always be introduced, oh, this is the son of Philip Schuster, so you know, so I wanted to have my own. Okay. That was very important for me to make my own experiences and have nobody who says, oh, don't do that, don't do that.

I want to make my own mistakes, you know, so it was very important. And, yeah, last year we had the discussion in the family what the future will be for the company. And also, for my sister, Anna Marie, and yeah, we decided that the best would be to do the step now, and yeah, of course, I was happy that my family said, okay, we trust you, we will give you, our family business, the responsibility, so it's a big honor for me, but also big footsteps. Right.

So does your dad check in? Does he say, hey, you know, this is what you have to do or anything like that? Or does he go away? Did he go away quietly?

I mean, I don't know if for me personally, like, you know, I think that if I handed it to my son, right, and it was my entire life's work, per se, right, I think it would be difficult for me to not say, okay, no, no, not like this. You got to do it like this or whatever. You know what I mean? As much as I'd want to trust my son that he's going to do things, it wouldn't necessarily be my way.

Right? So, does he check in at all? Or does he, you know? You know, my father is smoking cigars all day, and my mom don't like them to smoke cigars in the house.

So, he has exactly one opportunity is crossing the street and coming in the factory. So, of course, he's there all the time. And I like that because he is, yeah, for me and also for my people he is an advisor, so we ask him, of course, for his opinion, especially on tobacco, on production, machinery, but he, yeah, he trusts me, he respects all my decisions, he never asked or said don't do that, don't do that, so I really, I'm really happy that we have it that way. So I have my freedom to do my own decisions, and it's always, I have the family behind, but as you said, it is his life, so he built up that, and he worked his entire life in that factory, in this business, so it's not easy to say, okay, now I'm stopped, I'm retired, so this will never happen.

Yeah, it's hard to turn off. But, you know, flip side of that coin, you still want your son to kind of go through these processes and make the mistakes along the way, you know, and figure things out too, right? Because that'll just make you a stronger person for the family and the company, right? The good thing was that I could make my mistakes before in my own company.

So, I think that I learned a lot about running a business, running a business in Europe, because this is completely different from running a business here in the US. We have a lot more regulations, we have a lot more problems to face. It's the Wild West out here. I don't want to say it's the Wild West.

I think that in Europe we love to do everything really properly, so 120%. That's why we have so many regulations on tobacco. So you would think it's easy to ship cigars from Germany to France. Technically, it's okay, but every single country has different regulations, so you have to learn all that, you have to see what the consequences are, and you have to understand each market, because each European market is different from the other, so tax-wise, and excess-wise, and so on.

So, yeah, I proved that I'm able to do that, and I think this was very important for me to think that I can do it, because this is important. When you want to follow up somebody, you need this security in yourself that you can do that. So, otherwise, I think I wouldn't have made this decision in that way, so, yeah. Yeah, I mean dealing with different governments in different countries and doing everything you can to possibly stay in those regulations and those guidelines, I mean, that's got to be a huge task.

How many countries do you say you work with? Around 28 countries. Okay, so yeah, you're close to 30 different sets of rules for everything being distributed. We're just starting now in Azerbaijan.

I never shipped cigars before to Azerbaijan. I don't even know what the hell that is. Yeah. It's another country, Michael.

It's another country. Let's keep it that. It's another country. Right.

But completely new. Oh my God. Because you have to start from the scratch then. That's crazy.

Okay. So, do you see like, you know, what's really kind of fascinating to me too is, I'd say over the past, I don't know, maybe five or ten years, you have seen more American-made cigars. S. S.

market? I think that in Europe we had the situations that we have a very strong competition in handmade cigars from the Cubans, so it is a big market for Cuban cigars in Europe. So, you guys don't like taste, is what you're saying. I'm just kidding.

Yeah, but since a few years, there is a big chance for other products coming in because the Cubans raises the prices all over the world, and so they are spaced now. And it was a shortage of availability of the Cubans also. And this is a big chance for all the products coming into that market. But of course, you don't have to overestimate it, so it's really the biggest market in the world, it's the US, you cannot compare that with Europe, but besides that, Germany is a good market.

That's really fascinating, man. But it's not so easy like people think it is, so you cannot explain why we do something like that. I mean, everybody thinks it's easy. Yeah, but nothing is easy.

S. market, that's why we are so late here. Right. I wanted to make my experience here and see what it's about because I really have respect for the market and, of course, for all what you do here.

Yeah, I mean, it is really interesting, you know, I mean, it's a very hard uphill battle, but you're acknowledging that, right? You know, coming into this market, just like any other market, is going to have its challenges, right? S. market?

Like what's your vision? As you said, we are in the industry for a hundred years, so I always look on the long term. And I don't want to be quick in the market and look for a hundred years, but I don't want to be quick in the market and look for a hundred years for a hundred years, so I always look on the long term. And I don't want to be quick in the market and look for a hundred years for a hundred years, so I always look on the long term.

And I don't want to be quick in the market and look for a hundred years for a hundred years. I want Bentley to be a success here. That's why we want to grow organically. That's why we have a very close plan how we can do something so we don't want to be here in thousands of spots at a time.

We want to do step by step, see how it goes, how we have to adjust things to make it properly. So I haven't invested so much time in my life and so much money to develop that brand to be away in two years. S. market.

And this is a common goal I have with Kani because we're both on the same side when it's come to the long-term development. Okay. So now you have no affiliation with Bentley Auto. No.

0 affiliation. How the hell did you pull that off? How did the name Bentley Cigars actually come into existence? Our trademarks are from the 1960s, and in 2010 we had the possibility to purchase Bentley Pipe Company, so actually our brands are coming from the pipes, that's why we carry pipe tobacco, for example, in Europe, and pipes, it's just for the heritage of the brand, because that's where we come from.

And then over the development we get more and more into the cigar things because we are cigar people and it was important for me and it's logical that we say okay we don't make only pipes and pipe tobacco so we wanted to make cigars and it was a journey of course always it is but today we are completely independent from anybody so it's our own brands all over the world. That's pretty fascinating, man. It really is. What are you thinking about for like a sales force for your team?

Or is it just going to be John for the time being? Are you going to acquire sales reps in specific regions? Or like what do you, what kind of, where do you see that going? We want to grow organically.

So that's why we started just with John as a one man show. But of course, we have a plan how we can grow in the future. And John is the CEO, so he will take the decisions, what he want to do, but we talked about that, of course, and my goal is that we have a sales force here, of course, we want to make the best efforts and serve the best experience, not only for the retailers, they're, of course, very important, but also for the consumers, so we want to do some events, Bentley typical events for the cigars, and yeah, I want to make really an additional, a plus for the cigars. S.

Okay, now you guys are really known for making smaller cigars, right? S. market? S.

, yes. Okay. And what about, so you have two major blends right now, right? You have the white and the green?

Yes. Are you going to, is that it? Or are you going to make more Coraline things? Are you going to make any LEs?

Like, what is your view on some of those things? I always wanted to have it as simple as possible so that's why we have actually two blends it's a green one which is a signature blend and the white one with Connecticut we have five different sizes and that's where we are now but of course we want to make some limited editions we want to make something, make it interesting also for the consumers actually we have this AI project We started here, it was an idea from John, which is great because our claim is driven by taste, so we are driven by the taste of the consumer, so it's logical that we ask the consumer about his ideas about a cigar, so that's what makes it so unique and so interesting for us and so a good fit for Bentley. So, we will develop, of course, this AI Project Cigar, but besides that, other good, nice things supporting the brand. And yes, I have an idea for a third blend, but we haven't decided yet when to come with that up.

So you have some concepts, but you're still kind of focusing on the structure of the US market and what the sales force is going to look like. Step by step. Right, one by one by one. All right, so before I let you go, I do want to ask you one other question.

I'm going to ask you one other question. I would say, just my own assumption, that you're blessed and you're cursed by having your dad with you throughout this entire journey. Now, those are my words, not yours, okay? What has he said to you in life?

Because I would assume that he's a big, kind of, in some ways, like a mentor, right? What would be the one piece of advice or something that he has said to you that has always kind of stuck with you, that you've said, okay, this is something that, you know, I will continue forth with because of that? My dad is my biggest supporter in life, so he always supported me and my ideas, but he is, we are from the northern part of Germany, so we are easy people and with both feet on the ground. And he always said to me, regardless what you do in your life, and regardless if it's a really good success or not, it's always important to be with your feet on the ground, so that's what we are, and that's what we behave, and that's, yeah, it's, this is a kind of given.

Right, so that's kind of, so it's like kind of always stay focused, kind of always stay humble, humble, humble, per se? Is that what, like, really what that kind of means? -Yeah, no big egos. -Right.

Got you. -The consumer. We make cigars for the consumer, not for ourselves. So, it's absolutely not necessary what I think and what I do.

It's necessary that the consumer likes our cigars. So, that's why the consumer is our king. -So, create something to serve. -Absolutely.

And we want to stay in the business for the next hundred years. So, it's always a question of sustainability. Be careful what you do. Don't risk too much.

Don't risk too much. Make smart decisions, right? All right. That's fantastic.

John, do you have anything to add over there? Always, but we're going to need another podcast for that. All right. Well, stay tuned for the John Carney interview.

That'll happen, I'm sure, sometime soon. Martin, thank you. I know that it's quite a journey for you to come all the way out here, and, you know, I know that we're not a big retail store. So coming by and saying hi to us and introducing yourself, I'm very grateful for that.

And thank you so much for coming onto the show, man. Thank you for your support. Absolutely, man. All right, guys.

Thanks. Hey! Hey! Hey!

Show Notes

This week we sit down with Martin Schuster from Bentley Tobacco