Special Interview Litto Gomez Jr LFD

Episode Summary

Litto Gomez Jr. sits down in the Cigar Hustlers podcast lounge for a long, candid conversation about growing up inside La Flor Dominicana and now running the brand's US sales and distribution. He traces the path from packing boxes as a kid and "launching samples" at trade show attendees to working an eight-month road job as a sales rep in New York and New England, and explains how the departure of John Carney and a full team reset led to his father Litto Gomez Sr. telling him "it should be you." He shares the two conditions he set before accepting: monthly time at the Dominican factory, and the freedom to try ideas and fail. Christian Eiroa Sr. and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. both told him to take the job — validation he says he'll always be grateful for.

The family stories are the heart of the episode. Litto Jr. tells how, at 11 years old, his obsession with Avatar: The Last Airbender gave the Airbender its name (he's quick to credit his father for the actual blend), and why the Airbender Maduro chisel remains one of his favorite LFD smokes. He talks about the 13-year age gap with his brother Tony Gomez, their relentless but healthy competition, and how Solis was both a thank-you to Tony — whose Ligero was Litto Jr.'s favorite cigar growing up — and an attempt to beat him at his own game, with Tony handling artwork and helping with the blend. He also discusses his mother Ines, the logistics-and-foresight half of the operation, his younger sister's growing interest in the business, and the idolize-demonize-humanize arc of his relationship with his father.

On the business side, he's unusually transparent about LFD's backorder problem and what's being done about it: cleaning up the factory, encouraging core-line support from retailers instead of chasing limited-edition allocations, and forecasting more accurately by sitting in on planned production. He explains why last year's Maduro shortage happened — LFD's no-dyes, no-oils Maduro process using heat, pressure and filtered water, and a batch of tobacco that wouldn't hold color, discovered when a box of Double Ligero 700 Maduro spilled in the packing department — and why the company bought its largest-ever volume of tobacco to fix it.

New releases get real detail. Suave is being completely reimagined from the 1994 mild Connecticut-shade premium line into a medium-bodied cigar with full LFD flavor, launching allegedly in October. Oro moves to 20-count tubeless boxes at PCA, roughly $2 less per cigar, and Litto Jr. shares the origin story behind the line: his father being held at gunpoint twice as a jeweler, praying to never touch jewelry again, and becoming a cigar maker instead. He also teases the "Long Day" — a box-pressed Lonsdale Solis born from a factory barcode typo — as a likely future release.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Who is Litto Gomez Jr.
   From packing boxes as a kid and throwing samples in the LFD booth to an eight-month road job repping New York and New England.
2. 02
   Becoming the face of LFD
   How the John Carney split and a full team reset led to Litto Jr. taking over US sales and distribution, and the terms he set before saying yes.
3. 03
   The Airbender story
   How an 11-year-old obsessed with Avatar named one of LFD's best-known lines, and why the Airbender Maduro chisel still stands out.
4. 04
   Brothers, competition and Solis
   The 13-year age gap with Tony Gomez, their constant rivalry, and why Solis was both a thank-you and a challenge to Tony's Ligero.
5. 05
   Family dynamics: Litto Sr., Ines and the next generation
   Idolizing, demonizing and eventually humanizing his father, his mother's role as the company's strategic backbone, and his sister's interest in joining.
6. 06
   Backorders, retailer support and core-line focus
   Why LFD is rewarding consistent core-line purchases over limited-edition chasing, and how factory-level forecasting is fixing allocation problems.
7. 07
   Why the Maduro dried up
   LFD's dye-free Maduro process, the blotchy Double Ligero 700 Maduro discovery, and the record tobacco purchase made to refill the pipeline.
8. 08
   New releases: Suave, Oro and the Long Day
   Rebuilding the 1994 Suave as a medium-bodied LFD, Oro in tubeless 20-count boxes, and the box-pressed Lonsdale Solis born from a typo.

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

We are here in the Cigar Hustlers podcast lounge with the one and only Lito Gomez, Jr. Hi. Say hi. Hi.

So wait. So, you know, do you go by Lito Gomez, Jr.? I was always kind of curious. I do.

I never am. Wait. First off, yo, thank you for having me. Everybody listening, it's been a long time.

We should be on this podcast and I hope you enjoy it. We have a lot of cool show we're going to talk about, but, um, yeah. Yeah, to answer the question, I'm a realist, right? I understand how the world works.

Does he sound okay? Do you need his mic closer or no? Yeah, bring it a little closer. Okay, cool.

Go ahead. Don't be shy. Like prison. You know, just bring it closer.

Let slap you a little bit. It's fine. Like prison, you said? Yeah, like prison.

Is there some drama there? Maybe. Oh, nice. Nice.

Love that. But, yeah, as far as what to call me, I've never really... I understand how the world works. I'm Lito Junior the most, and I'm cool with it, but Lito Junior, Lito Junior, LDG, whatever, I'm good with it.

I've never had any ill will to be called Lito Junior. Right. So this is like, you're officially starting to work your way into the cigar industry on the sales aspects of things, right? I mean, yeah, I guess you could say that.

So I've always been very involved, at least from the sales side, right? So, I started working at a young age that, unfortunately, I cannot say, but, so you know, in my household, if you could use your thumbs, or you could annoy my father, okay, you're old enough to work, so that's very much how it's been, and that started from packing boxes, up until when I graduated college, I began working as a sales rep in New York and New England, so a kid from Miami, born and raised. If it drops under 50 degrees, it's all the same to me, I'm dying, I'm hypothermic, and my first week was in Rhode Island, January 4th, it was fucking 19 degrees and rainy, 19 was the warmest of God, so yeah, like the ongoing joke is when my brother graduated, he graduated from FSU, so, as you can tell, he's not the, he doesn't have the highest of intelligence, but, kidding, but, Yeah, he had Florida open. Great, right, cool.

I have the armpit of the country. Negative two degrees, you know? But no, it was great. So I did that for eight months on a road job.

And then, eventually, there were some, obviously, there's been some changes. So, yeah, I ended up, one way or another, it ended up being me. And so yeah, for the past couple months, it was, it's been, it running. S.

Right. Okay, so like you're seeing this whole reshape, right, of what LFD is doing. Are you like kind of becoming the face of LFD? Maybe?

I mean, yeah. I don't like to think of it that way. I haven't thought of a way. It's more so like, okay, I know the responsibility I have now.

You know, we clean house, new team. Again, this, this job, you know, wasn't ever something I had envisioned. Right. I was cool, I loved being red.

Which I want to get into too. What? Which I want to get into too. But.

Of course. I figured. But yeah, so, for me, it's just like, I'm a Swiss Army knife, right? Whatever I got to do, I'm going to do.

So if that means I'll end up being the face of that thought, cool. Again, like, I'm not preaching myself, I'm not preaching anybody, I'm preaching the family name. And that's very much what it is with us. Yeah, but somebody's got to be the face.

Yeah, and if it has to be me for the time being, or even forever, then I'm totally happy with it. I mean, I couldn't see it being for the time being, I would see it kind of moving forward, right? I mean, your brother's more in... In production.

Yeah, and more DR stuff, right? Yeah, and personality-wise too, you know, I think I'm a little more made for it too. You know, I've always been very social. Mike's always been very social, I grew up in Miami, so you see a bunch of shit, you know, Miami's the smallest place ever, you know everybody, so yeah, I guess in a way it was something that I've always kind of geared to, but again, it's not how I look at it, right?

It's, I have a job to do, we've got to do that job. If I get some sort of fame or somebody looks at me a certain way, not really asking for it, but that's what happens, you know? Right, that's kind of the natural course of things, dude. Yeah, yeah, and it's cool, and it's been a really cool journey, you know, like, from being the kid, because it's funny, I still see people now, yeah, I remember when you were 12 years old, you were just throwing samples at everybody in the booth.

Right. Of course, I always have to apologize, because, yeah, just there launching samples into people's eye, you know, first thing I say, I'm so sorry, thank you. Right. And yeah, so it's cool for me to like sit where I am now and, you know, like earn the respect, right, this has always been a big thing, and we'll obviously jump into it among my family, but earn the respect, and this job is a great opportunity to do that, right, and shift the viewpoint from, dude, who's this little kid causing problems 24/7 running in between legs, to okay, he's actually trying to do something for all of us.

Well, you know, what's funny is, so I watched your interview with Cigar Pulpit, and you talked about anime, that you were into anime a little bit, right? But I feel like I already kind of knew that, because you created Airbender, right? Yes, so I'm not gonna take credit for the blend, because my father, wherever he is right now, he'll somehow hear that, come over here and kick my ass, we're taking his credit. " And it was always, how it worked, this is all accidents, right?

But how it worked is, the main reason why we wanted, like, The main cigar we wanted in there, or shape, or format, was the chisel, and it's funny, right, because you hear the chisel, everybody has another use for it, or everybody has a conspiracy theory of what it's made, but the main function that you get from a chisel tip is that it kind of, if obviously rolled the right way, it blows the air into your mouth, so he comes, he's like, I have this cigar coming, and yeah, I used to watch Avatar every day, like, all hours of the day. " So yeah, we ended up going with that, and it was really cool, and it's great, because that's a cigar I, today, I think that Airbender Imaduro in the chisel format is one of the best things we make. Yeah. And I smoke them forever, and they'll always be like, again, for us, a family industry, a family business, and you could attest to this, all the lines you come out with is have a story that's close to the heart.

Right. And that's one of them, and that's one that's really special, right, because it's always cool, even if it's at a very small scale, when your father or just somebody you respect is like, okay, that's actually sick, let's do that. Right. So, yeah, that was the airbender.

So it was entirely your idea, is what I got from you. I know my dad out there. And you created the blend yourself. At 11 years old, you were working diligently in the factory, for sure.

Yeah, I spent a hundred nights and a hundred and two days smoking every leaf we had in that factory. I nailed it. It was blended. So when you came up last, you were hanging out with your brother, and you kind of did like a little bit of a tour.

So, what's your relationship been like with your brother early on and then kind of as you grew up into like this adulthood? Yeah, that's a great question. So, we have a big age gap. Sure.

I don't know if you ever caught on to that, but he's 13 years older than me, right? Yeah. So... I saw that.

Yeah. So, and he's like, what, two feet taller than you? I mean, he's tall. He is tall.

Hey, watch yourself. He is tall. He's a bit uglier than me, so it's fine. So zero hand-me-downs then?

Absolutely zero. Don't know if I can say this, but fake IDs. I couldn't ever, because the guy's freaking like a giant beanstalker, like I said. This wouldn't work.

It's massive, so yeah, I got screwed, and my other brother, he was a good half foot shorter than me. So as far as IDs goes, I could never. um but no so our relationship is really special right and it was it was something that at first wasn't like that right just because of the nature of it i grew up with my mother and my father right he grew up with his mother primarily so all right i yeah no worries i um i would see him time to time but again you know what is he was 13 when i was born what in the world does a teenager have He has to do with an annoying five-year-old that has no idea about what's going on, no idea about the relationships, and then the inner workings of the whole family, right? Right.

So, yeah, but he, for as long as I know, he's always super cool with me, and I remember, fuck, I hate to give him props, right? But no, I remember, like, once I started getting older, he really tried, when he was a rep, and he was living in Miami, he, for whatever reason, he made an effort. So there were often times where I would, we would get like lunch or dinner once a month, maybe like two times a month, and he would always pick me up from school or pick me up from the house and I remember like, no matter what happened that day, whether I had the best day ever, the worst day ever, like that was always such a cool moment for me. Right.

So I always look forward to that, and I will always be thankful for him to treating me like that, right, and really being, making sure he was the best brother he could be, although the age difference is just a general situation, you know, is a little off, and yeah, man, so then I began working. Right. And if you could not tell, I am extremely competitive, and he cannot take shit from his little brother. Right.

So where does that leave us? Constant war. Right. At the end, at the end day, we will always love each other.

But it's great because it gives me a route to really show how competitive I am. And I will give him props here. He is a giant reason that LaFleur is where we're at today. In terms of blending, concepts, R&D, he has killed it.

And there's so much respect I have from him from that point of view, and he's a giant reason for all the success we've had. So there's always that, right? And no matter how much we compete, that's always a thing, and you may hear his joke, but it's always been a thing of mine that, okay, like, this guy knows his shit, and I gotta be always grateful for him, for what he's done, one, personally, but also for our company. So when I released Solis, the reason why it was called the Solis is because growing up, Lennox was my favorite cigar, which is weird.

I started off more full, and I kind of transitioned down to more medium full, and that was his baby, and when I came out with Solis, if there was somebody I had to kind of say thank you, again, I wanted to make decisions to go so I could kick his ass at his own game. Right. I get it. And I did.

Let's be honest. Competition is a good thing, man. There's a good level of competition. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah, as long as it's healthy, right? That's the cool part about it, right? Or dad was always, you know, I don't care who wants to be the best, who wants to do what.

If I ever see it get out of hand, you guys are screwed. I'm not playing games with you two. You've never been negotiating ill will on your brother. Ever, ever.

And that was, no, I've never had in my life, and I could say the same for him, right? Right. But that was always a non-negotiable with my father, right? He's done a great job of making sure that everything's super fair.

But yeah, so I've released the Soulless One to kind of, without saying it, kind of say thank you, you put me on this path and you really helped me get to where I am. And he helped me through the blending process and he actually made all the artwork. So it was a true collaboration between us two. And again, I wanted to beat him at his own game.

Right. That's fair. Yeah. But he's awesome.

It was cool when you guys were here because I got to see, you know, you guys were very relaxed. You were having a good time. You were rubbing each other with jokes and stuff and making all those comments and like, kind of, thanks. And, you know, jokes that brothers would make about your dad and all these other things.

And, like, you guys were just relaxed and just having a good time. And that was awesome to me. So, like, outside looking in, you don't really know the dynamics of a family. And there's a lot to it in this particular relationship, right?

LFD has come a long way, right? You're currently reshaping things. Like you said, there's a big age gap there. So, you know, you could be best of friends, or you could absolutely despise each other, right?

You know, there could be all of that, all those undertones, and I didn't sense any type of animosity from either one of you when you guys were sitting down. So I thought that was pretty, pretty cool, man. Yeah, that's just how it is, you know, there's, there's, and both of us are extremely similar that we don't like to fabricate a lot of shit. At least how we really feel, so, you know, that's always been the thing, and honestly that helps us, right, because if one of us is being an idiot, immediately something's going on, you know, there's no holding back, and I think that's also been one of the reasons why professionally we're able to work so well together, and although we may disagree, and, well, you know, we're brothers, it's hard to, in life it's hard to accept that you're wrong with somebody you care about.

So that's always in a thing, but there's always reason, and one way or another, we're both mature enough and intelligent to be, at least, you know, a professional side, to be, yeah, bro, you're right. Well, I mean, even if, whether it's a business partner that's a sibling or not, you don't want to work with somebody that just agrees with you all the time anyways. No, 100% no. I think half of the successes I have had in the past year have been through disagreements with him, with him and my father, and my mother, of course, but yeah, and that's the beauty of it, right, because there are times, and I'm one of those people where if, I'm not always sure on things, but when I'm sure on things, I know very well that it will make sense.

It'll most likely work out. And even with them, they're able to pick that up. Right. So what's cool is, even if, and it's vice versa, right?

When my brother, you know my brother very well. I do. He's not pushy. When he's pushy, he's on to something.

Right. So, us understanding each other from that point of view is what helps all the cool shit get done. Because if something like that happens, we back off. All right, bro, you know what?

It's your turn. Go. So how many siblings do you have total? So, my older brother was a half-brother, and he has an older brother as well, from my father, and Martin, he's now involved in the industry, he wasn't very cigar-oriented or anything.

And then, with my mother, I just have my younger sister. Right. Yeah. So, well, I knew all that, but I wanted to, it's kind of stated on the podcast.

So, which one are you closest with? So, I would think my brother. Tony? Yeah, I have a great relationship with my sister.

It was always very weird, right, having a little sister. Do you have a little sister? No. Okay.

I got a daughter, but all I have is my brother. Okay, but that's close enough, right? Like trying to connect, especially when you're a brother, right, you don't have direct authority. Right.

It was always very weird, and I'll be completely honest. When I was younger, I was seven when she was born. Right. You're like, "Oh, shit, she's gonna get everything.

" And that's what happened. If you ask my father, it's a funny shit. She's his princess. I mean, if you think about it, he had three boys before her, and we were not easy, bro.

So, yeah, if you ask him, she romanced him. Every time something happens, she's like, "Oh, yeah, she romanced me. " But yeah, so her, her and I are great, but you know, it's, it's, it's always weird. And because my father, um, the travel, naturally, there was a something like, I always felt like I needed to also be part of a father role in a weird way to her.

Right. Yeah. Another protector. Yeah.

So that was always my thing. So there was a lot of that. And for a while, she just thought I was the one of Satan. Right.

Um, but no, like now you gave her no freedom. You didn't want her to mess up. You didn't want her to be safe. No, and I've learned that it's actually letting them mess up is way better.

That's the way I was raised my dad, like, and my dad would let us purposely, like, when the stove was on, he'll be like, yeah, go touch it, and we'll touch it, burn the shit out of her fingers, and he started laughing, it's like, no, you know. But yeah, so it was very much like that. But her and I now today, super close. Well, you guys are adults now, right?

Yeah, super close. So you can still be that protector, but you don't oversee her everyday life. No, no, no. And she's super cool.

She's a good mix of Ines and Lito. Yeah. She's shown a lot of interest in LFD. Right.

She's graduating in a week from high school. So she's going to spend some time at SMU in Dallas, and then hopefully she'll come work with us. She gets it. Funny enough, a couple of trade shows ago, she came, and Ines usually directs like the layout, right?

The display. We brought a friend of Ines with Ines one day. So Ines was like, I'm just gonna go hang out with Sylvia. " She's like, "No.

" Within five minutes, my sister had not asked my mother how she wanted anything. " Can't have two of you today. Can't have two of you. Can't have two of you.

Not a PCA, bro. Oh my God. Stress levels are super high already. No, but yeah, she's cool.

She's sharp. She loves the idea of working with family. Right. Which is all that matters.

And she's also not a pushover. Right. So she's the same way as me and my brother in the sense that if she's right about something and she thinks you're wrong, she ain't giving up at all. All right, so on the pulpit, you also talked about kind of generational and that you're looking to have kids, obviously.

Yeah. How many kids do you want to have? I want to be one and done, bro. Just the one?

I think one boy, but maybe two. Well, okay, so let's say that you're looking to have one kid, but the first one's a daughter. Then what? I'll name her Lida.

It's certainly in the cards. I don't know if my future wife will be okay with calling her daughter Lita, but she may have to be okay with it. But no, I mean, look, I'm super cool, whatever, bro. I love the idea of kids.

I love two boys. And if a daughter comes, awesome. It's a blessing, man. You know, you can't, there's no picking and choosing.

You could complain as much as you want before, but I'm sure I've never, obviously I've never been in a position, but I'm sure the second whatever happens, that's your life anyways. Right. I've seen that through my parents and that's, you know, it's, that's something that, all right, if it happens, it happens. But you, so, but your knee jerk reaction is one kid.

Why would you want to have necessarily one kid? No, I, I, when I knee jerked one, I was just thinking like, I need one named Lito. Because I cannot have Lito come back from the grave and fucking kill me. And he will, if his name does not last 100 generations.

Right. I'm gonna kick your fucking ass. But no, I think ideal would be too, you know, similar in age, because I had a big age gap, so I always kind of, that's something, not that I regret, but you know, it would have been cool to have like a little brother or older brother I was like a year older, you know, just because you could actually grow up together a bit closer than with a larger age gap. Yeah, it's easy to say that now, but I'm sure going through it here, you just hold on to this.

Oh yeah, I'm bad, dude. I'm going bad. Well, you're doing all the talking. I'm just over here enjoying life.

So, you know, you say that now, but like my brother and I, we're two and a half years apart. Only two and a half. Okay. Yeah.

Are you older? That's all. Everybody asked me that. No, I'm the younger one.

I'm the younger one. He has no children, so he's, I feel like he looks better than me, I guess, to some degree, but like, if you take a close look, you're like, no, he's definitely more worn. He's definitely more worn. But yeah, so I mean, two and a half years- I wouldn't even say it from, like, how you look.

I think personality wise, but now that I'm thinking about it, yeah, he's quiet because he's just waiting for you to fuck up. Well, you know what, it's like the best business approach, there's two kind of people, right, you have like this logistics person, and then you have the outgoing individual, right, the creator, if you will, right, so he's always been kind of logistics, a little more reserved, like we shouldn't do this, and like more risk management, and I'm more like, is that the last dollar we have? I'm like, alright, cool, let's go do that anyways, and see what's going on. That's what happens.

Oh, yes. I'd love to run through it. Let's go. That's a hundred percent.

You know, one of the statements that I always say is like, jump off the plane and jump off the cliff and build a plane on the way down. Yeah. I love that. And Palmer likes to make fun of me with that all the time.

Right? Like, yeah, let's go build a plane and jump. Go build a plane and jump. Yeah.

This is all kind of crappy things about me. Have you seen LFD's past 30 releases besides last year? Speak. You're right.

Okay. How are we going to make this? Okay, we got it eventually. We'll get it eventually.

Hey, you know what we should do is we should release a limited edition, call it the 30th, and not- Send it out in the 31st year of business, right? We're at year two PCAs, I'm still waiting on mine, god damn it. And I love that god damn cigar, it was fantastic. Okay.

So I need to be on the list. So call whoever you gotta call. No, but yeah, I like to break balls, obviously. Again, I repped in New England and New York, I'm very used to it.

I wouldn't even say that's busting balls. That was easy, right? Um, but you know, we were, was kind of, uh, ironic is when Tony got started as a rep, we were- That's when you guys started. Right.

Yeah. Yeah, so we kind of grew up in this industry through different perspectives, but- At the same pace though. Yeah, yeah. It's super cool.

Yeah, now he's John Wick-ing it down in DR with his, you know, suits and all his guns and stuff, but, uh, and we're still here. We're still here. And we're podcasting. With his suits and all his guns.

The guy owns two suits and a jacket. He does it well, though. He does do it well. It's actually impressive.

He pulls it off, but it literally has two. How many suits do you have? I think I have, like, at least, like, 12 different combinations. 12?

Yeah, when I first started, and even now to a point, Florida, I like to take it easy just 'cause I know how it is here, right? um but oh i was in full suit every day right so on the road smell and not a single one smells like a normal suit no no ever ever and it's because i always screw up every time i get a new suit it's a week before pca uh gone you could send their dry cleaners 18 times in a row right yeah it's never getting up yeah so what are you planning on so i want to know kind of what your intentions are What's your plans? The next five years, right? Obviously, we have our plans, but it's very much day by day.

Right. And the biggest thing for me, right, when I got promoted, I guess, bumped up, which is a very cool moment, and I'm sure we'll get to it. But for me, the thing that I got promoted, I guess, bumped up, which is a very cool moment, and I'm sure we'll get to it. for me the thing was that a lot of people you know like here's the thing i have without i have been a part of the industry for a while right so right so it's weird like with me and i understand it's kind of oh but he's always been there right um so there's always that but for me it was like i was a rep right and that now it's funny right Because when, I'm a very, if you tell me what I got to do, for the most part, I jump in headfirst and I find out later, and that was the thing, you know, I know the story of my father, I know the story of my mother most importantly, and I know that it's, you don't ask questions, you get put in a situation and you're either a rockstar or you don't, and that's how you succeed, and you can apply that to anything in life.

And being a rep was really cool because anything that a rep can be unhappy about, I lived it because, I mean, again, like my parents, they don't play that whole favoritism game and I never asked for it and that was very much so the case when I was a rep, so I was able, you know, what the guys were unhappy about, I felt too, and if not, I could at least, you know, my big thing in life is you whether you agree with somebody it's all about understanding if you could understand someone's like pain right um then you don't have to like him but you know what someone's going through right understanding their perspective yeah yeah and you have to um and for me that was being a rep was the most important thing because now my goals is if all else fails my priority is making sure that my reps are happy right because Because at the end of the day, you know, reps are often overlooked, but if you're going to choose to have a sales rep, that is the most important, like, piece of the puzzle. Sure. It very much so is, because an unhappy guy, he could do a lot more damage to you than you can. Sure.

And also, it's a hard job, man. Like, it's a really hard job, and I feel for a lot of these guys, and you've got to make sure that's worth a while. But as far as the grand scheme of things, right, it's kind of, if you're not aware, LFD has had a backwater situation. I never heard of it.

Oh, never? Cool. I had no idea. By the way, I just want to say, we were the ones to make it cool, right?

Now everyone's doing it. No, me, baby. We were the originators. Yeah, but I'm in a situation now where we have cleaned up a lot at the factory, right?

Right, so we're trending in the right direction. Again, we're a small family-owned company. Everybody who does something, every process is viewed or actually, it done by somebody with my last name, which is amazing, you know, so we won't ever try to be this monster, everybody knows that, or demand is very high, and what comes with that too is, you know, like, you have to be fair in the sense that if you go ahead and you take the investment on me, I need to be able to give you a return on that investment. Right.

And I do it and I need to do it in a way that's fair for you as a retailer based on your performance, right? And again, it's not like, there's no draconian system, but we have implemented some new things that it's great for us and the whole key is to kind of help me forecast. Right. So I could be more upfront with the factory and they've been super cool with me being able to hop in there and just look at the planned production And really, really see, okay, wait, I may need this instead.

So yeah, like a big thing we're focusing on is support of the brand. And what I mean support of the brand is, we're a company that everything we make is for a reason, it has a purpose, and it's a story that's super near and dear to us. Right. And LFD, you know, like, people always say prices are great, right?

Why are prices great? Because for my father, and I guess for us, and this is one of the coolest things about it all, is he is not a boss. His employee is the retailer and then the consumers. Right.

Or, yeah, he is an employee of you guys. Right. He's in a business to serve. Like, he works for you guys.

Right. And that's something that I've always had the mentality of, just from seeing him, right? So we need to make sure that we could provide a cigar for anybody out there. And on top of that, make sure that the cigar is absolutely perfect every time you smoke it.

Right. So we never disappoint you because you're taking time to invest on us, man. So that's very much the focus on how do we do that? You know, we want to see a good representation among the core line, which, you know, we're this year giant investment into that, whether it's marketing or production at the factory.

So one of the things we did is we're going ahead and we're, we're really We're encouraging the purchase of the CoreLine product and kind of setting some loose requirements, but just so that, you know, if you want a bull and you're crushing it with me, who says I can't send you however many as you want, right? That's the way it should be done, and I know people do that, but yeah, for us, it's cool because it's the first time we really do it, and we're a company that thrives, as we've seen in the past couple months, we thrive in an environment like that. Right. And again, it's all just about showing love to one, you guys, and also to the product.

Yeah, you know, I mean, I think it's important to have that kind of baseline of support from a retailer, right? They shouldn't expect limited access to, you know, like the bulls or anything like that. If they're not supporting you within, you know, a decent parameter, right? Yeah, a retailer shouldn't just call and say, okay, well, I haven't placed an order with you in 18 months, how many bulls can I get?

You know, that doesn't work. And oftentimes, that's been the case, right? That happens all the time. Yeah, and we found out that a lot of our hack order were from cases like that, you know, like people would place very large orders, but they wouldn't always be ready to take it if we did have it, right?

Right. So that's something we had to clean up and we did. And at the same time, you know, we're talking about asking things for a retailer, but we've made a giant move within the company. And that's, this is always my thing, right?

I cannot ask for things without giving you something in return. Right. Um, obviously you'll get product, but my thing is, is education, right? Like if you look at the events and we're a hundred percent going to have a couple, I know we've spoken about it, but if you look at the events, it's all jumping back to the roots, right?

It's not, oh, let's just sell as many boxes as we can. It's like, no, how do I get a hat? Yes. How do I get?

And what I love about you guys, I'm going to just say it now, I was going to say it eventually, but you are a unicorn shop in the level of quality service. Thanks, man. It is. And that's why I'm here.

That's why I respect you guys so much, apart from the fact that I like you. But, and yeah, it's all about that, right? Like, you know more than anybody. If I come here and I spend the time and I do, or events now, it's individual shrewd tastings.

Right. So wrapper, filler, binder. That's cool. And we sit down, and I don't want it, you can advertise it, but it's, what I really want is the consumer, all you guys watching at home, if you come to the shop, you get an experience you can't get anywhere else from a brand that usually doesn't offer this.

Right. And you're going to love that cigar. Right. And the guys who put the money in your pocket are the ones who are going to be, it's not like a normal event where they buy one box.

Right. And then they never buy it again, they're gonna fall in love with it and they're putting money back in your pocket. Yeah, and they go for the culture, the brand as a whole. Yeah, you know, so when we're talking about, okay, what's in your direction, it's like, okay, like, yeah, I want to build the brand, I want to grow, but I also want to make sure that you guys are happy we're growing and you're comfortable and you see the value in it because it's cool, right?

And unfortunately, there's not that many family businesses left, so to get that hands-on approach from a family business is, it's what's needed, you know? It really ties into why we love cigars so much because it's this product that is so improbable logistically. Right. Dude, it's a nightmare.

It's insane. It's insane. Yeah. Yet, we're selling it at, last week I was in the factory for a factory tour and some guy looks at me and he was blown away.

He's like, all this time I thought 15, 20 bucks for a cigar was cheap. Right. After seeing this, I thought it was expensive. Right.

After seeing this, I, that's, that's like a dollar for parking, bro. It's, it's, it's insane. So it's, it's cool, right? And we need to treat our product like that.

And we also need to make sure that you guys are being respected as retailers. Sure. Well, even from like the logistical standpoint, like you're talking about, um, brands and having things readily available and stuff, and, hey, this is selling faster and we need more of these things. Even if you state that, even if you, you know, go to Lito or your brother, If you have a friend of mine or whatever who's running it in the factory say, look, I need XXX, I need you to, you know, I need you to 3X this for production, that doesn't mean that it happens, you know, you still got to have all the product for it, you still got to have the materials for it, you got to have the labor covered, and then even if you get all those things done, you're still 12 weeks out minimum before you can even ship anything.

I would say that short, and even with that, the amount of variables, so I'm gonna jump in for the VR home, right, because not many people talk about it. i don't know if you noticed we're extremely open about stuff just because there's there's no hiding a product like auras is we do everything the right way right i'm very proud of it but um last year i was just applying madero lfd right it was non-existent barren why you know because we we were primed and like i feel so bad for you guys because every time we say yo it's going to So now that it's happening, I'm like, nobody can say it, nobody can say it, shut up, stop promising shit, with any reason, right, I'm a realist when it comes to those things, because I don't want to lie to anybody, but in terms of the Maduro product, right, last year we bought the most tobacco we had ever purchased in a single year, which goes into most of the Maduro lines, like the Heddle, as well as Broly, if this is a problem, Broly. So he bought everything, and I was down there for Pro Cigar, and when I go down there usually, now I get tied up because when I leave the office I still have a shit, everything, there's a fire every time I leave the office. Right, welcome to the business, bro.

Yeah, right, crazy, crazy doll, so I'm down there and I was, that day I was working in the packing department, and somebody thankfully, you know, happy mistakes, knocks over a box. And it was a box of the DS-700 Maduro, and I look at it, and I'm like, I don't know, it's very blotchy, right? People know LFT from Maduros, kind of. Right.

And it's iconic for us, because we make some of the best Maduros on the market, I'd say. And I show my dad I talk to, we open up all the boxes, they're all blotchy. What had happened is that we have a very peculiar process for Maduros. We don't use oils or dyes.

We do it all by hand with filtered water that we could drink, right, so heat, pressure, and moisture releases the oils, right, and if all that tobacco you got, if it does not hold the color, right, and we're, we, this is, you know this man, we do not sacrifice, right, so yeah, it's, it's, again, what Turi's saying, if you do everything right, right, there's something that you could never account for, surprise, hits you, and, you know, if you do everything right, right, there's something that you could never account for, surprise, hits you. " This tobacco probably won't be in a cigar for at least three and a half years earliest. Right. Or process, and a lot of people, it's the same way.

Some companies have even, you know, they like to age a bit longer than we do. Right. And it's one of those things, all those products, so when you ask for respect for it, right, Right? But when you have all these standards that you're putting on the product, it's all to ensure at the end of the day that, back to you asking what my plans are, if you're making the investment on me, I have to follow up with you from quality and from the promises we make.

Right. All right. So let me switch gears a little bit here. Who are you closer with?

Your mom or your dad? And which parent do you think really shaped you more as a person? That's a great question, right? Me, personality-wise, even looks, I guess, I'm kind of split in the middle of both, right?

So I have a lot of the same, I have my father's ADD, that's for sure. And his genuine passion and joy and, as you said, jump off a cliff and build a plane down, right? I have that, but also I see the The world as my mother right she's you and Greg right he handles logistics right you handle all the fun stuff right that's what they are right so like in my Mars a little bit of an enigma right now many people know much about her but she um without a question in my mind and anybody at or or company knows it um LFT would not be around if it was ever right we probably would have got broke at some point right yeah let's buy him a hundred years worth of Sumatra. Let's buy more farms, right?

So there's Lito, but no, so I think personality wise, I have in my mother, I have the drive of both of them. Right. In my mother, I could see things a couple steps in advance. Gotcha.

That comes from her, and I can't be very blunt. Right. She is. As far as my father, he's a social butterfly.

Right. And I get that from him. And in terms of who shaped me, right, there's various ways of looking at it. I would say the same applies, right, very much so both.

For me, though, I will say my mother raised me. Obviously, my father, but he was out and it wasn't something I understood until older age, but he was working all the time and it wasn't for any other reason than so that we could have the shit that he could never afford or even think of having when he was a kid, right? And that's, that was the most important part of the journey of him and I and how close we are now, we're almost inseparable, which I'm super thankful for. Um, and as far as my, my mother goes, all like the little stuff, like little tendencies, I think it was more so her, but like my father, that he was my superhero, right?

He still is, but that definition of superheroes changed. Like when I was five, I thought he could run at a hundred miles per hour. No, not that. He could process and think and do crazy shit at 100 miles per hour.

Not all of it works, but yes, he could try. He will try. And yeah, so, as far as, like, why I work so hard, and just my, a big thing about my father, you probably heard is, he's, the amount of jobs that guy's had, ridiculous. He didn't have a success, so he was 40 years old.

But his key to that was always, you'll hear the famous story of when he was an ishrasher in Toronto. " Right. And then from there, you know, kind of screwed him because the manager was like, "Hey, like, you're doing the work of three people in the dishwasher. " Right.

And that's all It's always like in my approach for this and there are no excuses right at the end of the day if you don't perform you don't perform that's on you you could always change that right and that is something that I get from my father and you know talking about superhero that's the super that's where he is my superhero because he's has always been the best in everything he's needed to do to get to where he's at right and yeah that's so for like from a so one thing that I learned is that like from a kid's perspective to a parent is like you idolize yeah right then you demonize and then eventually you come back to humanizing them right yeah did you ever have a portion in your life where you absolutely demonized yeah um it's tricky for a kid yeah right um sure growing up and like you know like i've always as i said i've always been around the events so i loved it um i always felt at home in this industry right so i was always part of everything i would cry bitch and moan when i wasn't able to go to stuff but at the same time you know like you don't understand the reasons why when you're a kid right you don't and that's natural and it's fine um and you idolize somebody as your superhero but you feel like you can't even have a conversation You know, as a kid, you're always thinking to the most negative possibility. Right. So there was a lot of that. And there was a time where stuff between me and my dad were not always like that.

And the other thing, too, is like, speaking of other events, it's kind of like, one way or another, not growing up in a shadow, but it is like that. Sure. " You know, like, you have people, like, you have political figures talking about your father. Right.

And, yeah, I'm-- That's a lot. It's a lot. And I'm super thankful because for him, he's--he knows where he comes from, so he ain't shit in his eyes. " Right.

Until you see what he's wearing. He's like a 20-year-old now. It's terrible. But, yeah, so he's a simple farmer.

So that always helped, right? But still, there was a little bit of that. And, yeah, I humanized him for a while. And, obviously, you know, with my mother, she was raised by a single mother in Cuba.

So she was on top. Right. And she was the same thing. She was there every day.

So there was also that, right? I would get annoyed with them. And I was troubled as a kid. I was a mess.

But, eventually, when shit started hitting the fan, it was very much that moment where I'm like, alright, I'm kind of blaming my shit on them. Right. And, because like, when you're a kid, dude, like you have a lot of changes going on, you know what's going on, you think something's wrong with you, so you put it on somebody else, because that's what you do when you're a kid. Right.

And eventually I went and shit with me and my dad was a little rocky, I got sat down and I'm like, holy shit, like, he hates the fact that he has to work a plane right away from his family. And he has to be there 24/7. And now it's cool because like, I go to the factory, that guy leaves for two seconds, it's nuts, you know, and that's just how that country works. You can tell him a million times, "Claro patrón, como no, como no siempre".

You leave, same mistake, and I understand that now, but you know, all those things that I used to demonize him for, are things that now, I look back and I'm like, "Holy shit, I idolize him for it". So, that was always, and same with my mother, you know, as tough as she was on me, she always held me to a certain light. I understand it now. Right.

So there is no, our relationship now is phenomenal. My dad's my best friend. I talk to him as much as I can. And you know, there's also that thing like, not the shadow, but like, okay, if that guy pulled this shit off.

Right. No excuses here. Right. No excuses.

And it's great, you know, because now I know like what my life will be. Right. And he was a great example of how to like, the cool thing with my dad too, It took me a while to understand. Weirdly enough, although he's over there, all the worst moments I've had in my life that he had no idea about, somehow he would call me that day.

" That's pretty powerful, man. It's weird, really weird, but... You know, and that's another thing that always, like, hits, right? Yeah.

But yeah, to answer your question, it's, that does happen, that happens with every kid, with every family. Right. And I honestly think that that is the best way for you to grow. Sure.

For you to realize that you're being irrational, and for to kind of, because again, understanding pain, right? So once you start thinking about it, you're like, wait a minute, it's my fault. Yeah, well, when you start to, you mature, you start to take the accountability of things, right? Yeah.

That makes sense. All right, so talk to me a little bit about, like, the nod and how you kind of transitioned into this role. What happened? What happened?

What happened? Tell me. Question of the year, right? No.

Look, I – so in May – so John Carney was with us for a long time. And then we decided to split ways. Right. That's all you're going to get.

That's fine. That's okay. We decided to split ways. I think it was like around May.

And yeah, you know, and a lot of it without, and I'm not saying this in a negative light, but just the overall mentality and the purpose had shifted. And it shifted from a company that came up with no support in the hardest time to come up I think LFDs, well, I love LFDs, we are fucking unapologetically us, and fuck you to everybody else, with respect, of course, and the drive kind of wasn't there, and it was a variety thing, you know, COVID happened, COVID naturally slowed down travel and visitation, and John left, and then slowly, you know, there's just lack of agreement in between, what? And my parents wanted it. The vision of the company.

Yeah, the vision of the company was a little blurred in between the two sides, which is, by the way, the number one thing. It always needs to be on there. So our team ended up dismantling. And, honestly, there's no point in looking back.

I wish everybody the best, man. Yeah, I mean, that's fair. You know, like, everybody has a reason for stuff. Cool.

And I do think without, again, not in a negative light, I think that was the best thing to happen to La Flor. Right. I think that we needed a complete, we needed a reset. Right.

So, all this happens, and like I said with your podcast, I set this on, but I did say it, I was thinking about it, because I'm like, Jesus Christ, I wish I would have shut my mouth, but I never envisioned this, right? My goal was always, I'm going to be a rep for three years. My brother was a rep for three years. I want to be down in the factory because I'm somebody that, like, you talk about the face thing, like, I'm not somebody who can sit here and pay credit for somebody else's work.

Right. So I never wanted, I never wanted that. I always wanted to be in the factory. And that was the plan.

Three years, then she shipped me down. I also love that country. My brother lives there full-time now. My dad's there.

So that's the plan. So off of this podcast, I said, oh, I'm not naive enough that I could think I could move up because it really, it wasn't in, yeah, that was not in the cards. Right. And so, we structure, pieces are moving, and I go to, we were some time without anybody, and we're an inch at the back.

And one of the goals of it is to kind of find like who would be the guy, right? Because sure, there's movement all the time, people leave. Of course. And a position like that is highly coveted around the industry.

So we go and I remember the first night we sit down, me and my brother, my father, and we get drinks and we sit there yelling names at each other until like 4am. and at the end of it because my father knew how i felt um and and again you know there there were question marks because as soon as that happened everyone thinking and it was a narrative i hated just because although we split ways you know john on a personal level um i've known him since i was 11 right so you know there's you know there's always that and i'm not gonna lie and say all right I don't know. But no, there's always that, right? So it was weird, right?

And Pete, I didn't want the narrative of, oh, this happened for that. Right. It was never in the cards. And I was afraid if I were to do it, I always knew that I could rise up to a challenge.

Because, again, the hard code in my head. Like, who cares? You don't have a choice. You got to succeed.

And so, that's always the thing, but we keep spitballing names, and it was just, everybody, it was a little thing, you know, it was, it's a family company, it's not easy to just have a family company, we're not a corporate thing with a bunch of rules, it's ever-changing. Right. And we needed somebody who could grasp, really make sure that, that is connected to the vision, that that would never happen. So, at the end of it, my father's like you, and I'm like, hell no.

so we go to bed and i wake up we're at the show floor the next day and i'm thinking about it i when i said that you know i was it was inside i was like right like that's so cool right the fact and he said some nice things that between us but along the lines of like bro there's never been a question in my mind and i did surprise him as a rep because if you ask my father it's almost as if When I graduated college, I was like, oh, he needs a job, so I surprised him, because, you know, that was, I've been big on, like, flipping a switch whenever I needed to, and that's what I did, and I was, I think, a great rep. I had a lot of success in that territory, and so he saw that and brought us, no, but the next day, we're walking around, and there were, there were two people that I look as, as role models. " It should be you. Yeah.

Which, to, you know, like-- Who are the role models? What? Who are the role models? Um, alright.

Shit, this, I haven't told anyone this. Christian Ero Sr. Okay, I believe that. And, yeah, but he had a specific way of saying it that may be too graphic.

And, Ernie Jr. Ernie Jr. Okay. Ernie Sr.

is also somebody I talk to, try to talk to like two, three times a month. Same with Ernie Jr. Damn, that's the first time I said that. But yeah, these are guys that, and it was a cool moment, right, because it's kind of like, these are my father's peers, but yet, they know what I've been doing.

Right. They have heard, they have seen it, and it's also people that have seen me growing up. Right. And know me as well as anybody else does.

So, to get validation from them, obviously your father's a different level, but it was almost up there, and I sat long and hard, and I was like, I look at my brother, he was also on board, he's like, bro, you're being an idiot. Right. So. You're holding back.

Yeah, yeah, and I'm really happy that I ended up, I keep thinking about what Chris said, it was great. Go ahead, bro, it's all right. All right. Oh yeah, bro.

Take the fucking tampon out. Yeah! And, and, and I'm always, and just to those guys, now that I'm probably talking about, I'm always so incredibly thankful for them. They, and they've been there step after step.

Right. And it's people I love, like, like other father figures, you know. And yeah, so, we're on the plane back and I text my dad, I'm like, all right, bro. But I got conditions.

You're in the terms. I have terms. And the terms, right? And everyone's looking like, oh, spoiled kid.

No, the terms was, and I meant this, right? And I am so incredibly thankful for how well they won the Dominican Republic. Ah, we got you two now. Yeah.

So I was like, I got to be there once a month. Just because that was my initial goal. And also, you know, somebody like my, the guys before me in this position, they'd never had that luxury, right? And although I'm not a big traveler, even though I literally spent all last year traveling every week in New York, I'm not a traveler and I'm a traveling home.

Traveling sucks. It sucks. I just want you to know it gets worse when you have kids. Oh, stop.

It does. It does. Well, like think about, you know, I don't mean to deviate off here, but like think about it, right? Like one of the things that's in your mind is that your dad was always away, right?

So as you become an adult, there are two things that happen. Either A, you accept that, right? And that's what you become. Or B, you do everything in your power to be against it, right?

You know, and that's probably it subconsciously. I mean, recently, mainly is that no, I just have, I have ear problems. I'm actually having surgery in two months. Just from years of being an idiot.

Was that DJing stuff? Yeah, that was a problem in college, and I always rejected to wear earplugs, and it caught up, and then all the time. " Yeah, freaking, PCA two years ago, it blew up. No kidding.

Yeah, just because how loud it was, all the lounges there. Wow. Yup, bro. And that's when it started.

So I, I, I hated travel, but I realized I'm like, if I'm one, I need to always be transparent with my reps or not reps, my ownership managers. And most importantly, the customer. Right. How do I do that?

I know my brother, my father, extremely busy to have me calling them every hour. Right. I got to spend time there. Sure.

And I also have to work on, you know, like R and D. right right to make sure because i know what's happened in the past we release product and there's hiccups right so cool why not when i'm there help out as much as i can and make sure that when we say we're going to release something we're going to have it right so that was the big thing for that so i was like hey i got to be able to do this because i got to know what's really i got to know what's going on um and these guys they have enough on their plate to be answering their younger They're a brother, their kid. Right. So it's a hard truth, and I need to accept it, and I love it because I love being in the factory.

That is my pride and joy right there. But the other one was, okay, I need to try and fail. And I don't care if it's the stupidest idea that you have ever heard, because sometimes they are. So, that's my process, I like to do, I like to, this crazy shit, and just like, see if it works.

Dude, sometimes the really dumb ideas wind up being huge successes. Have you heard of a small cigar company named LFD? I've heard of them, once or twice. Once or twice, yeah, stupidest idea ever worked, somehow, because all you guys at home somehow smoke our products, so thank you.

Right. But, no, so that was, and I knew what I was asking for, because you're not just asking for freedom. You're asking for two people who made it on their own to give control of their baby. Right.

Like, you asked my mother what she cares about, and my children, and this thing I've worked on for the past 30 years, and my husband. Like, I will fight and die to protect that. Right. So, for them to be like, yeah, here.

However, we're going to tell you what we think every step of the way, I'm like, thank you. So, those were the two terms, and they have been so cool about it, right, you know, like, four years ago, you talk about, like, okay, let's start, like, asking for just, like, baseline requirements, like, so expectations, you're out of your mind, right, you are out of your mind now, okay, let's see it, and it's working, right, and they're happy with it, and again, you know, everything at the end of the day, when they hear it, they may think it's crazy, but they know the, like, My purpose is to, for now, even after they're gone, but more so now, is to make sure whatever they want accomplished, I got to do it, and they know that that's always the intention of it, so they've been really cool about it. Well, you also have a special ability to kind of navigate through individuals and their characteristics, because you're family, right, like you know what to expect from your mom, you know what to expect from your dad, you know what to expect from your brother, And there can be backlash on any of those terms, and you can navigate through it because you're a Gomez. Exactly, and I'm pretty sure that's why I, for the job that, or why, I hate to say this, but I really kind of was in a way like one of the only ones who would do it, right?

Because I have my, dude, I have my priorities to my guys, I also have my priorities to, with Ines and Lito, and it's being able to take both of them and come up with your perfect solution. It's hard work, but it's, that's it, it's because I know how to work with them. Right. And in a respectful manner.

Right. Well, and then you can get away with saying other things to them as well. You know? As long as it's after nine to five.

Or if you're my father in a Cigar Fisher now interview. Yeah, they ask him, they're like, yeah. This is the quickest, like you, you ask him like my birthday, it'll take him five minutes. But it's, it's.

Hold on, hold on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so Savona asked him, like, hey, like, what's it like working in a family? It's a pain in the ass. It just flew out.

I'm like, alright, dad, thanks. Perfect. Yeah, great. And he sent it to us, 'cause he's like, oh, look what a great interview, 'cause he forgot about that.

And we're, me and my brother in the car driving back from the farm, we're like, this guy, bro. It's a pain in the ass. All right, well, before we kind of wrap up, do you have anything you want to add as far as anything new you got coming out? Anything that...

Yeah, Suave. Suave is the new... So... Suave is the new new.

Just here. How's that look, Mike? Oh, let me take out the wrapper. Yeah.

For you. It's beautiful. It is. It's very pretty.

It really is. That's been a project in the making for a while, right? Is that good? Back up a little bit.

There you go. Yeah. It's been a project in the mix for a while. We've had the designs and concepts for like, four to two years.

This was, I think we sat down like two years ago and we're like, alright, and it's just that cool moment of being a creator, right? I'm sure you can relate to this. It's like, alright, you started like 2012? For which one?

For the Cigar Hustler? Cigar Hustler's been around for 16 years and so what's that? I don't know what that is. What year is it?

Gary The One. Yeah. Niner. 2004, 2000, something like that.

How am I doing? No? It's too far off. 2004 is too young.

2009. 2009. I can't math. So, Cigar Hustler was 2009, and then Postanya's been around for 10 years already.

Congrats on the 10 years. Yeah. It'll only get better. -God, I hope so.

-I do hope. I trust we're rooting for you guys. But, I mean, when you began making Neuro Cigars, what was your palate? -Man, that's a great question.

I would say that it was probably bolder than what it is now. -Okay. And when you first started smoking too? Much lighter?

Or did you... It was weird, like for me, I think it's more of a similar story to you, because, like for me, when I got into cigars, I didn't know anything about cigars. People came in, they wanted to buy cigars. I'm like, okay, I learned cigar, right?

So I smoked a Cuba Cuba, right? So I smoked a Cuba Cuba, I'm like, oh, this is fun, right? Oh, what am I going to smoke next? Oh, what was the cigar of the year?

Oh, Casa Magna. So I jumped right into that, puked my brains out, right? Yeah. And then got back on the horse the next day.

So I instinct, like I was flavor infused for about a week, and then boom, right into extremely. Just a week. Yeah, extremely full bodied cigars and just, you know. If it was a week and a half, we would have ended the conversation right now.

Yeah, that changed, that would have changed everything for me. But, so yeah, it's you, like me, I have a change in my palate every time I eat, bro. Right. And it's with the consumer at home, right?

And again, you learned a lot in 10 years, haven't you? Sure, man. You start to understand the nuances of things. And that's the coolest thing about it.

It's like, once you start really getting into it, it's not that you're, like, you pick up nuances and that becomes your life. Blending nuance, you want nuance in your cigars. Right. This is ridiculously good, by the way.

Like, insane. Solis, yeah, the long day. So you can't get this size? Is that what you're saying?

Dude. Eventually. I'll take care of you. Obnoxiously good.

Obnoxiously good. Obnoxious. And that, again, that is this whole principal story I'm telling about the Suave. It has to do with that.

I love the Solace. I grew up smoking my father's at Box Press Petit Corona. Right? Mm-hmm.

So 42? 44? Cigars that you made that you can never sell to anybody because- No, no, no, no, no. He wants to take them all.

I mean, we do sell them. The back orders is quite expensive. Good point. But the whole point of this is like, where we are is not where we started.

Suave originated from the premium line. So back in 1994, before LFD was even called LFD, it was a premium line. And quintessential Dominican cigar. Connecticut shade on really mild tobacco.

And it was prior to us having the farm, which, I'm sure you know this, the farm is why LFD's full body, because we could grow stuff there that you can't grow in the world. It's ridiculous. And then LFD all of a sudden comes and makes these powerhouse cigars and changed the American Republic forever. And now we're sitting here, 30 years later, okay, we have this mild cigar.

And I mean, you know us, bro, our whole blinding philosophy is like, we're going to make shit that we like. Right. And obviously, we're going to change it up and make like different styles, but we like shit that we like, and this is too mild. Right.

So we sat down, we spent a lot of time smoking the old suave, and we were like, all right, let's make it the LFD of now. And it's cool because the same thing we were talking about pallets, the consumers, they change every week, especially a new guy, you know? you know right so we decided to approach it the same way right i guess you could say a little cuban-esque but lfd flavor so once you smoke that you're gonna sit there and be like yo this is a medium cigar but it has it tastes like a full body lfd right and it's kind of in this pursuit like if you look at all our products in the past couple years a lot of them are medium yeah they They have a very unique, like the Solis and the normal size, super unique, like they have a, they have a, their full body and flavor. Especially in the Svetola, dude, it's ridiculous, and the Svetola is the same thing, I was smoking the other one, but I'm like, wait a minute, I, I, I like, I like smaller ring gauges, and longer cigars, I'm gonna do it in a, a box press Lonsdale, which, the funniest thing, they have no idea what a Lonsdale is in the American Republic, like if you walk up to a roller, you're like, make a Lonsdale.

Yeah, so I order these from the GM of the factory. I order these from the GM of the factory, and a month goes by, I get the bundles. I didn't even look at them, but they're all like barcoded. And I bring one up to New Hampshire.

I was training my, my rep that I have now in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And he looks at, and we're with a bunch of people. We're with Nick Goss, all the mass holes. We're all in New Hampshire.

Right. Right. fucking it but we're there we're there smoking and matt looks at me he's like hey bro like have you seen this i look at this i look at this bar called a long day so it goes from lawns don't know oh yeah it's all long day which and they spelled it right which i was like hey you guys are learning i love it and it started i couldn't stop laughing and it made sense because the soul It's a long day, so now we just call it a long day, and we never had any, personally, because the market for that shape is a little weird, I know, but we're fully planning on releasing it in some capacity, just because it's a long day, and it's phenomenal. The best stories are the accidents, man, the happy little accidents.

Again, have you heard of LFD? Right? Absolutely, dude. Yeah.

Alright, so, Suave's coming out. Suave's coming out. When's it? Another one, we have, so, the Oro, at PCA, we release 20 count boxes.

Okay. Out of the tube, great for you guys watching at home because without the tube, it's $2 less. It's less. And it's a great cigar, and it's actually a cigar that you're going to be seeing some, uh, some cool, unique sizes.

It's coming out and it's so sick that I could actually have like a date now and be sure, October. Allegedly October. October. October.

Isn't that crazy? You think it's really happening on October? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome.

We're already in production. Boxes have been made. Okay. And it's the cool thing about the oral, right?

It's one, it's a cigar that we have. Procurement's always a problem. With that cigar, not really. We're, we have the tobaccos for it, and it's a line that also has a story that often time gets forgotten.

My father almost lost his life twice just as a jeweler. No kidding. Yeah, he was held out on point twice, and the second time, my father's not the most religious man, matter of fact, In fact, I think we've been asked to leave church on Easter once or twice, but I'll just leave it to that, can't get too deep on that one, sorry guys, but he always says, for the first time ever I prayed, and I said, God, I know I'm not your perfect soldier, I'm sorry, if you let me live, I'll never touch a piece of jewelry in my life, and that's what led Lito Gomez to eventually become the Lito Gomez we know now. No kidding.

Because that's what got in the cigars. So the Oro was released for that. Awesome. So it's cool because both of these lines that we're really revamping this year, they have a story that's so near and dear to our hearts and in a way relatable, right?

Because I'm sure a lot of people have had situations where it's either you're rediscovering yourself or you're at your lowest point and you decide to, all right, let's do something else and go from there. This looks totally different than the original Suave. I want you to smoke it after that while we're here, and then you're gonna, it's, the flavor is just on the other side of it. I'm looking forward to it, man.

It's absolutely ridiculous. All right, well, dude, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate the interview on the podcast. I have one last question for you.

You go ahead. Tell me. Are you from a throwing household? A throwing household?

Were there inanimate objects being flying at all times? Uh, no, not too much. You know, there weren't a lot of things being thrown. No.

Were things thrown at your house? Oh, yeah. Yeah? What was the best thing that was thrown at your house?

A hamster once. A hamster? Yeah. Who threw the hamster?

My dad. Your dad threw the hamster? They bit him. " You know what I mean?

But no, it's a question I ask because it's... Tells me a little bit about your character. Yeah? Yeah, right.

I mean, think about it. If you grow up, there's shit flying. You gotta be ready all the time. And there's various different throws.

Another funny one is my father has like, he can't eat off a cold plate. Right. The plate has to be hot? The plate needs to be warm.

You can't put warm food on a room temperature plate. Right. Apparently it's sacrilegious now. What's that like at restaurants, bro?

What? How does that work? He won't eat unless it comes warm. So he requests the plate being heated?

No, he just knows. He just knows. He knows? Yeah.

Most restaurants, they either play, but like, so at our house, it's like, he always, we have these gas burners. Right. What's fucking, sorry, how many plates on gas burners? Nice.

So like. How many plates did he break? Like two a week. That's amazing.

So, you know, growing up, you got it when you know, when you're sitting, 'cause, or it's an open, like, kitchen to, like, the, the family room. Right. So you hear that gas, you're like, all right, it's time to start dug in and weaving, baby. I'm in Vietnam, let's go.

Get ready. The dog. We have a lab, so the hungriest thing ever. Right.

When he's in that kitchen, she sees a plate go, bro, he's under the, she's under the couch. She knows. Because she has been hit with more pieces of ceramics. It's insane.

Poor thing. But no, it's a question I like to ask. Like Marcus, for example, he doesn't have to tell me. I know he was getting shit thrown at him 24/7.

Right. He's sharp on his toes, you know. You gotta be ready, Marcus. You gotta be ready.

Welcome to LFD. Welcome to LFT. You're about to have a hamster launch right at your board. We're going to stop by the pet store on the way out.

Look at that. Oh, there's one around the corner, right? Yeah, man. You can buy hamsters in bulk.

Do they have a rattlesnake I could throw at them? Maybe, maybe. Let's see how quick you are, bro. We're going to find out if you're equipped to handle LFT or not.

No. That's how you learn. But hey, seriously, thank you to sit here with you. It's been a pleasure.

Yeah, man. Thanks for coming on. I'm sure we're people who see eye to eye in a lot of shit, and it's cool to be a part I love your story as well as you guys mine, so. I appreciate it.

Thank you guys for listening at home, I love you all, if you guys have any, want to hit me up, follow us, LFD on Instagram, LFDLitoJr, just all together, and yeah, have a great day. There you go, alright, bye. Bye!

Show Notes

In this exclusive special episode, we sit down with Litto Gomez Junior for a rare behind-the-scenes look at La Flor Dominicana (LFD) cigars. From the fields to the factory, Litto Jr. shares personal stories, family legacy, and the passion that fuels one of the most innovative cigar brands in the industry. Tune in for an insider’s perspective on craftsmanship, challenges, and what’s next for LFD.