Episode 74 Justo Eiroa Aladino Cigars and Peter Hernandez

Episode Summary

Episode 74 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast welcomes Justo Eiroa of Aladino Cigars (JRE Tobacco Co.) alongside veteran Florida sales rep Pete Hernandez. Justo walks through the Eiroa family's deep Honduran roots — how his father, Julio Eiroa, was brought into Honduras by the Oliva family after the Cuban embargo to sort a crop planted in 1962, on the very same farm the family still operates today. He talks about growing up in boarding school, his younger brother Christian Eiroa's role as the face of Camacho, the non-compete that kept the family on the sidelines, and the eventual launch of Aladino, Rancho Luna and Tarascan using the same blends from their Camacho days.

The heart of the conversation is tobacco. Pete Hernandez explains why Aladino's authentic 1960 Corojo seed is different from the ubiquitous Corojo '98/'99 hybrids created after the 1990s mold outbreak in Cuba, and how the standard Aladino is a true puro — wrapper, binder and filler all from the same plant, using mid primings from the lower half. The Aladino Reserva uses the upper primings with a corona (ligero) leaf wrapper, delivering a medium-to-full "wolf in sheep's clothing" profile. They preview the new Aladino Connecticut (Perfecto, Robusto, Toro and a 52 x 7 Churchill) after a successful soft launch, and the Reserva Toro at $14 SRP joining the $12 Robusto as an allocated, limited release heading into the trade show.

Justo also gets candid about business: production is currently between 500,000 and 600,000 cigars, with a deliberate ceiling around six million to protect quality; Honduras offers the best manufacturing labor in Central America but costs roughly three times Nicaragua in wages; and his nine independent reps are treated as business partners. The back half turns into a frank retailer-versus-rep discussion — fighting for humidor shelf space, why "nobody's asked for it" is a cop-out, how long to let a customer linger before approaching, steering customers who say "mild" when they actually mean "smooth," and the future of infused cigars.

The episode closes with the show's five standard questions. Justo names the regular Aladino as his favorite cigar, Tatuaje as his favorite cigar that isn't his, his 81-year-old father as the person he'd most like to share a cigar with, Ted the Bear as his fictional smoking companion, and "if you don't have anything good to say, keep your mouth shut" as the best advice he's received. There's also plenty of banter about the "Fuck That Guy" crew at Caribbean Cigars in South Florida, Hector Alfonso and Jack Torano included.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Meet Justo Eiroa and Pete Hernandez
   Introductions, Pete's past life hosting the Stogies and Sports radio show, and how Mike Perales connected Pete to the Eiroa family's brand.
2. 02
   Eiroa Family History in Honduras
   Julio Eiroa's post-embargo move into Honduras with the Oliva family, the 1962 crop, and the farm the family still runs today.
3. 03
   From Camacho to Aladino
   The non-compete years on the sidelines, Christian Eiroa's role at Camacho, and the launch of Aladino, Rancho Luna and Tarascan.
4. 04
   Authentic 1960 Corojo vs. Corojo '98
   Why Aladino's original-seed Corojo puro tastes different from the hybridized Corojo everyone else grows, and what those warm Mediterranean spice notes really are.
5. 05
   New Releases: Aladino Connecticut and Reserva Toro
   A four-size Connecticut line including a 52 x 7 Churchill, plus the allocated Reserva Toro at $14 joining the $12 Robusto.
6. 06
   Production, Scale and Honduran Labor
   Why Justo caps growth near six million cigars, current output of 500,000–600,000, and how Honduran wages and craftsmanship compare to Nicaragua.
7. 07
   Managing Independent Reps
   Treating nine independent reps as business partners, territory size, personality, and keeping accounts serviced.
8. 08
   Retail, Shelf Space and Selling the Customer
   Fighting for humidor space, reading when to approach a customer, translating 'mild' into 'smooth,' and the future of infused cigars.

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

Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 74. This week in the show we have Justo Iroa from Aladino Cigars and one of the cigar reps in Florida, Pete Hernandez. Hope you enjoy the show. Sit down and relax.

Here we go. All right, you guys want to start by introducing yourselves? Hi, I'm Husto Iroa. And I'm Pete Hernandez.

Perfect. So, what do you do? Who, who's done? I'm, let's see, what do I do?

I visit stores, I get to smoke and drink for a living, I'm very fortunate that I represent some of the top-tier brands in the industry, and I'd like to start with the Iroa brand. This is what we're featuring today, and we've got four different lines. Hey, who's done? It's the Aladino brand.

It's the Aladino brand, and let me introduce Justo Iroa. Nice. Hey, good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for having us over.

Real pleasure. What's the odds we get two Justos at the same time? What are the odds? Well, I told you I was going to say this, so I need to get this out of the way first.

Pete Hernandez, you know, you're a rep here in Florida. Right. And I just want you to know that of all the reps... Oh, come on, stop.

in all of Florida... Oh, I appreciate it. You are one of them. He's in the top three.

You are one of them. I'm one of them. Stop. You say that to all the guys.

No, you gave that shit to me, and I told you I was going to use it on you. I'm sorry. But, you know, it's funny because now that you've got a mic in front of you and the camera, you seem a little nervous. You a little nervous right now?

It was actually pretty good. Yeah, you feel comfortable? He's done this before. He's done this before.

Yeah, I've done this before. I did my own radio show back in the day. I don't know if anyone knows that. You did?

Yes, it was called the Stogies and Sports Show. Really? Wow. Yes, and the sports was more of a fluff thing.

We kind of spoke about the French sports. I actually interviewed Butterbean. No shit? Yes.

We did a lot of cool stuff. How'd you get him on the show? It was easy back then. I mean, Butterbean was kind of a flash in the pan, for those of you who don't know who he is.

He knocked out a couple guys, he just went in there, he was a big, big guy, and he mowed guys down, and, you know, kind of like the home run series, everybody wants to watch the home run, everybody wants to watch a guy beat up another guy, you know? Man, I didn't know that about him. I'm not comparing that new guy to him all the time now, too. Which one?

There was a fight last week where a big guy the size of Butterbean beat somebody. Right. I mean, you know, good thing Butterbean's fights didn't go more than two rounds, because I think you would have died on the new end. True.

So, you've got to tell us a little bit about yourself, Husso. How'd you get into the industry? Well, I've always been in the industry. My dad has been probably one of the pioneers in Central America after the Cuban embargo.

As you well know, basically, Tampa has always been the capital of Cigar City in the United States, and most of the raw materials were brought in from Cuba into Tampa. And then all the manufacturers, you know, manufactured, you know, the cigars. Yeah, there you go, manufactured the cigars. But when the embargo came, you know, there was actually a need to start finding new sources of raw materials.

And that's where Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic really got their jump start. And then my dad was one of the pioneers taken by the Oliva family into Honduras to actually go and sort a crop that was already planted there in '62. And actually that same farm that my dad did, the sorting farm, is the current farm that we have. So I would say it's probably one of the oldest or the oldest farm operation in Central America.

And how many brothers do you have? We have, from my dad's side, I have two, a brother and a sister. From my mom's side, I have a brother and a sister. And you got one that's in the… Absolutely.

He was always with my dad during the Camacho days. He was the face of the Camacho… Which is Christian. Christian, absolutely, yeah. So is he older than you or younger than you?

No, he's younger than us. So, like, growing up, how many times did you kick your brother's ass? Nah, he didn't. Actually, it was very difficult to kick his ass.

For the simple reason, I was always in boarding school. He was in boarding school, and when I got back and started to work, he was in boarding school, so I went to boarding school since I was 10, 11 years old. Did that happen because you guys were troublemakers? Well, not because we were troublemakers.

Remember, when we were in Honduras back in '78 or '80, I went to Admiral Farragut over here in St. Pete, where I started to go to school, that's because my dad graduated there. My dad graduated in '54, and Neil Armstrong graduated in '53, and they both played on the same baseball team. Oh, cool.

Isn't that pretty cool? So, my dad sent me there when I went to fifth grade, and then from there on, I finished up in boarding school up in Canada. So, my brother and I, there's a six-year difference, so we were never able to cross paths so I could kick his ass all the time, but him and I get along extremely well. Okay.

So he didn't get to kick his ass? No, no, no, no. I, on the other hand, kicked both of my brother's asses for years, for years and years and years and years. I whooped both their asses in the front yard on my knees, and I'll tell it to their face, well, tell it to Steven's face right now.

Well, now it's documented. But not anymore. No, we're friends now. He's a lot bigger than you now.

I mean, there comes a point, you know, when, like, you were probably kicking his ass up until, like, 13 or 14. Right. And then he got bigger than you. Yeah, they both got bigger than me.

And then we became friends. And they're like, hey, we're good now. Hey, why are we doing this, guys? This is ridiculous.

This doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense. We're killing each other. I'm losing now all the time.

This is ridiculous. No, I never really, well, yeah, yeah. It took one loss. That's what it took.

One loss. You learn your lesson. So you decided to kind of branch out and get into your own cigar brand and industry just a couple of years ago, right? Actually, as you know, my father had a non-compete, and therefore he had to stay out of the industry, and then my brother Christian was able to roll out and, you know, start his own brands, and we had to wait on the sidelines, and then when we were ready, basically we launched Aladino, Rancho Luna, and Tarascan, which are three lines, which are basically, you know, same old blends that we had in our Camacho days.

So, okay, so now, my next question is gonna be, how the fuck do you find a guy like Pete Hernandez? Oh, actually, there is, in the industry, there is, there is, I guess, there's a group of great reps, which are kind of the old guard of the independent reps. Right, and then there's Pete. And, well, actually, Pete, like he says, he's also legacy.

He comes from a legacy, which was Paul, which I never had the opportunity to meet. Right. But I was introduced to him by a great gentleman, which is Mike Perales. Right.

From the Midwest. So, you know, he helped me out. You want to tell that story? Yeah.

Because it's a good story. That's a great story. Well, Mike calls me and tells me, listen, I need you to go see these guys and I need you to take the line. Right.

And, you know, listen, my card's full. I don't know. Take the line means they want you to represent the brand. They want me to represent the brand.

Okay. And I said, I don't know. He goes, no, I want you to go meet with the guy and take the line. So I met with these guys, and I smoked the cigars, and then you hear he's a legacy, and you hear about his father and the tobacco they're growing, and there's no way you can walk away from that.

Right. Rarely do you get an opportunity where you see the endgame, where you see just greatness, and the cigars are great, and the family is great, they've got a long history, so I was very proud from the beginning to work with them. Right. Okay, cool.

So, how's he doing as far as, you know, overall operations? Well, Pete is doing great. He's got, you know, he's one of those guys that really breaks the ice. Let me make sure you get closer to that.

Let me make sure. We cover that part, yeah. This episode brought to you by Peter. He's actually known as Ted, you know, Ted the Bear from the movie.

Nice. He's foul-mouthed, funny. He's got a bong in the car. I haven't seen it, but he's got a lot of it.

That's the way he keeps going out to the car to get cigars. Yeah, I'll be right there. I'll be right here, hold on. No, it's vaping now, you know.

No, but he's actually done a great job. Florida, as you know, South Florida, actually, Miami area is really tough. Right. He's taken us, you know, now we're starting to, you know, really see a lot of movement.

There's, you know, there are a lot of stores there that are actually carrying our product and doing extremely well. Right. S. That's true.

And you're right on the cusp here. Yeah. That is very true. Now, but you're also a member of the Fuck That Guy, right?

I am. You are a member. Wow. Boy, that travels far, yeah.

Speaking of South Florida, you want to talk Caribbean cigars. Yeah, it's a little group of guys that gets together at a local boutique shop. Caribbean. You've got to give Alan the love that he deserves.

Absolutely, absolutely. Alan's one of my dear friends and attorney and good customer. We knock it out right there. He's a great guy.

And we get together there. If you're in the industry and you think you've been spoken about, you've definitely been spoken about. So, it's a great group and it's available to anyone. Any given day, you pop on in, you never know who's going to be there, and some guys, as soon as they walk in, everyone just shuts up.

So, to kind of get your opinion, who's really in charge? Who's like the head of the FTG? You know, Hector. Hector is in charge of Espinosa Cigars?

Of Espinosa Cigars. Hector, Mr. Warmth himself. Mr.

Warmth. Oh, dude, he's just brutal. Jack Taranio is also a participant. See, that was kind of where I wanted to see who was, of those two, of those two, who was at church, yeah.

Well, you know, Hector's there daily. Right. You know, Jack Taranio only makes special guest appearances. Yeah, and now he's flying around all over the place, you know, like a fucking maniac.

But they're both, you know, brutal, brutal. Both brutal. Yeah, I'm an easy target, so I keep my mouth shut most of the time. I do sling some fastballs, but I make sure that I'm in the right company.

Every once in a while? Every once in a while, you know? Drop a couple of zingers. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, you know?

I'll make sure you're not there when I talk about you, you know? I find that hard to believe. All right, so what do you got coming out? Are you making anything new for the show, or I mean, you know?

Well, actually, we're coming out, you know, as you know, probably the best-selling rapper in the country is Connecticut. Right. And actually, we're doing our Connecticut line, which is, I think, is probably something that we're really looking. We did a soft launch with four sizes.

Right. We have a Small Perfecto. We have a Robusto, a Toro, and a Churchill, a 52 by 7, Which is not actually kind of a traditional Churchill, because our Cuban Churchill is 48 by 7, but the industry has accepted a Churchill, which is a 52 by 7, I think is more the norm now for golfers and industry. So we went that way.

And we did a soft launch after the many of the guys that came from went to the factory trips in February. And it's been really, really, it's been really successful in the stores where they're already up to three orders. Wow. That's really good.

Which is really good. And now this is going to be one of the things that we're launching at the trade show. We're also going to be on the Reserva side, which is all our Corojo Leaf high primings. We have the Reserva Robuso that came out last year, but now we're coming out with a Toro.

That MSRP is at 14 and the Robuso already is out in the market at 12. This is an allocation product. It is very limited production. And it's something that is doing extremely well.

We're very happy because, you know, every time there's a lot of posting that goes on Instagram and the Connecticut and all the Aladino lines is very popular and in post, but the Reserva seems to, you know, take it to the next level. All right, so how many cigars are you producing now annually? Rough numbers. Well, rough numbers, you know, we're still a very small operation.

Of course, I mean, you've only been doing it a couple of years. We're just starting, but, you know, we roll ahead of time, so we'll have it, but I would say we're probably between half a million and 600,000. - That's pretty good. - Yeah.

- So how many cigars are you looking at? Like, where's your cap? - You know, I think today in the industry, it has to be, you know, a lot of people, the Camacho days are doing millions of cigars, are doing over 15 million cigars, in our, in my perspective is, we don't want to do that. - Right.

I mean, you lose, your quality for one falls off, in my opinion. - And, you know, with the prices of cigars today, it's just, the amount of resources that it takes to run an operation like that, it's really not feasible. So I would say if you're rolling between $3 million and $7 million or $6 million, you should be pretty solid. So you want to kind of taper off around $6 million.

Yeah, but that probably includes some private label, not too many, very specific private labels that we'll be doing in the future, but tapering off at that, I think, is something that you need to have control of your controlled growth. Right. So you obviously have the tobacco for that type of stuff, because it's been six or seven years of you guys just growing and not making cigars, right? Yeah.

Do you have enough people in Honduras to handle that production, or would you scale it the best you grow? Well, you have to remember, Honduras is variable. I would probably say, and I'm going to be a little bit biased in this, but it's probably the truth. I would say Honduras, in quality of manufacturing as the sterity for manufacturing cigars, I would say is probably the best country in labor.

And during the boom, Honduras was the leader during the boom in manufacturing cigars. Above DR had better numbers. Now Nicaragua is taking the lead. But, you know, the government has been extremely supportive.

And Honduras also salary-wise is probably three times as more expensive than Nicaragua. No shit. Yes, sir. I didn't know that.

So how many reps do you have across the nation? Well, we have nine reps. They're all independent. Okay.

Moving to my next question. Yeah. Yeah, they're all independent. Yeah.

Are any of them difficult? You know, every rep has got their own personality. Right. And every personality is unique to their clientele.

Right. So, you know, and that happens in anything that you do in sales. Everybody's got their own personality, and they're successful at it, and you gotta respect that. Pete, shut the fuck up, man.

Seriously. Well, I'm, you know, waiting to jump in. I think what people are gonna be more interested in is what makes Aladino cigars different from everything else, you know? One of the things that intrigued me is that this Corojo that they grow, you know?

Everyone's used to growing or smoking Corojo '98, Corojo '99, Corojo '2000, and the reason for that, in the '90s, there was an outbreak of mold in Cuba, and it killed all their crops, so they created this hybridized plant, which is still great tobacco, but it grows much taller. It also is very resistant. So that's what everyone uses, because if you grow tobacco, that's what you want. You want better yields, you want tobacco that's not going to get sick.

And... Oh, good job. Yeah. The good thing is you mute it.

Right, that was a good thing I, yeah, good thing I, yeah, good thing I, yeah, good thing I, yeah, I'm real tech savvy, that's what I'm saying. He probably, because the answer didn't doesn't know. So, um, these cigars, for example, the Corojo, the standard Aladino, it all comes from one plant, so it's a wrapper, binder, filler, this authentic seed Corojo from 1960. The flavor is just totally different.

Really won't place an order. Yeah, that wasn't an order. That wasn't an order. Hector heard him talking about it.

Believe me, I would have put the phone -- hold on. It's summertime in Florida, pal. I'm taking every order I can. So the flavor is just very different.

If you like it or don't like it, I think it's amazing. It's a very -- you know, ironically enough, they just rated it really high in Cigars Aficionado. And they used a phrase that was really, it has warm Mediterranean spices. And I'm not the guy that usually goes that route with different, but the flavors are, it does have spice, but it's not a pepper spice.

It's more of a cinnamon, it's more of a warm, maybe a, I don't want to say Christmas spice, but you know, that's what it's more like. It's very aromatic, it's very clean on the palate, easy to smoke. It's easy to smoke. People always ask me how's the draw.

Well, every cigar should draw well, but the construction is second to not. Well, there's 97 percent of them. Right. The construction is second to not.

Then the Reserva, it's the same tobacco. Again, the original is from half of the plant down. Mid primings. Mid primings.

And the Reserva is from the middle of the plant up, where the wrapper is the Corona leaf. It's not very common. A lot of guys use the Carone Leaf, which is Lijero, on the inside of the cigar. So lots of times that's why you get the cone-shaped, because it's what burns the slowest.

Right. And on that cigar, it's just, and it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's a medium-bodied, tastes medium-bodied, but it's full, medium to full, on the heavy side. It's got great spice, it's got a great draw, it's got great flavor.

It's, you know, I can't say enough about it. And it all comes from one plant. Do you think Pete knows what the fuck he's talking about now? I don't know.

I may have just been traveling with him for a long time. That's what he's told me anyway. That's what he told me it was, so, you know. They practice in the car.

Take this. That's not normally Pete's spiel. It's like, buy this. Right.

So, saying a little bit about the Aladino blend, the regular Aladino, 100% Corojo, one of the things that my dad really kind of likes, my dad is a medium-bodied smoker, like I am. I'm a medium-bodied smoker, but he likes tons of flavor. So the way we have created Aladino is a medium-bodied, full-flavored cigar. So if you're a mild to medium smoker, you can actually smoke that all day, as many cigars as you want, without really, you know, taking you over the edge or getting a buzz.

But if you're also a full-cigar smoker, it's got so much flavor, so much intensity and richness of flavor that a full-bodied smoker can also smoke it. So, it's very unique. It's got that uniqueness that, you know, it can serve both types of smokers. Okay.

So, getting back to the… so, you handle all the reps? Yes. You're the guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're a three-man team, so it works. Right. So, what are, like, some of the other challenges that you have as far as reps? Because, like, for me, that's kind of an intriguing part.

Like, I don't really get to talk to a lot of people that have… Well, you know, in the industry, you know, independent reps is very special, because you need to understand the way I look at them, you know, they're your business partner. Of course. It's a very simple reason. You know, as they sell, everybody makes money.

Not only the store, but also the manufacturer by him. So it's very important, you know, to give them the respect that you want. But also, you also have to evaluate how big the territory is, how many brands that they have, and then if they're also getting the service that the stores require. So, you know, that's something that as we go on, we keep on learning what are the, you know, the fallouts or the challenges that an independent rep might have.

Right. So, excluding Pete, because he's in the room, who's your favorite rep? I would say all, everybody's got a different personality, and I get along extremely well with everybody, there's no favorites, you know, there's some that you make more business with, and the more business you do, remember, the more business that you do, you know, it's the better relationship, relationships are separate from business. Independent, such a political answer.

Well, it is the truth, it is the truth. I mean, you deal with, you deal with a bunch of reps, and not always your favorites, the one you buy the most from. Yeah, I know, but Jeff Groover's my favorite. Jeff Groover!

Hands down. No, Jeff's a great guy. What's really cool about you is I get to fuck with you a lot. Right.

You know what I mean? We have a good relationship. Right, absolutely. So, I appreciate that, you know?

" No, not at all. Not at all. I'm okay with it. You're a good egg.

Can I psych himself up before he can come in? " No, no, no, actually, this is, again, this is one of my favorite stops, not where I make the most money, but it's definitely one of my favorite stops, you know, we've known each other for a long time, you know, I've seen you guys grow, and you guys have done a great job here, you know, this is a, I love the way you and your brother interact, the way, how you divide the responsibilities, and I enjoy you independently, you know, it's, I love hanging out, I love talking to you. Yeah, of course man. I can't tell you how many calls I've made and walked away with nothing.

That's true. That's true. He's not lying. You want to ask the questions?

Yeah, you want to take a break real quick first and then we'll come back? Sure. All right. Hey, this is Mike Tu from A Cigar Hustlers Podcast.

If you're enjoying the audio version, make sure you get over to YouTube to A Cigar Hustlers Podcast so you can see the madness in person. All right, we're back. There you go. What a great commercial.

We didn't even leave. It's a commercial of nothing. Are we asking Pete, or...? We can't ask Pete.

No, we can't ask Pete. We'll save him for next time. Pete, in all honesty, Pete has a great story. Pete's been in the industry for a really long time, and you deserve your own podcast.

So, we've got to get you down here. Hopefully, we'll see you again before December. And, you know, when we do, we'll slide you in. That was a little jab.

You're welcome. You're welcome. So, you know, just ask. Okay, we have five questions we ask everybody who comes in and sits down with.

And neither one of them listen to the podcast, so they definitely don't know the questions. Oh, that's good. Okay, first question, what's your favorite cigar? I would probably say regular Aladino for me is...

Not the Connecticut, the other one. Yeah, I would say it's because it hits all the points. Whether you're mild or you're full flavor, it's right there. Right.

Okay. What's your favorite cigar that's not yours? You know, honestly, I like -- believe it or not, I don't smoke too many people's cigars, but I do smoke Tatuaje. So I like the way he blends.

I think he's done a great job of marketing himself and, you know, the way he, you know, handles the brand, I think it's a model to follow. Good. Very good. All right.

One person, living or dead, would you like to share a cigar with? Mmm, living or dead to share a cigar with. You know, I actually enjoy sharing and smoking cigars with my dad, especially when we go over blends, because he's got so much knowledge. And believe it or not, even though I smoked during my whole life, I've never been a constant smoker.

But now that I'm more traveling, I get to smoke more, and I'm able to enjoy and try to find things that where him and I, He could identify and I could get his feedback so for me that's that's the way to do it. So before you jump to the next question let me ask you how old your father? My dad turned 81 this year. Okay and he runs everything?

He runs he runs everything. So has he ever has the conversation ever happened where you know you've talked about possibly having him pass the reins or maybe having is he having number two? Well one of the reasons I'm full-time with him is is part of you know handling and learning the whole process because as he is I'm also a farmer. Em and I are, you know, I like more of the farm than traveling and going from being on the road constantly and doing that.

I enjoy more of the farming than the sales part. Right, than dealing with the sales reps. But at the end of the day, you need to have the pool of cigars so you can grow tobacco and sell cigars. Right.

So you can't have growing of tobacco unless you have the sales part and the sales of the cigars. You've got to understand the full channel. I get that for sure. So eventually you think that you'd be the guy that would...

I think the way it's being set up is going to be a transition where maybe 50% of the time I'm going to be there and 50% of the time I'm going to be here. So it's something that I have to deal with and it's something that is because there's a lot of people that have been with us for many, many years. I mean sons, grandsons are now working with us and for us it's very important to also do well in the community that we support. Well, you're definitely going to need a number two there that's there all the time, though.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But we're not there yet. I think in the next year or two, I think we'll be there.

Is your dad going to have a hard time? " We always have a hard time, yeah. He's very protective of his territory. Right.

Yeah. That'll be a good challenge. Yeah. Okay.

Go ahead. Sorry. What one fictitious person would you like to share a cigar with? Hmm.

Fictitious person? Somebody from a book, a movie, we've had cartoon characters, we've had people on restaurants, people on, yeah, people on science, I was about to say that too. You can ask for the first thing, I haven't thought of anybody yet, can you go back to that one, it's gotta be an order. Yeah, we can circle back.

Yeah, we can circle back. What's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you? If you don't have anything good to say about anybody, keep your mouth shut. We're close and fuck that guy, bro.

You're out. You're fucking out. I think it's always to come out and always say the good qualities that everybody has, because everybody's got good qualities. Anybody that's in an industry and is putting out a product, they believe it's the best product they're coming out with.

So the last thing you want to do, you don't want to knock somebody out. But you've got to break a guy's balls every once in a while, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but you can do that joking around, but there's a way to do it with class. He is constantly breaking my balls.

Constantly breaking my balls. " Give me a... You know, but he's a great guy to banter with, great guy to banter with, yeah. You know, talking about that, I guess the guy I really wanted to smoke a cigar with, but I get to do it in real person, is Ted.

Ted the Bear. Foul Mouth, tells you how it is, you know, and if you have him on your side, we'll tell you a good story like he does, so I think Ted DeBear from the movie is the fictitious character I would like to take a score with. Oh, very good. Very cool.

Wow, that's very cool. That's nice. You are number one. I told you that.

Look at that. I told you. You are the favorite. The last question is just, do you want to give out any social media or email or contact?

Oh, absolutely. Our social media is, I think, is hashtag Jerry Tobacco. And, you know, we're struggling there. We're almost getting to, you know, 13,000.

So, I need a couple more, I think, 10 more at Jerry. com. And we're always here to help and answer any questions. So, I'm always very accessible to people that want to contact us.

I mean, I can attest to that. I got to give you credit for that because, you know, I'm a big believer in reaching out to people. If I haven't spoken to somebody in a while, I'll throw out a text and say, hey, man, how are you? And he's like, hey, Mike, what's going on?

How are things, you know, which is awesome. It doesn't happen a lot in the industry. And, you know, I appreciate that as a store owner for sure, you know. Thank you.

I really appreciate that too. And also for you reaching out. Like I said, anytime. I like your cigars.

Yeah, thank you. I just like to watch him sweat a little bit before I fucking buy them. He's got to earn it. You know.

Yeah. See what he can do. Well, when I always say I'm coming with Houston, they usually open the doors. When I say I'm coming by myself, you know, I'm gonna be out of town, I'm not available.

Quick pizza side, everybody down behind the counter. So, like, this motherfucker, if he calls me, like, he called me a couple days ago, right? And, you know, you got IPCPR coming up, so I have to call all the accounts. You know, I'm just a one-man show, right?

So I got like a 10-minute window to eat fucking lunch. So I'm fucking eating as fast as I possibly can. I possibly can. My phone rings, Pete Hernandez.

I'm like, "Fuck, I gotta eat this sandwich. " So, rings, rings, rings. Plus, Pete already ate. Right, you know.

So, it's all keto, so it's just me. I don't answer, right? " I was trying to avoid him, but you see, you cannot, that's Ted. Right.

I won't, I mean, you know, I don't, if I'm busy, I'll call you right back. But I appreciate the, you know, the fucking, yeah. Well, you know, if I don't call you while I've got you in my sights, and I'll just move on, and yeah, it might be a couple days. That's also, that's hard too, you know, I totally understand that.

You know, as far as calling accounts, they say, "Hey, call back in fucking three hours," like, okay. Well, then you start moving down the list, you forget about that guy. Three hours has gone by, and it's the next day. You set a fucking timer, it doesn't matter, you know, the timer goes off when you're in a conversation.

You know what, and there are guys that I know I can relentlessly call. And I know that you're eventually going to answer the phone, for more than one reason, you'll either finally answer the phone and get rid of me, or because we've always got something funny to say to you, I'm always going to break your balls or say something, and it's always going to be an interesting conversation, you don't have to buy anything, it's always, you know, and you've got to keep that relationship, that's really, a big part of it is you've got to keep the relationship, and if you don't, I think he'll ask me, have you spoken to someone, man, I spoke, I called that guy three days ago, he didn't answer the phone, all right, and then now, now I'm going to get you. Now you're going to answer the phone. And so eventually I get the phone call and it's just getting it out of the way.

Staying in your mind. You got to stay fresh in people's mind. In this industry, you can't just work the phone. You've got to show up at the store.

But it's a combination of using the five different tools you have, which is text and email and phone calls and social media. And you're fighting for shelf space. At the end of the day, you're fighting for shelf space. And if you become irrelevant in someone's humidor, that's what happens.

Your product gets moved over, they buy other things, and I'll be honest with you, there's a lot of things out there that I, when I walk into a store and I see it on the shelf, and I knew my turn was next, and that guy's cigars are in, you know, I feel he's taking up my space. Yeah, it's my space. You know, I've been here long enough, I've been doing this long enough, I carry good brands, there's no reason why you should have that guy's product when you should have mine. Again, everyone deserves a chance, but that's the way I feel.

In my head, that's how I see it. I get it. Wrong or right, but... Hey, you've been in the game long enough, you have your own opinions.

It's totally understandable. I fucking get it. Sorry about that. No, you're good.

No, you're fine. He was taking all the air anyway. What else do you want to know? About the farm, do you have any questions?

What do you do in your life, Mike? Let me ask you. How do you run your distribution? How do I run my distribution?

I call people. You call people. I send emails. Right.

Social media. Yeah, promote via social media. Like, I mean, I have a different mindset and outlook towards all of it. Like, I don't believe, like, and it's a constant battle in my head, too, because as a retailer, I'm like, well, you know, if I don't see this rep, it's hard to continue to engage in the product, right?

But with that being said, I also have my own focal points, right? I have my own brands, I rep my own brands, as well as, you know, Roma's kind of my lineage. So like they're a main hub for me, you know, those guys have been, have never fucking given me a hard time for anything, they've always had my back, so to deviate from that is difficult, so I believe in, but you know, I also believe in building a brand via social media, you know, being in contact with people but not necessarily being in their face, you know, technology is there enough where you can just FaceTime a motherfucker and shoot the shit for 20 minutes and not have to drive there, right? this year i haven't been on the road really at all um it just hasn't really been in the cards you know it has to it has to kind of outweigh the cost has to has to justify right i mean because you get on a plane you rent a car you hotels food i mean you're going to drop 25 3500 easy on the trip alone if you have to leave the state right so you got to offset that with events you And if you don't have product, or if you don't slate the events, or shit happens when the retailer says they're going to do an event, and then all of a sudden they back out, it makes it difficult.

So my outlook and my mindset towards that is definitely different. Now, I'm also not looking to produce and sell five or six million cigars a year. I mean, if I ever got to a point where I was producing and selling, you know, 700,000 to a million, I'm fucking golden, right? Because my overhead is super lean.

So, looking at it as a retailer, what is it that you put the most weight on when you take on a brand? Are you looking at the blend? Are you looking at how you like the company? Or are you looking at the monetization of it?

You know, the return? The return doesn't really bother me. I don't even think about that, to be totally honest. First thing, the cigar's got to taste good, right?

Of course. I think there's a lot of, a lot of people will say that it's a great time to smoke cigars, and yeah, they are right, but there's a lot of bullshit out there. You know, there are a lot of guys that don't have factories or don't have access to great tobacco, and, you know, they're hooking up with so-and-so who's giving them shit that they have a lot of, and they're getting, you know, a light cigar, not in flavor, but in overall grams, that they're paying a premium for, that doesn't really taste good. That happens a lot.

So, I look for, obviously, flavor profile, I look for who I have to fuck with as far as the rep or, you know, the owners of the company, and then I also consider the branding, the overall branding aspect and what they look to do to promote, not only by coming into the stores, but, you know, more on a national level as well. Those things are my factors. I find that one of my biggest obstacles is no longer a viable reason. For example, I get a lot -- well, no one's asked for it.

Right. And I find that today's consumer has a broad rotation, let's say, for lack of a better term. They'll have six, seven, eight cigars in that rotation, so they'll walk into your humidor, and it's hard. They'd be hard-pressed not to find something they can smoke, so they won't ask for anything.

I mean, to be honest, I've used that cop-out. It's just a cop-out. What do you mean? Nobody's asking for it.

Right, right. That's just complete bullshit, because at the end of the day, my consumers, They should trust in what I'm going to say, hey, you should smoke, right? Hey, you should smoke this. And they'll say, okay, you like this or you're going to like this, right?

You know, that is a big aspect for retailers, and that's what a lot of retailers should be doing. You don't have that a lot. A lot of retailers just check the fuck out. They're either retired guys or they try to be youngster know-it-alls that, you know, really don't give a fuck, just trying to get a paycheck or, you know, think that because they're in the scar industry, they can be egotistical.

That happens a lot in the industry. Well, and I think that's very important. If you're going to work with somebody in the store, what happens is you build up a partnership. Right.

Of not only building the brand, but also building the shop. Right. And that's where, I think, where you just mentioned is extremely important. Well, here's really a partnership.

Because what you need to do is, as long as the manufacturer is behind you, you will put your store behind it. And if you both grow, it's a win-win. The last thing you want to do is not have anybody that checks in and see, hey, how is everything going, or if you got stuck with a product, what do we need to do to move it? And that's where, you know, because, you know, I mentioned to you before, you know, there are some smaller stores in your territory that are doing fantastic numbers.

And, you know, the big elephants in that are not moving it. So, you know, you need to evaluate who gets behind your brand, and those are the guys you really need to support. Yeah. I mean, I look at guys like HVC.

I look at guys like, you know, like you, and I say, all right, they got great cigars, you know? We get a little feedback every once in a while. Some reason, that just fixes it like that. Okay.

So then I got to, so at that point, then I work on integrating those companies into the shop. Just that simple, you know? I love the work of Humidor. I love talking to the consumer.

I let very few of them get away from me. You've got to tell me that you're not interested. I'm not interested. No, I know what I like.

And then, you know, I'm not going to mess with you. Before I'm a cigar rep or enthusiast, I'm an ambassador to this thing of ours. And the most important thing for me is for a guy to enjoy his experience. And the last thing I want to do is, you know, be a jerk.

You know, I mean, sometimes. You don't want to push him into smoking something he's not going to like. Exactly. If a guy tells me, I don't sell a lot of mild cigars.

Now I have the Aladino Connecticut. I have a few cigars that are Connecticut. I don't typically smoke them. If it's in the store, I'll move them towards that.

But if a guy tells me, no, I like an infused cigar, have at it. I don't have anything infused. I'll ask him sometimes, are you interested in trying something that tastes like tobacco? Do you want to move off?

I think that flavored cigars or infused cigars have played a big part in our industry. I'll be sorry to see it go. I think that has its place. You think it's going to go?

I think there's a very good chance it's going to go. I think it's a very good chance it's going to go. And I'll be sorry to see it go because I know that a lot of guys entered this because of infused cigars. It'll hurt this industry.

I think so. I think so. I think maybe some guys will now smoke, because we have a beautiful sweet tip cigar. So you saw a guy smoking an infused cigar, you're not going to say, "Hey, you should try this"?

Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. If we have it in the store, absolutely.

" Right. You know, listen, you need to engage that customer, and you need to guide them into it, and then try to upsell them. A guy's not going to try anything new. You know?

A guy's not going to try anything new. You know? A guy's not going to try anything new. You know?

A guy's not going to try anything new. A guy's not going to try anything new. A guy's not going to try anything new. A guy's not going to try anything new.

So here's what I've learned over nine years of experience is I like to make the intro hey if you need anything let me know and then you got to give them time because what happens is it's kind of a catch-22 you have some of those consumers that especially the older guys that are set in their ways they don't want to be fucked with they don't want you asking them so if they're in and out with less than 45 seconds in that humidor you don't talk to them you ring them up have a nice day thanks very much because if you do touch them you're gonna piss them off now if they're If you're lingering in the humidor, you've got to circle in, right? " It's like, "Holy shit, man, I'm here to help you," you know? So, you've got to kind of give those guys that leeway. Right.

Right. I don't know, I just kind of learned that you can't deal in absolutes, right? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Right. So I feel that like that 45 second window, 30 to 45 seconds of a guy in the humidor, giving them that time, it kind of indicates if one, if they know what they want and they're going to be in and out, or two, if they're interested in trying something else or, you know, they're just kind of curious and walking around. If I approach you in the humidor, feel free to tell me to leave you alone, but I'm probably not. " Wait, that's all he does.

Give me those, those are terrible. I have been a little bit, sometimes, you know- Aggressive. It all depends, you know, late in the evening, you know, if you're into your cups. Six martinis.

At the end of the day. Well, I will tell you this, when a guy tells me he wants, lots of times, when someone says that they want a mild cigar, that's not what they mean. They mean smooth. Because you ask them, so what do you typically smoke?

They don't want bitter. Well, right, they'll say the name of a cigar that's everything but mild. Right. So, Austin, what you like is, you know, you like a smooth cigar.

Right. Yeah, that's what I meant, Target, right? Right. I'll ask them, "What do you drink with that?

" And I try to find out what your palate is like. Do you like spicy food? Do you like bourbon? Do you like scotch?

A lot of guys drink bourbon and scotch and smoke macanoodles, and they smoke macanoodles. They pronounce it macadudos because that's what their father smoked. That's what their grandfather smoked. That's the name that they're used to hearing, but not necessarily because that's what they like.

They've been on a golf course, and you know, those guys that golf, lots of times, will have their cigars and the cigars that they hand out. And you've been given a cigar that hits you in the back of the cigar. So I try to navigate and then I get their attention and then I'm able to make a recognition of what a cigar is. That's a strong cigar, that's a bad cigar, that's not a strong cigar, that's a bad cigar.

" Well, once you take a sip of that scotch and you're smoking that cigar, you're not going to taste the smoke anymore. So the idea is to smoke something that's going to stand up to whatever you're drinking. So I try to navigate and then I get their attention. attention and then i'm able to make a recommendation based on what i think their palate is going to enjoy because at the end of the day i want them to enjoy the cigar right you know you try to win as many hearts and minds as you can when you're in the humidor it's uh it's not easy it's a lot of fun i love what i do right you know and that's probably the my favorite part of my job is engaging the consumer and finding out what they smoke and i'm laughing and telling people to go fuck themselves all right that's the answer you guys want right listen i haven't sent any i haven't told anyone to go fuck themselves that didn't have it coming.

That's it. Fair enough. So what do you say? Is that how we're good here?

Yeah, we're good. It's either a break or good. What's that? It's either take another break or we're good.

You want to do a quick update on stuff before we... I didn't bring anything. Nope. Well, we just made these shirts.

You can plug your shirts, certainly. You want to give away a shirt? Sure. Okay, so then why don't you add how you're going to give away this shirt at the end?

Oh, okay. Just put it on Yeah, link it in. I can do that. You know?

Yep. You wanna show the back of the shirt? Anybody who hasn't seen it? You wanna flex?

Oh, God. It's got the war bear. The war bear. I hope you didn't see my ass crack.

You need to go a size bigger, I think. You like that? You need to go a little bigger. " You know?

Not bad. That's the trick, Pete. Smaller shirts. Yeah, I'm not wearing smaller shirts.

There you go, just break it down. Yeah, you lose weight. Yeah. Yeah, right.

Right. Right. I have like three levels of shirts, you know. Right now I'm at the medium to smaller stuff, I have the bigger stuff in another closet, you know.

So that's kind of it. Taper up. Well, you know the way it works. For those of you who've known me for years, you try to lose it as fast as you can before the trade show, and then gain it back as slow as you can.

Right. That's really the cycle, you know. Yeah, I got you. I mean like I float between the large and the XLs, you know.

Depends upon the day, you know, is what it is. This was great, man. I wonder how many guys are watching? Well, it's not live.

It's taped. So it'll go up next Tuesday. Our last video had over 2,000 views. We'll tag you guys in when we put it up.

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Well, hey, you know, we appreciate you coming out. Nice.

Thank you very much. Thank you so much for the time. Really nice over here. Beautiful store, beautiful location, and great people.

Thanks. Alright. Alright, bye. Bye.

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This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m. for all new episodes with some of the biggest names in the cigar industry. You can follow the guys on Instagram at CigarHustler for Mikey and FCC_Mike for Mike2.

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Make sure to get over there and watch the YouTube video of Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 74. And somewhere during the video, there is information how to win a Warbear t-shirt.

Show Notes

This week we have Justo Eiroa from Aladino Cigars stop by and chat with us for s short time.

He tells us about his famous Cigar Family!  How these farmers turned a love of the land and tobacco into Aladino Cigars that we all know today.

He also has a sidekick traveling with him, Mr. Peter Hernandez one of the independent and successful brokers in the state of Florida.  Pete is a good friend of the show.  We have some fun giving him a hard time and making sure he comes back for his own Podcast Episode.

We always welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestion on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast".  You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and "Mike Too" @fcc_mike.

Please remember to always rate, review and subscribe on whichever of our podcast providers you use.