1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,820 - There's a story inside every smoke shop, 2 00:00:02,820 --> 00:00:06,090 with every cigar, and with every person. 3 00:00:06,090 --> 00:00:09,030 Come be a part of the cigar lifestyle of Boveda. 4 00:00:09,030 --> 00:00:11,237 This is "Box Press." 5 00:00:11,237 --> 00:00:14,070 (tranquil music) 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,250 Welcome to another episode of "Box Press." 7 00:00:20,250 --> 00:00:21,810 I'm your host, Rob Gagner. 8 00:00:21,810 --> 00:00:24,210 I'm live at PCA 2022, 9 00:00:24,210 --> 00:00:27,030 and I finally get the opportunity to sit down 10 00:00:27,030 --> 00:00:29,280 with Dion from Illusione. 11 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,530 Dion, thank you for sitting down with me. 12 00:00:31,530 --> 00:00:32,970 If people don't know you, 13 00:00:32,970 --> 00:00:35,640 which I would be hard pressed to say that they don't- 14 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:36,990 - Sure. 15 00:00:36,990 --> 00:00:40,830 - You started in retail, you started to make cigars. 16 00:00:40,830 --> 00:00:42,000 - Yep. 17 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,690 - But the cool thing about you is that your palate 18 00:00:45,690 --> 00:00:46,833 is second to none. 19 00:00:47,763 --> 00:00:48,596 - Oh. 20 00:00:48,596 --> 00:00:51,810 - There's this crazy palate that you have, 21 00:00:51,810 --> 00:00:54,570 and I've heard a story about it, and in fact, 22 00:00:54,570 --> 00:00:59,130 a story about it has been dropped on "Box Press" before. 23 00:00:59,130 --> 00:01:02,370 Did you watch the episode with Erik Espinosa? 24 00:01:02,370 --> 00:01:05,820 - I did, and that's a true story. 25 00:01:05,820 --> 00:01:07,860 So a lot of that was by happenstance. 26 00:01:07,860 --> 00:01:08,910 A lot of that was by luck. 27 00:01:08,910 --> 00:01:12,420 Look, let me qualify palate, okay? 28 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:15,900 So everybody inherently has good taste, right? 29 00:01:15,900 --> 00:01:19,230 Everybody knows something that tastes really good. 30 00:01:19,230 --> 00:01:21,120 You know, I've said it time and again, 31 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,520 I could put three bottles of wine out in front of you, 32 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:24,810 something that's really special 33 00:01:24,810 --> 00:01:27,663 that I wanted to open up at a party, and then two others. 34 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,640 Invariably, you'll have guests come up 35 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,460 and sample or drink the wine, and they will gravitate 36 00:01:35,460 --> 00:01:37,830 to that one special bottle that I put out. 37 00:01:37,830 --> 00:01:42,480 So the question isn't of, you know, having good taste 38 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,600 or a good palate, or being able to discern, 39 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:47,640 you know, flavors and this or that, or whatever. 40 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,660 We all have that subconsciously in us. 41 00:01:51,660 --> 00:01:56,287 So what I tried to do was, I said, 42 00:01:56,287 --> 00:01:57,690 "Okay, well this tastes good. 43 00:01:57,690 --> 00:01:59,730 Why does it taste good?" 44 00:01:59,730 --> 00:02:01,920 And that's what really piqued my curiosity. 45 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,820 So I kind of started going through blends 46 00:02:05,820 --> 00:02:08,103 and back engineering, if you will, 47 00:02:09,030 --> 00:02:09,863 looking at blends. 48 00:02:09,863 --> 00:02:12,870 And okay, so why do people gravitate to this blend? 49 00:02:12,870 --> 00:02:14,490 Why do they like, "Oh, well, it's, you know, 50 00:02:14,490 --> 00:02:16,230 Corojo type tobacco." 51 00:02:16,230 --> 00:02:18,030 It has a little more sweetness to it, 52 00:02:18,030 --> 00:02:20,130 it has a little more aromatics. 53 00:02:20,130 --> 00:02:25,130 People tend to gravitate to sweeter things, I think, 54 00:02:25,890 --> 00:02:27,780 goes all the way back to the caveman days 55 00:02:27,780 --> 00:02:31,620 when caveman would pick a berry. 56 00:02:31,620 --> 00:02:35,280 Sweet means safe, and bitter usually means bad 57 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,910 or poisonous or something, so it's something that has been- 58 00:02:38,910 --> 00:02:39,743 - I didn't know that. 59 00:02:39,743 --> 00:02:41,550 - Yeah, something that's kind of like- 60 00:02:41,550 --> 00:02:42,780 - I didn't think about it that way. 61 00:02:42,780 --> 00:02:43,613 - Yeah. 62 00:02:43,613 --> 00:02:46,230 - So caveman, sweet, good, bitter, bad. 63 00:02:46,230 --> 00:02:47,063 - Yeah. 64 00:02:47,063 --> 00:02:47,896 - Could be poisonous. 65 00:02:47,896 --> 00:02:48,930 - Could be poisonous, right? 66 00:02:48,930 --> 00:02:53,930 So that's kind of the impetus of where, 67 00:02:54,943 --> 00:02:56,610 you know, I think everything started 68 00:02:56,610 --> 00:03:00,120 as far as me wanting and trying to learn about blending, 69 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,060 and also being around the right people at the right time. 70 00:03:03,060 --> 00:03:07,110 I mean, a lot of it is just, you know, like you said before, 71 00:03:07,110 --> 00:03:08,280 right place, right time. 72 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,520 And when I met Eduardo Fernandez, 73 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,050 when he had just recently purchased Tabacalera Tropical, 74 00:03:16,050 --> 00:03:19,170 which was owned by, I believe, Pedro Martin at the time, 75 00:03:19,170 --> 00:03:21,870 and he inherited all these beautiful fields and lands, 76 00:03:21,870 --> 00:03:23,550 we had carried some of the tobaccos, 77 00:03:23,550 --> 00:03:26,130 you know, in cigar form, you know, in my shop 78 00:03:26,130 --> 00:03:29,583 way back in the day in college when I had worked part-time. 79 00:03:31,124 --> 00:03:32,880 - You worked part-time as well in college? 80 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:34,140 - Yeah, worked part-time. 81 00:03:34,140 --> 00:03:35,160 - So did I. 82 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,290 - Yeah, in a cigar store, so- 83 00:03:37,290 --> 00:03:38,730 - It's a lot of fun. 84 00:03:38,730 --> 00:03:41,190 - Pete Johnson actually introduced me. 85 00:03:41,190 --> 00:03:44,130 I went on a trip to 8th Street in Miami 86 00:03:44,130 --> 00:03:47,190 and hung out with him at the Miami factory at My Father, 87 00:03:47,190 --> 00:03:49,050 and he introduced me to Paul Palmer, 88 00:03:49,050 --> 00:03:51,720 which in turn introduced me to Eduardo Fernandez. 89 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:52,680 And he said, "Oh, well, you know, 90 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,600 why don't you come out to Nicaragua, 91 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:56,940 and check out, you know, our operations?" 92 00:03:56,940 --> 00:03:59,220 So I did, and I sat down with him, and I said, 93 00:03:59,220 --> 00:04:00,270 you know, "Paul, Eduardo," 94 00:04:00,270 --> 00:04:05,070 I go, "You guys have really, really unique tobaccos here." 95 00:04:05,070 --> 00:04:09,000 And I said, "I know you guys have some, 96 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,364 you know, products in the market 97 00:04:11,364 --> 00:04:12,540 that were brought along with the sale," 98 00:04:12,540 --> 00:04:14,190 but I said, "I really think that we can go 99 00:04:14,190 --> 00:04:15,450 to the next level." 100 00:04:15,450 --> 00:04:16,980 And I said, you know, kind of being a retailer 101 00:04:16,980 --> 00:04:21,980 and having my pulse on what's going on out there, 102 00:04:22,350 --> 00:04:24,780 I think we can really put something together 103 00:04:24,780 --> 00:04:27,158 and make it successful in the market. 104 00:04:27,158 --> 00:04:28,950 - Yeah, because you knew what people were smoking. 105 00:04:28,950 --> 00:04:31,737 - Right, so the group of people 106 00:04:35,130 --> 00:04:36,150 that he brought, you know, from Cuba 107 00:04:36,150 --> 00:04:37,170 over there to oversee his farms, 108 00:04:37,170 --> 00:04:40,740 Arsenio Ramos, Jacinto Iglesias, Chandito, 109 00:04:40,740 --> 00:04:42,540 you know, to really oversee the fields 110 00:04:42,540 --> 00:04:44,400 to get them where they needed to be, 111 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:45,900 because, you know, Eduardo back at the time 112 00:04:45,900 --> 00:04:49,860 was really trying to wrap his head around tobacco, 113 00:04:49,860 --> 00:04:51,990 and he really, really brought great minds 114 00:04:51,990 --> 00:04:54,360 and great people in that knew exactly what to do. 115 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,360 So guys like Arsenio, they really were Criollo-centric, 116 00:05:01,110 --> 00:05:04,470 and they really loved Criollo tobaccos. 117 00:05:04,470 --> 00:05:08,790 And although it was a delicious tobacco to me, 118 00:05:08,790 --> 00:05:10,380 it was kind of missing something, right? 119 00:05:10,380 --> 00:05:14,640 So it was missing, like, almost like that sweetness 120 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:16,680 that we were talking about earlier. 121 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:18,930 So, you know, they were putting together some blends 122 00:05:18,930 --> 00:05:20,077 and I was sitting there and I'm like, 123 00:05:20,077 --> 00:05:22,440 "You know, these just kind of aren't jiving with me." 124 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,720 They were kind of like linear, one-dimensional. 125 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:25,747 And then I said, you know, 126 00:05:25,747 --> 00:05:28,380 "Do we have any sweeter tobaccos at our disposal?" 127 00:05:28,380 --> 00:05:30,030 They're like, "Well, yeah, you know, we have some tobacco 128 00:05:30,030 --> 00:05:32,940 that we grew up in Jalapa, and it's Corojo tobacco, 129 00:05:32,940 --> 00:05:35,310 but we really don't use a lot of it in our blends." 130 00:05:35,310 --> 00:05:38,430 So we started incorporating some of those components 131 00:05:38,430 --> 00:05:41,400 into the initial blends that we were putting together, 132 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:42,420 and then it just all clicked. 133 00:05:42,420 --> 00:05:44,310 It was just beautiful. 134 00:05:44,310 --> 00:05:46,197 - The Jalapa was the sweetness that you needed. 135 00:05:46,197 --> 00:05:47,093 - Yeah, it really was. 136 00:05:47,093 --> 00:05:50,070 And not that, you know, to say that you can't get sweetness 137 00:05:50,070 --> 00:05:52,290 out of other tobaccos. 138 00:05:52,290 --> 00:05:55,830 You can, but it was just this particular type 139 00:05:55,830 --> 00:05:59,460 of upfront palate sweetness, and also in the olfactory 140 00:05:59,460 --> 00:06:01,590 that just really brought everything in focus 141 00:06:01,590 --> 00:06:02,720 and really brought everything together, so there's- 142 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,780 - So just a real quick question for me to understand, 143 00:06:06,780 --> 00:06:10,803 you had the blend, and it was good. 144 00:06:11,670 --> 00:06:13,470 I guess, I don't know how to really phrase it up 145 00:06:13,470 --> 00:06:14,760 where it was like, you know, 146 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:16,380 like you had a base, you had a mid, 147 00:06:16,380 --> 00:06:17,820 and then you had a high tone. 148 00:06:17,820 --> 00:06:18,653 - Yes. 149 00:06:18,653 --> 00:06:19,710 - Like music. - Yeah. 150 00:06:19,710 --> 00:06:21,150 - And so what you were missing 151 00:06:21,150 --> 00:06:24,090 is possibly like the high tone, like the sweetness. 152 00:06:24,090 --> 00:06:24,923 - Yeah, yeah, yeah. 153 00:06:24,923 --> 00:06:25,840 - Like this is, say, it represents the sweetness. 154 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:27,630 - Yeah, just to finish it off. 155 00:06:27,630 --> 00:06:28,560 - Sort of make a better song. 156 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:29,461 - Yeah, right, the whipped cream- 157 00:06:29,461 --> 00:06:30,744 - So you have like a good song. 158 00:06:30,744 --> 00:06:32,610 - The whipped cream, the cherry on the sundae, right? 159 00:06:32,610 --> 00:06:33,443 It's like, it's almost- 160 00:06:33,443 --> 00:06:34,380 - It just rounded it all out. 161 00:06:34,380 --> 00:06:37,650 - Exactly, and a good phrase I use all the time too 162 00:06:37,650 --> 00:06:40,394 is, Michael Chiusano, way back in the day, 163 00:06:40,394 --> 00:06:42,750 you know, you have peanut butter and jelly. 164 00:06:42,750 --> 00:06:44,550 You can't eat a jelly sandwich by itself, 165 00:06:44,550 --> 00:06:47,070 you can't eat a peanut butter sandwich by itself 166 00:06:47,070 --> 00:06:48,330 because, you know, it dries out your mouth. 167 00:06:48,330 --> 00:06:50,220 You gotta have, when you have peanut butter, 168 00:06:50,220 --> 00:06:51,540 you gotta have the jelly. 169 00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:52,677 - So that's what it was like, 170 00:06:52,677 --> 00:06:54,240 it was like you had the peanut butter and no jelly. 171 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:55,740 - Right, exactly, and- 172 00:06:55,740 --> 00:06:56,963 - So you had the jelly, now we're going. 173 00:06:56,963 --> 00:06:59,040 - And the Corojo was the jelly, 174 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,110 so that's what brought it together. 175 00:07:01,110 --> 00:07:03,630 I came out with initially six sizes, 176 00:07:03,630 --> 00:07:05,070 which was Illusione Cigars, 177 00:07:05,070 --> 00:07:09,900 and that's when my Corona Gorda got #7 Cigar 178 00:07:09,900 --> 00:07:11,070 in the World in Cigar Aficionado. 179 00:07:11,070 --> 00:07:14,040 So then they kind of, you know, looked at each other 180 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,920 and they're like, "Well, you know, maybe this gringo 181 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:18,030 knows what he's talking about." 182 00:07:18,030 --> 00:07:19,950 I was kind of going out on a limb too, you know? 183 00:07:19,950 --> 00:07:21,393 I mean, I'm like, well, 184 00:07:23,490 --> 00:07:26,040 I brought what knowledge that I had. 185 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:27,870 In turn, I gleaned knowledge off them, 186 00:07:27,870 --> 00:07:30,840 so it really became an exchange of information, 187 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:32,040 an exchange of knowledge. 188 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:32,873 I taught them- 189 00:07:32,873 --> 00:07:34,207 - Everyone's working together for the same greater good. 190 00:07:34,207 --> 00:07:37,320 - Yes, yeah, I brought them knowledge 191 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:38,520 from the frontend of the business, 192 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:39,353 they brought me knowledge 193 00:07:39,353 --> 00:07:40,320 from the backend of the business. 194 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,690 - It's not Dion gets all the credit. 195 00:07:42,690 --> 00:07:43,523 - Right. 196 00:07:43,523 --> 00:07:45,300 - It's everybody working together. 197 00:07:45,300 --> 00:07:46,555 - Right, and that's it- 198 00:07:46,555 --> 00:07:49,030 - Put this cigar to the level that it needed to be at. 199 00:07:49,030 --> 00:07:53,610 - Yeah, and it comes down to a team effort, 200 00:07:53,610 --> 00:07:55,470 but really what what was great about that 201 00:07:55,470 --> 00:07:56,940 was they pretty much, after then, 202 00:07:56,940 --> 00:07:59,340 you know, they gave me carte blanche over the entire, 203 00:07:59,340 --> 00:08:01,107 you know, operation and- 204 00:08:01,107 --> 00:08:03,370 - You kind of proved yourself with the Cigar Aficionado. 205 00:08:03,370 --> 00:08:06,049 - Yeah, so they just let me jump into it, you know? 206 00:08:06,049 --> 00:08:06,882 And then- 207 00:08:06,882 --> 00:08:08,670 - Why is it that Cigar Aficionado, 208 00:08:08,670 --> 00:08:12,150 Top 25 is kind of that clout? 209 00:08:12,150 --> 00:08:13,380 It gets you that clout. 210 00:08:13,380 --> 00:08:18,030 Is it because it has just a broad audience, 211 00:08:18,030 --> 00:08:22,620 then that actually validates that this is really good? 212 00:08:22,620 --> 00:08:24,000 - You know, I'm not too sure. 213 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,070 I mean, it's that old adage, 214 00:08:26,070 --> 00:08:31,017 you know, opinions are like, can I say assholes? 215 00:08:31,017 --> 00:08:31,850 - Yeah. - Oh yeah. 216 00:08:31,850 --> 00:08:32,910 Opinions are like assholes. 217 00:08:32,910 --> 00:08:34,293 Everybody has one, right? 218 00:08:35,385 --> 00:08:36,573 - But is it an opinion? 219 00:08:38,190 --> 00:08:39,570 - It's a calculated opinion. 220 00:08:39,570 --> 00:08:41,488 It's an educated opinion, and so- 221 00:08:41,488 --> 00:08:42,540 - I think there's some rigor there 222 00:08:42,540 --> 00:08:45,420 because like you're giving that cigar that you blended 223 00:08:45,420 --> 00:08:47,313 to multiple people who know. 224 00:08:49,462 --> 00:08:50,820 You could call them experts, 225 00:08:50,820 --> 00:08:53,400 but let's just call them cigar smokers, 226 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:54,990 that could discern whether or not 227 00:08:54,990 --> 00:08:56,670 this is a well blended cigar. 228 00:08:56,670 --> 00:08:57,540 - Right. 229 00:08:57,540 --> 00:08:59,310 - So if that's the case, 230 00:08:59,310 --> 00:09:04,310 then did it really fall to an opinion 231 00:09:04,620 --> 00:09:06,003 or did it fall to- 232 00:09:07,050 --> 00:09:08,760 - Ultimately it fell on my shoulders, right? 233 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:09,990 Because I was the one smoking it, 234 00:09:09,990 --> 00:09:12,840 I was the one that was, you know, doing it, 235 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:15,000 so really, it was on my shoulders 236 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,940 really to succeed or fail, what I was gonna do, 237 00:09:17,940 --> 00:09:19,170 but it was the most, I think, 238 00:09:19,170 --> 00:09:24,170 like, educated thing at the time that I could come up with 239 00:09:24,270 --> 00:09:27,510 in order to say, "Okay, this has the best chance of survival 240 00:09:27,510 --> 00:09:30,570 because we basically got all the components together 241 00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:31,403 to make it successful." 242 00:09:31,403 --> 00:09:32,913 - I guess I'm talking about Cigar Aficionado, like- 243 00:09:32,913 --> 00:09:33,746 - Oh yeah. 244 00:09:33,746 --> 00:09:35,490 - It's not an opinion by them because they took it 245 00:09:35,490 --> 00:09:38,280 and measured it, so then once they release it, 246 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:39,697 they're trying to tell the audience like, 247 00:09:39,697 --> 00:09:41,280 "Hey, this is worth your money." 248 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:42,113 - Correct. 249 00:09:42,113 --> 00:09:42,946 - "This is worth your time. 250 00:09:42,946 --> 00:09:44,010 This is worth your investment." 251 00:09:44,010 --> 00:09:45,720 - Yeah, and by the same token, 252 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:47,100 they could say, "It's not worth your time 253 00:09:47,100 --> 00:09:48,780 or not worth your money," which has, 254 00:09:48,780 --> 00:09:51,360 you know, of course adverse effects as well, so- 255 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:52,830 - Well, there's always gonna be that, 256 00:09:52,830 --> 00:09:57,830 but once we apply like the measurement or the criteria, 257 00:09:58,650 --> 00:10:02,497 to have it sampled by a panel, then we're going, 258 00:10:02,497 --> 00:10:05,250 "Okay, statistically, 80% of the people 259 00:10:05,250 --> 00:10:08,040 are gonna like this cigar," right? 260 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,007 - Yeah, you could probably say- 261 00:10:11,007 --> 00:10:12,087 - I know you can't say that 100%- 262 00:10:12,087 --> 00:10:14,010 - Yeah, you could probably say that, but- 263 00:10:14,010 --> 00:10:15,160 - But you're kind of doing that, right? 264 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:16,920 - Yeah, and nobody knows what they think. 265 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:17,893 Nobody knows what they're looking for. 266 00:10:17,893 --> 00:10:19,027 - Eight out of 10 of the panelists were like, 267 00:10:19,027 --> 00:10:19,860 "This is good." 268 00:10:19,860 --> 00:10:21,810 Great, it landed on the Top 25, 269 00:10:21,810 --> 00:10:24,960 so we know that the greater community is gonna love it. 270 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:26,130 - Yeah, I would hope so. 271 00:10:26,130 --> 00:10:27,420 And you know, back then, 272 00:10:27,420 --> 00:10:29,280 I mean, they had James Suckling on the palate, 273 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,610 you know, Dave Savona was back on that, 274 00:10:32,610 --> 00:10:34,740 not palate, they were back 275 00:10:34,740 --> 00:10:37,680 on the tasting panel, Greg Mottola. 276 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:39,840 - Do you know who's on the tasting panel? 277 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:40,860 - Yes. 278 00:10:40,860 --> 00:10:43,373 - How many people are on the tasting panel? 279 00:10:43,373 --> 00:10:46,530 - I think at any different time, 280 00:10:46,530 --> 00:10:47,370 and, you know, don't quote me, 281 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:48,780 it can be anywhere from three to five people. 282 00:10:48,780 --> 00:10:51,480 Even Marvin, I believe, still to this day 283 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:53,402 participates on the panel. 284 00:10:53,402 --> 00:10:55,950 You know, I think mainly, and again, don't quote me on this, 285 00:10:55,950 --> 00:10:57,570 it's just, you know, from what I've known over the years, 286 00:10:57,570 --> 00:11:00,450 but, you know, Marvin really, really gets involved 287 00:11:00,450 --> 00:11:01,830 in the horse race at the end of the year 288 00:11:01,830 --> 00:11:03,807 for the Top 25 cigar, and he's a- 289 00:11:03,807 --> 00:11:08,220 - Do you think the Top 25 is ever a bought position? 290 00:11:08,220 --> 00:11:09,420 - No, I don't think so. 291 00:11:09,420 --> 00:11:12,690 I mean, just, there's always gonna be that, 292 00:11:12,690 --> 00:11:15,720 you know, conspiracy out there that it is bought. 293 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,310 You know, Marvin doesn't play that game. 294 00:11:17,310 --> 00:11:18,990 I mean, Marvin is a self-made man. 295 00:11:18,990 --> 00:11:21,873 Marvin is not beholden to anybody out there. 296 00:11:22,890 --> 00:11:23,858 And it would just- 297 00:11:23,858 --> 00:11:24,691 - Well said. 298 00:11:24,691 --> 00:11:26,190 - It would ruin his credibility and his reputation 299 00:11:26,190 --> 00:11:30,900 if he did that, and he is not a man that, 300 00:11:30,900 --> 00:11:33,903 I don't think it's in his nature to do that. 301 00:11:35,068 --> 00:11:36,390 You know, I don't know him personally. 302 00:11:36,390 --> 00:11:38,100 I've spoken to him on a few occasions, 303 00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:40,530 and I do know the people that are around him, 304 00:11:40,530 --> 00:11:43,710 that know him intimately and they say the same thing, 305 00:11:43,710 --> 00:11:46,500 so I have no reason to believe he is not that person 306 00:11:46,500 --> 00:11:47,333 who they say he is. 307 00:11:47,333 --> 00:11:49,080 - So it's not a bought position. 308 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:49,949 - No, absolutely not. 309 00:11:49,949 --> 00:11:52,260 - It's all measured by quality. 310 00:11:52,260 --> 00:11:53,430 - Yeah, quality, consistency- 311 00:11:53,430 --> 00:11:54,720 - And then it's ranked. 312 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,150 And let's just call it what it is, 313 00:11:57,150 --> 00:11:59,790 the ranking is subjective. 314 00:11:59,790 --> 00:12:00,623 - Yes, it's subjective. 315 00:12:00,623 --> 00:12:05,250 - You really can't say your cigar, what position did it get? 316 00:12:05,250 --> 00:12:06,720 - The first year it got #7. 317 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,430 - So your cigar got #7, 318 00:12:08,430 --> 00:12:10,293 so it's definitely better than #8. 319 00:12:11,610 --> 00:12:12,780 You can't say that. 320 00:12:12,780 --> 00:12:15,540 - Yeah, I mean, I think once you get into the Top 10, 321 00:12:15,540 --> 00:12:18,120 I think they're all- 322 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:19,080 - It's real minor. 323 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:20,970 - Yeah, you're splitting hairs, 324 00:12:20,970 --> 00:12:23,850 and then when you get into the Top 3, 325 00:12:23,850 --> 00:12:24,780 then you're really splitting hairs. 326 00:12:24,780 --> 00:12:26,513 - You're smoking some real good cigars, is what I'm saying. 327 00:12:26,513 --> 00:12:29,460 - Right, yeah, and I've had Top 3 a couple of times, 328 00:12:29,460 --> 00:12:30,870 as well too. 329 00:12:30,870 --> 00:12:32,790 I've never cracked #2 or #1, 330 00:12:32,790 --> 00:12:34,350 but I hope to one day, so. 331 00:12:34,350 --> 00:12:35,460 - Top #3, baby. 332 00:12:35,460 --> 00:12:37,410 - I'm working at it, I'm working on it. 333 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,370 - Is that one of your goals? 334 00:12:41,370 --> 00:12:44,100 - I think it's everybody's goal in this industry. 335 00:12:44,100 --> 00:12:47,100 I think everybody likes to be recognized for what they do. 336 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:48,063 I mean, we work really hard- 337 00:12:48,063 --> 00:12:49,290 - Absolutely, affirmation's great. 338 00:12:49,290 --> 00:12:51,450 - Yeah, I mean, we all like to pat each other on the back, 339 00:12:51,450 --> 00:12:54,000 pat ourselves on the back, you know, job well done, 340 00:12:55,290 --> 00:13:00,290 and it's just the fruits of our labor, you know? 341 00:13:01,230 --> 00:13:02,063 It really is. 342 00:13:02,063 --> 00:13:03,180 And some people get offended. 343 00:13:03,180 --> 00:13:04,800 Look, everybody in this industry thinks 344 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,350 they make the number one cigar, me included, right? 345 00:13:08,340 --> 00:13:10,380 But they're their own publication. 346 00:13:10,380 --> 00:13:12,810 They have their own criteria, they have their own rules, 347 00:13:12,810 --> 00:13:17,550 and it's dictated by their process 348 00:13:17,550 --> 00:13:19,890 and what they do, so. 349 00:13:19,890 --> 00:13:22,950 - Well said, and thank you for breaking it down 350 00:13:22,950 --> 00:13:24,630 for some of the viewers out there 351 00:13:24,630 --> 00:13:28,740 that just don't get the process and how it all plays out. 352 00:13:28,740 --> 00:13:30,330 - Yeah. 353 00:13:30,330 --> 00:13:33,240 - So now that you kind of are blending cigars 354 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:34,773 instead of selling them, 355 00:13:36,270 --> 00:13:41,270 what trials or challenges did you have 356 00:13:41,820 --> 00:13:45,780 that really helped you get into this blending process 357 00:13:45,780 --> 00:13:46,860 a whole lot better? 358 00:13:46,860 --> 00:13:51,480 - Well, those trials and those challenges still exist 359 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:52,860 to this very day, right? 360 00:13:52,860 --> 00:13:54,420 - But they were new back then, so- 361 00:13:54,420 --> 00:13:55,440 - They were new and they- 362 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:56,617 - They were like things that you were like, 363 00:13:56,617 --> 00:13:57,600 "I gotta deal with this," 364 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:58,830 and now you know how to deal with them, 365 00:13:58,830 --> 00:14:02,430 so I'm asking how did you figure out how to deal with them 366 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:04,800 so that you knew how to get to the next level? 367 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,690 - You know, trial and error and just listening. 368 00:14:06,690 --> 00:14:09,390 I mean, tobacco has a language and you have to listen to it, 369 00:14:09,390 --> 00:14:11,730 and it'll generally tell you what it needs to do 370 00:14:11,730 --> 00:14:12,690 and where it needs to go. 371 00:14:12,690 --> 00:14:14,430 - What kind of language does it speak? 372 00:14:14,430 --> 00:14:16,440 - Yeah, you know, it's kind of like- 373 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:17,640 - French, Italian? 374 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:18,480 - Yeah, I mean- 375 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:19,313 - Spanish? 376 00:14:19,313 --> 00:14:21,914 - Music, jazz, it speaks classical. 377 00:14:21,914 --> 00:14:22,747 - It's a feeling. 378 00:14:22,747 --> 00:14:24,780 - It's a universal language, 379 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:28,530 tobacco to me, and once you start understanding it, 380 00:14:28,530 --> 00:14:31,350 then you start understanding the complexities 381 00:14:31,350 --> 00:14:33,450 and the intricacies of tobacco. 382 00:14:33,450 --> 00:14:35,040 I mean, tobacco is very truthful. 383 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:39,990 It tells you exactly what it is when you taste it, you know? 384 00:14:39,990 --> 00:14:40,823 So those- 385 00:14:40,823 --> 00:14:44,190 - Does anything else act like that, too? 386 00:14:44,190 --> 00:14:45,135 Or what are your- 387 00:14:45,135 --> 00:14:45,968 - I don't know. 388 00:14:45,968 --> 00:14:47,490 - Because that's a real powerful statement, 389 00:14:47,490 --> 00:14:49,560 it tells you what it is right when you taste it. 390 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,890 - Yeah, I mean, I think you can say that with food, right? 391 00:14:52,890 --> 00:14:55,500 I mean, we all know, 392 00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:59,130 look, I can put maybe three different types of tomatoes 393 00:14:59,130 --> 00:14:59,963 in front of you, 394 00:14:59,963 --> 00:15:02,430 I can put a vine ripened tomato in front of you, 395 00:15:02,430 --> 00:15:04,170 I can put a Roma tomato in front of you, 396 00:15:04,170 --> 00:15:06,510 and I can put a heirloom tomato in front of you. 397 00:15:06,510 --> 00:15:07,343 - All different. 398 00:15:07,343 --> 00:15:08,250 - They all have a different language. 399 00:15:08,250 --> 00:15:09,600 They all say something different, 400 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,690 and they're all utilized differently 401 00:15:12,690 --> 00:15:15,983 within the context of a dish, and so I think you can- 402 00:15:15,983 --> 00:15:17,490 - Okay, I get what you're saying now 403 00:15:17,490 --> 00:15:19,500 because each tomato has a different flavor, 404 00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:22,297 so then the chef, the blender gets to say, 405 00:15:22,297 --> 00:15:23,640 "I wanna use this tomato 406 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:25,470 because it goes well with what I got cooking." 407 00:15:25,470 --> 00:15:30,470 - Yeah, different texture, different flavor profile. 408 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,280 So yeah, I mean, yeah, 409 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,860 there's specific things for specific dishes 410 00:15:37,860 --> 00:15:38,693 that you would use- 411 00:15:38,693 --> 00:15:40,650 - Did you start recording then? 412 00:15:40,650 --> 00:15:42,810 Did you have to write down 413 00:15:42,810 --> 00:15:45,210 what each tomato was tasting like? 414 00:15:45,210 --> 00:15:47,440 Or did you go ahead and just plug that up here? 415 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:49,290 - Yeah, so I pretty much have a talent 416 00:15:49,290 --> 00:15:50,370 for useless information. 417 00:15:50,370 --> 00:15:53,430 I'm able to, you know, maybe try something and file it away, 418 00:15:53,430 --> 00:15:55,440 and then maybe like one or two years later, 419 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:56,820 I can bring it up and I'm like, "You know what? 420 00:15:56,820 --> 00:15:59,220 That tastes exactly like what I smoked 421 00:15:59,220 --> 00:16:01,919 when I smoked something," or taste something. 422 00:16:01,919 --> 00:16:03,872 - That's impressive. 423 00:16:03,872 --> 00:16:04,890 I have to write it down. 424 00:16:04,890 --> 00:16:06,030 - Everybody can do it. 425 00:16:06,030 --> 00:16:07,590 - And I can't remember the name. 426 00:16:07,590 --> 00:16:09,090 - It's like, you know, your brain is a muscle. 427 00:16:09,090 --> 00:16:11,440 If you just keep using it in a specific way 428 00:16:12,996 --> 00:16:17,220 or a certain context, you can be able to pull things up. 429 00:16:17,220 --> 00:16:18,278 I don't know. 430 00:16:18,278 --> 00:16:20,370 - Yeah, if it's a muscle and you have to exercise it- 431 00:16:20,370 --> 00:16:21,203 - Right. 432 00:16:21,203 --> 00:16:25,113 - What's the Dion brain muscle exercise top three? 433 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:30,273 Top three things to do to exercise the brain by Dion? 434 00:16:31,530 --> 00:16:35,032 - Well, from a tobacco standpoint, it's just repetition. 435 00:16:35,032 --> 00:16:36,093 - No, general. - General? 436 00:16:36,093 --> 00:16:37,740 - Just exercising the brain. 437 00:16:37,740 --> 00:16:38,709 - Yeah, I don't know. 438 00:16:38,709 --> 00:16:40,322 - What do you do on a daily basis to make it go? 439 00:16:40,322 --> 00:16:43,621 - I don't, well, I guess, 440 00:16:43,621 --> 00:16:45,150 you know, I guess- 441 00:16:45,150 --> 00:16:46,710 - Like crossword puzzles? 442 00:16:46,710 --> 00:16:48,360 - No, no, like golf maybe, I guess. 443 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:49,830 - Golf? For you it's golf? 444 00:16:49,830 --> 00:16:53,190 - Yeah, golf is a series of repetitive exercises, right? 445 00:16:53,190 --> 00:16:54,870 Trying to keep the swing on plane, 446 00:16:54,870 --> 00:16:57,240 same swing as your eight iron, 447 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,280 your seven iron, your five iron, 448 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,280 and just trying to get everything to work together 449 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:06,060 all at once so that it's something repeatable, right? 450 00:17:06,060 --> 00:17:09,090 And so when you're blending, you want to get to that point 451 00:17:09,090 --> 00:17:12,660 to where each blend is repeatable, I think. 452 00:17:12,660 --> 00:17:13,920 I don't know if that's the best analogy. 453 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:15,360 It's a pretty good analogy, but- 454 00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:17,700 - I like it because there's a lot of variables 455 00:17:17,700 --> 00:17:18,870 in a golf swing. 456 00:17:18,870 --> 00:17:19,703 - There is. 457 00:17:19,703 --> 00:17:21,810 - And so you gotta be able to control all the variables. 458 00:17:21,810 --> 00:17:24,210 There's a lot of variables in a blend in a cigar. 459 00:17:24,210 --> 00:17:26,400 - There are a ton of variables. 460 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:27,750 - So you gotta be able to control them all 461 00:17:27,750 --> 00:17:30,450 so that you can hit the ball smoothly 462 00:17:30,450 --> 00:17:32,490 so that that cigar comes out smooth. 463 00:17:32,490 --> 00:17:34,890 - Right, and there are a ton of variables, you know, 464 00:17:34,890 --> 00:17:39,030 in the blending process and in the fabrication process 465 00:17:39,030 --> 00:17:41,010 on how you put them together, 466 00:17:41,010 --> 00:17:45,333 the position of the leaves within the blend itself, 467 00:17:47,220 --> 00:17:50,490 the types of tobaccos that are coming 468 00:17:50,490 --> 00:17:52,470 from certain fields that you use. 469 00:17:52,470 --> 00:17:56,070 Some years you may use a particular cutting 470 00:17:56,070 --> 00:17:58,140 for a particular component in the blend. 471 00:17:58,140 --> 00:17:59,400 The next year it might change 472 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,640 because of either soil content or water content 473 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,263 or sun content. 474 00:18:05,190 --> 00:18:07,500 These are all variables that are just constantly 475 00:18:07,500 --> 00:18:10,440 in a state of flux, and so what you ultimately have to do 476 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,650 is just rely on what the tobacco is telling you 477 00:18:13,650 --> 00:18:16,950 in order to create a consistent flavor profile 478 00:18:16,950 --> 00:18:19,620 and quality product, so. 479 00:18:19,620 --> 00:18:20,580 - I like it. 480 00:18:20,580 --> 00:18:24,630 So golfing can help you learn 481 00:18:26,310 --> 00:18:28,560 how to taste cigars and blend cigars better. 482 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,930 - I don't know, it could. 483 00:18:30,930 --> 00:18:32,010 - We're going out on a limb here. 484 00:18:32,010 --> 00:18:34,500 - It could, but I doubt it. 485 00:18:34,500 --> 00:18:35,970 I think it's just, 486 00:18:35,970 --> 00:18:39,510 if you're looking at the mechanics of it, right, 487 00:18:39,510 --> 00:18:40,462 something that's repeatable, yeah. 488 00:18:40,462 --> 00:18:42,270 - You're just exercising the brain 489 00:18:42,270 --> 00:18:44,820 to keep all those variables in line, 490 00:18:44,820 --> 00:18:47,190 and learning how to pick up on variables, 491 00:18:47,190 --> 00:18:48,150 that's all we're doing. 492 00:18:48,150 --> 00:18:49,830 You gotta be cognitively aware. 493 00:18:49,830 --> 00:18:51,660 - Sometimes you have to change your swing a little bit 494 00:18:51,660 --> 00:18:53,490 because, you know, you might go sideways a little bit, 495 00:18:53,490 --> 00:18:54,870 you might be a little wonky, 496 00:18:54,870 --> 00:18:56,460 and sometimes it's just a little change. 497 00:18:56,460 --> 00:18:58,560 You know, instead of holding your wrist one way, 498 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,387 you hold it another way, or the steepness of your swing. 499 00:19:01,387 --> 00:19:03,870 You know, you might be getting too flat in your swing, 500 00:19:03,870 --> 00:19:05,970 sometimes you might be getting a little too steep. 501 00:19:05,970 --> 00:19:07,170 Same thing with tobacco. 502 00:19:07,170 --> 00:19:09,420 Sometimes you gotta go up, sometimes you gotta go down, 503 00:19:09,420 --> 00:19:11,280 sometimes you gotta go this way or that way, 504 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,280 but you have to be able to recognize what's wrong 505 00:19:16,350 --> 00:19:17,550 and be able to correct it. 506 00:19:17,550 --> 00:19:19,980 And a lot of times it's hard to recognize things 507 00:19:19,980 --> 00:19:20,970 that you're doing that are wrong 508 00:19:20,970 --> 00:19:23,760 because you think you're doing the same thing every time 509 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:25,980 when you're not, it's completely changed, 510 00:19:25,980 --> 00:19:29,400 and that's what you really don't wanna get into with tobacco 511 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,350 because you think you're putting together 512 00:19:31,350 --> 00:19:34,380 and doing the same thing, but it's coming out differently, 513 00:19:34,380 --> 00:19:36,120 and you have to be able to recognize that 514 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:37,110 and be able to change it. 515 00:19:37,110 --> 00:19:39,600 - That's where the brain muscle comes in play. 516 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:40,433 - Probably, yeah. 517 00:19:40,433 --> 00:19:42,090 - You're exercising and trying- 518 00:19:42,090 --> 00:19:42,923 - And the palate muscle. 519 00:19:42,923 --> 00:19:44,140 - To stretch it so that it picks up on the variables. 520 00:19:44,140 --> 00:19:47,070 - Yeah, the tongue, the palate muscle is a muscle too, 521 00:19:47,070 --> 00:19:48,360 and you can stress out the tongue, 522 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:49,590 you can stress out the taste buds. 523 00:19:49,590 --> 00:19:50,940 - Mine's a little stressed out. 524 00:19:50,940 --> 00:19:53,490 - Yeah, and so when you're not, 525 00:19:53,490 --> 00:19:55,380 maybe when you, you know, 526 00:19:55,380 --> 00:19:56,238 when you go- 527 00:19:56,238 --> 00:19:57,288 - I need some water. - Through a lot of tobaccos- 528 00:19:57,288 --> 00:19:58,500 - I need like a lot of water right now. 529 00:19:58,500 --> 00:20:01,500 - Yeah, a lot of water, replenishing the palate, 530 00:20:01,500 --> 00:20:05,220 so you know, you have to be able to rely on your palate, 531 00:20:05,220 --> 00:20:06,870 and once your palate is stressed out, 532 00:20:06,870 --> 00:20:08,610 then you have to be able to switch 533 00:20:08,610 --> 00:20:11,970 and rely on other parts of your sensory, 534 00:20:11,970 --> 00:20:13,620 you know, like the olfactory, 535 00:20:13,620 --> 00:20:15,573 like, you know, aroma, burn, 536 00:20:16,410 --> 00:20:18,060 everything that goes into it. 537 00:20:18,060 --> 00:20:20,850 So there's a lot of moving parts, 538 00:20:20,850 --> 00:20:21,720 a lot of moving parts. 539 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:22,553 - This smells really good. 540 00:20:22,553 --> 00:20:24,690 - Thank you, thank you. 541 00:20:24,690 --> 00:20:26,370 - And it tastes really good, 542 00:20:26,370 --> 00:20:27,960 but again, my palate's a little fatigued, 543 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,110 but I'm tasting that great balance. 544 00:20:31,110 --> 00:20:33,017 Do you golf often? 545 00:20:33,017 --> 00:20:34,890 - I do, I try to, I try- 546 00:20:34,890 --> 00:20:38,970 - Like, give me the Dion schedule of golf for the week. 547 00:20:38,970 --> 00:20:41,730 Is it two times a week or is it seven? 548 00:20:41,730 --> 00:20:42,930 - It could be two times a week, 549 00:20:42,930 --> 00:20:44,310 it could be six times a week. 550 00:20:44,310 --> 00:20:46,710 It really just depends on my workload. 551 00:20:46,710 --> 00:20:47,610 - Okay. 552 00:20:47,610 --> 00:20:49,890 - So usually what I like to do is get into work early. 553 00:20:49,890 --> 00:20:51,957 I get into work, I'm up about 5, 5:30, 554 00:20:51,957 --> 00:20:55,710 and I get into work about seven in the summertime, 555 00:20:55,710 --> 00:20:58,020 which will free me up in the afternoon to play. 556 00:20:58,020 --> 00:20:59,970 Other times I'll play- 557 00:20:59,970 --> 00:21:01,851 - Oh my God, that tastes really good- 558 00:21:01,851 --> 00:21:02,684 - In the morning- 559 00:21:02,684 --> 00:21:03,517 - After I cooled my palate. 560 00:21:03,517 --> 00:21:04,350 Sorry. - Oh, no worries. 561 00:21:04,350 --> 00:21:06,270 - Tastes really good. 562 00:21:06,270 --> 00:21:07,467 The sweetness came in. 563 00:21:07,467 --> 00:21:11,760 The cigar is now warming up and all those oils and sugars 564 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:13,860 are coming into my palate. 565 00:21:13,860 --> 00:21:15,030 That was amazing. 566 00:21:15,030 --> 00:21:16,890 - Thank you, thank you. 567 00:21:16,890 --> 00:21:18,383 Yeah, we'll get to this in just a second. 568 00:21:18,383 --> 00:21:21,540 This is actually a new project. 569 00:21:21,540 --> 00:21:22,650 But anyways, to wrap up, 570 00:21:22,650 --> 00:21:24,360 you know, what you were asking about, 571 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:26,043 you know, my schedule, 572 00:21:26,910 --> 00:21:28,410 you know, I kind of base it around golf, 573 00:21:28,410 --> 00:21:31,710 particularly in the summertime, but I don't let work suffer, 574 00:21:31,710 --> 00:21:35,403 so either I can play in the morning or the afternoon, 575 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:37,800 or you know, I'll work in the afternoon, 576 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,500 play in the morning, or, you know, play in the afternoon, 577 00:21:40,500 --> 00:21:41,333 work in the morning. 578 00:21:41,333 --> 00:21:44,760 So in summertime, I try and play as much as I can 579 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,070 because in the wintertime we get a lot of snow 580 00:21:47,070 --> 00:21:48,678 and I'm socked in, and I'm at work- 581 00:21:48,678 --> 00:21:49,620 - You can't play in the wintertime? 582 00:21:49,620 --> 00:21:53,370 - Then I'm at work six days a week, up to, yeah. 583 00:21:53,370 --> 00:21:55,050 - You don't play in the winter as much, too cold? 584 00:21:55,050 --> 00:21:56,850 - I do, I try, as long as there's no snow 585 00:21:56,850 --> 00:21:58,590 on the golf course, or if we're traveling, 586 00:21:58,590 --> 00:22:00,000 we'll go over the hill to, like, you know, 587 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:01,770 Sacramento and play, but- 588 00:22:01,770 --> 00:22:03,090 - Dion, where do you live? 589 00:22:03,090 --> 00:22:04,560 - I live in Reno, Nevada. 590 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,250 - Reno, Nevada, so it's warm all summer long. 591 00:22:08,250 --> 00:22:09,480 - Yeah. - Or sorry- 592 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:10,474 - Right now it's about 100 degrees. 593 00:22:10,474 --> 00:22:12,090 - Warm all year long, roughly, huh? 594 00:22:12,090 --> 00:22:14,460 - Right now it's between 95 and 100 degrees in Reno. 595 00:22:14,460 --> 00:22:16,800 - And in the winter, it drops down to the 60s? 596 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:18,930 - In the wintertime, it drops down, 597 00:22:18,930 --> 00:22:21,450 it could be anywhere from about 18 degrees in the day 598 00:22:21,450 --> 00:22:23,890 to about 45 degrees in the winter. 599 00:22:23,890 --> 00:22:24,723 - Okay. - Yeah. 600 00:22:24,723 --> 00:22:25,770 - That's a little chilly for golf. 601 00:22:25,770 --> 00:22:26,603 - It's high desert. 602 00:22:26,603 --> 00:22:30,240 We're about 5,500 feet up, so it's high desert, 603 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,000 really cold at night, really warm in the morning. 604 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:33,833 - Got it. 605 00:22:35,070 --> 00:22:37,890 - Yeah, the differential between, you know, night and day, 606 00:22:37,890 --> 00:22:40,410 I mean, it could be 85, 90 degrees in the day, 607 00:22:40,410 --> 00:22:42,797 then it could be 55, 60 degrees at night, so. 608 00:22:42,797 --> 00:22:45,390 - So you still get that, during the daylight hours, 609 00:22:45,390 --> 00:22:48,030 you can still get a golf game in? 610 00:22:48,030 --> 00:22:48,863 - Oh yeah. 611 00:22:48,863 --> 00:22:49,710 - In the winter? 612 00:22:49,710 --> 00:22:51,840 - Yeah, provided, if it's a warm day, the sun's out, 613 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,353 you know, you can get a 50, 45-50 degree day and it's good. 614 00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:00,990 - In the winter, I live in Minnesota, 615 00:23:00,990 --> 00:23:04,410 so in the wintertime everyone goes out to ice shacks 616 00:23:04,410 --> 00:23:08,640 on a frozen lake to drop a line, a fishing line in a hole, 617 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:10,290 and try to pull a fish out of it. 618 00:23:12,510 --> 00:23:17,510 It's some real good brain energy exercising stuff. 619 00:23:19,050 --> 00:23:20,610 I'm actually being real sarcastic 620 00:23:20,610 --> 00:23:22,650 because I think it's pretty low on the totem pole 621 00:23:22,650 --> 00:23:24,660 of exercises to do for your brain. 622 00:23:24,660 --> 00:23:25,493 - Sure. 623 00:23:25,493 --> 00:23:28,050 - But it passes the time, 624 00:23:28,050 --> 00:23:30,600 and winter's a long time in Minnesota. 625 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,380 - Yeah, winter's are, the older you get, 626 00:23:34,380 --> 00:23:38,340 just the more, I think, mentally taxing 627 00:23:38,340 --> 00:23:41,280 and physically taxing winters get, you know? 628 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:43,290 So that's why a lot of people 629 00:23:43,290 --> 00:23:44,400 move to warmer climates, you know? 630 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,290 That's why people move to Florida, you know, 631 00:23:46,290 --> 00:23:49,740 because they're just tired of putting up with the cold. 632 00:23:52,050 --> 00:23:54,270 - Did you always live in Arizona? 633 00:23:54,270 --> 00:23:55,597 Or sorry- - Nevada. 634 00:23:55,597 --> 00:23:56,430 - Live in Nevada? 635 00:23:56,430 --> 00:23:58,140 - No, I lived here, I grew up in Las Vegas. 636 00:23:58,140 --> 00:23:59,428 - You grew up in Las Vegas? 637 00:23:59,428 --> 00:24:00,330 - Yep. 638 00:24:00,330 --> 00:24:02,550 - What is it like to grow up in Las Vegas? 639 00:24:02,550 --> 00:24:05,490 The city that's kind of known for being 24/7, 640 00:24:05,490 --> 00:24:06,900 a lot of stuff to do. 641 00:24:06,900 --> 00:24:09,660 Did you feel it that it was real stimulating 642 00:24:09,660 --> 00:24:11,757 or did you feel like it was kind of boring growing up here? 643 00:24:11,757 --> 00:24:14,760 - Oh, I think it was just like anybody growing up 644 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,230 in any city. 645 00:24:16,230 --> 00:24:19,950 I mean, there's a community around the strip, 646 00:24:19,950 --> 00:24:23,820 which largely, they don't visit, you know, 647 00:24:23,820 --> 00:24:24,910 unless they come to like a nice dinner or show- 648 00:24:24,910 --> 00:24:26,400 - The locals don't visit the strip. 649 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:27,233 - Rarely, rarely, yeah. 650 00:24:27,233 --> 00:24:29,370 - Yeah, this is touristy stuff. 651 00:24:29,370 --> 00:24:31,620 - Yeah, so I mean, other than, you know, when we were kids 652 00:24:31,620 --> 00:24:33,660 coming down here for a buffet, 653 00:24:33,660 --> 00:24:34,878 you know, like Friday night buffet or- 654 00:24:34,878 --> 00:24:37,080 - Yeah, gotta eat, go to the cheap buffet. 655 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:38,850 - Yeah, and then, you know, there was a time 656 00:24:38,850 --> 00:24:40,650 when we'd ride our BMX bikes down here 657 00:24:40,650 --> 00:24:43,170 and jump our bikes into the Caesar's Palace fountains 658 00:24:43,170 --> 00:24:44,160 and cool off. 659 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,690 - Did you BMX a lot? 660 00:24:45,690 --> 00:24:47,340 - Yeah, in the desert, yeah. 661 00:24:47,340 --> 00:24:48,660 I was a desert rat. 662 00:24:48,660 --> 00:24:50,190 - Were you? - Yeah. 663 00:24:50,190 --> 00:24:52,890 - Like how many of you are out on your BMX bikes? 664 00:24:52,890 --> 00:24:54,030 Like two or three guys? 665 00:24:54,030 --> 00:24:55,874 Or you'd get like a whole posse of like 15? 666 00:24:55,874 --> 00:24:57,720 - Nah, nah, we didn't have a gang. 667 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,790 I mean, we weren't in a gang of BMX bikes, 668 00:24:59,790 --> 00:25:01,500 but you know, there were like about 669 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:04,150 three, four, or five of us I think at any given time. 670 00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:07,833 - I remember when I got my first Dino bike, 671 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,640 and I remember just wanting to put pegs on it 672 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,670 so I could stand on the back and ride around. 673 00:25:14,670 --> 00:25:15,810 - Yeah, do pop a wheelies. 674 00:25:15,810 --> 00:25:17,460 - Yeah, and think I'm super cool. 675 00:25:17,460 --> 00:25:18,293 - Right. 676 00:25:18,293 --> 00:25:21,540 - Definitely wasn't, the knobby tires didn't help 677 00:25:21,540 --> 00:25:22,980 with the balance, 678 00:25:22,980 --> 00:25:26,280 and ultimately, I never went anywhere in BMX, 679 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:27,420 but for you guys, 680 00:25:27,420 --> 00:25:29,940 you were probably more extreme, jumping- 681 00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:31,356 - Yeah, jumping- 682 00:25:31,356 --> 00:25:32,194 - Doing some dangerous stuff. 683 00:25:32,194 --> 00:25:33,660 - Riding around in the deserts on trails. 684 00:25:33,660 --> 00:25:35,790 I mean, we grew up on the outskirts of Las Vegas, 685 00:25:35,790 --> 00:25:38,160 or what we would consider to be the outskirts of Las Vegas. 686 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,730 Now it's, you know, houses go all the way up to Red Rock, 687 00:25:41,730 --> 00:25:43,860 and, you know, you're pretty much in this valley. 688 00:25:43,860 --> 00:25:45,810 Everything is going up to the edges of the valley. 689 00:25:45,810 --> 00:25:48,873 I mean, we grew up out in the desert, I mean- 690 00:25:51,030 --> 00:25:55,410 - So the bike, as a kid, is the first vehicle 691 00:25:55,410 --> 00:25:57,510 that actually can get you away from the house. 692 00:25:57,510 --> 00:25:58,343 - That was our freedom. 693 00:25:58,343 --> 00:25:59,176 You know, it's like everybody, 694 00:25:59,176 --> 00:26:00,420 you know, everybody when you're a kid, 695 00:26:00,420 --> 00:26:01,860 when you get your bike and, you know, 696 00:26:01,860 --> 00:26:03,780 you're not just relegated to your neighborhood 697 00:26:03,780 --> 00:26:06,540 or your area, your block, 698 00:26:06,540 --> 00:26:07,890 you know, it's like that sense of freedom. 699 00:26:07,890 --> 00:26:11,313 It's, like, why I think why so many people ride motorcycles. 700 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:14,850 You're out, you know, you're by yourself. 701 00:26:14,850 --> 00:26:17,550 It's like that truest sense of freedom. 702 00:26:17,550 --> 00:26:21,570 - What is it about that freedom that makes it so addicting? 703 00:26:21,570 --> 00:26:23,017 - I don't know, you're gonna have to talk to those- 704 00:26:23,017 --> 00:26:24,870 - How about for you? 705 00:26:24,870 --> 00:26:25,703 - I don't know. 706 00:26:25,703 --> 00:26:28,500 I mean because, I obviously I don't ride, 707 00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:31,020 you know, BMX bikes anymore, but, you know, 708 00:26:31,020 --> 00:26:32,760 you talk to guys that ride motorcycles, 709 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,520 particularly, you know, my brother Dominic, 710 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:36,993 you know, he builds bikes. 711 00:26:37,830 --> 00:26:41,580 He's a fabricator, you know, that's his hobby, 712 00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:46,580 so he's actually a fire inspector here in Las Vegas now. 713 00:26:47,220 --> 00:26:48,570 He was a firefighter for years 714 00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:51,843 and now he works for the city, you know, Clark County, 715 00:26:53,730 --> 00:26:54,810 but he still builds bikes. 716 00:26:54,810 --> 00:26:57,413 I mean, he just sent me another picture of his bike today, 717 00:26:58,330 --> 00:26:59,610 this bike he's working on. 718 00:26:59,610 --> 00:27:01,020 You know, he builds them and he sells them, 719 00:27:01,020 --> 00:27:03,552 and it's pretty cool, so- 720 00:27:03,552 --> 00:27:04,385 - That's awesome. 721 00:27:04,385 --> 00:27:05,310 - Yeah, you'd probably have to ask him about that, 722 00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:08,190 but I mean, like the truest essence of like that freedom, 723 00:27:08,190 --> 00:27:09,720 you'd probably have to talk to a guy 724 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,480 that's an avid motorcycle rider. 725 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:13,890 I'm not a motorcycle rider. 726 00:27:13,890 --> 00:27:16,260 I did it a little bit, a tiny bit when I was younger, 727 00:27:16,260 --> 00:27:18,900 but not to the degree that, you know, my brother, 728 00:27:18,900 --> 00:27:21,530 any of these guys that are in Harley culture, you know, are. 729 00:27:21,530 --> 00:27:25,650 - Sounds like you got some creative genes in the family. 730 00:27:25,650 --> 00:27:29,490 So your brother's a bike builder, motorcycle builder, 731 00:27:29,490 --> 00:27:31,350 you're a cigar builder. 732 00:27:31,350 --> 00:27:33,120 Are there other builders in the family 733 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:34,601 or creative outlets that you recognize? 734 00:27:34,601 --> 00:27:37,426 - No, I think we were it. 735 00:27:37,426 --> 00:27:38,259 - How many siblings do you have? 736 00:27:38,259 --> 00:27:39,120 - I think we were the ones. 737 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:40,680 - Just one, just a brother. - Just a brother. 738 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:41,899 - Yeah, he's two years younger. 739 00:27:41,899 --> 00:27:42,732 - How about your parents? 740 00:27:42,732 --> 00:27:43,830 Are they creative beings as well? 741 00:27:43,830 --> 00:27:45,630 - Not really, no, uh-huh. 742 00:27:45,630 --> 00:27:47,280 - What'd they do for a living? 743 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,230 - So my dad was a operating engineer. 744 00:27:49,230 --> 00:27:51,990 He ran heavy equipment here in Las Vegas. 745 00:27:51,990 --> 00:27:54,300 Built a lot of things. 746 00:27:54,300 --> 00:27:55,590 - He helped build Las Vegas. 747 00:27:55,590 --> 00:27:56,850 - He did, he really did. 748 00:27:56,850 --> 00:28:01,747 I mean, he laid a lot of the foundations for UNLV 749 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,240 when he worked for the companies that he did. 750 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:07,920 I think one of the last things that he did 751 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,160 right before he retired was he laid the grade 752 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,350 for the racetrack that's out here. 753 00:28:13,350 --> 00:28:16,680 There's like an Indy 500 racetrack out here 754 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:17,790 or something like that. 755 00:28:17,790 --> 00:28:19,980 Yeah, so he's the one that set that grade 756 00:28:19,980 --> 00:28:21,510 for the racetrack before he retired. 757 00:28:21,510 --> 00:28:22,560 That was years ago. 758 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,560 - Cool, again, another builder, 759 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:27,401 kind of creative in a different way. 760 00:28:27,401 --> 00:28:30,300 - Yeah, yeah, just, he moved dirt, you know, 761 00:28:30,300 --> 00:28:31,133 so that was his thing, that was his canvas. 762 00:28:31,133 --> 00:28:33,150 - Right, that's his canvas. 763 00:28:33,150 --> 00:28:36,480 His medium is dirt and is canvas is the land. 764 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:37,500 - Right. 765 00:28:37,500 --> 00:28:40,440 - Very cool, I can see all the creativity 766 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,060 kind of coming through. 767 00:28:42,060 --> 00:28:43,200 What about your mom? 768 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,510 - Yeah, so my mom started, 769 00:28:45,510 --> 00:28:46,410 you know, when we were younger, 770 00:28:46,410 --> 00:28:49,770 she was in the food service industry. 771 00:28:49,770 --> 00:28:51,480 She really took care of us for most of our life. 772 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:52,590 She was like a stay-at-home mom. 773 00:28:52,590 --> 00:28:53,730 Then as we got older, 774 00:28:53,730 --> 00:28:55,680 you know, she got little jobs here or there, 775 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,170 and then she went to work as a bookkeeper 776 00:28:58,170 --> 00:29:00,090 for a credit collection agency company, 777 00:29:00,090 --> 00:29:01,920 one of the oldest ones in the United States, 778 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,890 and she grew up through the ranks 779 00:29:04,890 --> 00:29:06,450 and she wound up owning it. 780 00:29:06,450 --> 00:29:09,780 She owned the entire credit collection agency, 781 00:29:09,780 --> 00:29:13,980 and, you know, retired from that, sold it off, 782 00:29:13,980 --> 00:29:18,270 and so she's really where I got my business sense from, 783 00:29:18,270 --> 00:29:22,440 or you know, like, for lack of better words, my math skill, 784 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,380 she really kind of got me in line and said, 785 00:29:25,380 --> 00:29:27,780 you know, "Dion, you really have to pay attention 786 00:29:27,780 --> 00:29:29,580 to the reporting side of it, 787 00:29:29,580 --> 00:29:31,740 your reports, your income, your expenses." 788 00:29:31,740 --> 00:29:33,900 And I'm like, "Oh, okay." 789 00:29:33,900 --> 00:29:37,144 You know, and so that's what you got me into, you know, 790 00:29:37,144 --> 00:29:41,910 your PnLs, everything that goes with business, 791 00:29:41,910 --> 00:29:44,610 you know, inventory levels, 792 00:29:44,610 --> 00:29:47,763 profit margins, everything, so she's really good at that. 793 00:29:48,660 --> 00:29:51,750 - That's awesome, so that makes you a little bit better 794 00:29:51,750 --> 00:29:53,103 at running a cigar shop. 795 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:54,833 - Yeah, it's- 796 00:29:54,833 --> 00:29:55,950 - And starting your own cigar line. 797 00:29:55,950 --> 00:29:57,120 - Yeah, it was kind of her passion. 798 00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:58,983 It's not necessarily my passion. 799 00:30:00,090 --> 00:30:03,963 You know, like, the backend, the details, 800 00:30:04,860 --> 00:30:06,510 the backend part of the business like that, you know, 801 00:30:06,510 --> 00:30:08,407 this is obviously where my passion lies, right. 802 00:30:08,407 --> 00:30:12,630 - Creating, blending, creating, that's your passion. 803 00:30:12,630 --> 00:30:13,860 - Correct. 804 00:30:13,860 --> 00:30:14,693 - Got it. 805 00:30:14,693 --> 00:30:17,100 What did you blend and create that we're smoking today? 806 00:30:17,100 --> 00:30:19,800 Becuse now I'm into it, and I've had a good chance 807 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,110 to kind of taste a lot of the flavors 808 00:30:22,110 --> 00:30:23,400 that are coming out of this. 809 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:28,400 - So this right here is part of the Original Documents line. 810 00:30:29,910 --> 00:30:33,000 So Original Documents, Illusione Original Documents, 811 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,670 which is actually on the table here, 812 00:30:35,670 --> 00:30:38,190 there's a couple of things, one, we kind of reimagined 813 00:30:38,190 --> 00:30:41,460 and redesigned the packaging for Illusione Cigars, 814 00:30:41,460 --> 00:30:44,970 not so far outside to where it's like completely different, 815 00:30:44,970 --> 00:30:48,420 but just wanted to get out of the shadows a little bit. 816 00:30:48,420 --> 00:30:50,140 Still staying on brand 817 00:30:51,210 --> 00:30:53,040 and still staying on topic 818 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,410 with, you know, what it is that put us here, 819 00:30:55,410 --> 00:30:57,210 you know, a little bit on the conspiracy side, 820 00:30:57,210 --> 00:30:59,160 a little bit on the, you know, brand imagery. 821 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,260 So the Original Documents here, 822 00:31:01,260 --> 00:31:03,060 streamlined packaging, sizing, 823 00:31:03,060 --> 00:31:05,373 all the blends still remain the same, 824 00:31:07,050 --> 00:31:09,510 all the sizes are still included. 825 00:31:09,510 --> 00:31:13,320 We have just included a brand like Ultra, 826 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:14,820 which is now part of the Original Documents, 827 00:31:14,820 --> 00:31:15,653 and this one here. 828 00:31:15,653 --> 00:31:19,005 So this one is a Habano. 829 00:31:19,005 --> 00:31:19,838 - I love Habanos. 830 00:31:19,838 --> 00:31:21,270 - Illusione Habano line, 831 00:31:21,270 --> 00:31:25,440 and this actually came about 832 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,260 with a guy I've been friends with for years, 833 00:31:28,260 --> 00:31:29,190 as everybody has been 834 00:31:29,190 --> 00:31:34,190 in this industry, AJ Fernandez. 835 00:31:34,620 --> 00:31:36,930 So he, you know, was like, "Dion, you know, 836 00:31:36,930 --> 00:31:38,460 when are you gonna come make a cigar with me? 837 00:31:38,460 --> 00:31:39,510 When are you gonna come make a cigar?" 838 00:31:39,510 --> 00:31:41,763 And I'm like, "Well, you know, 839 00:31:43,861 --> 00:31:46,200 I'm really dedicated and really tied 840 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,870 to where I'm at right now with Eduardo and his tobaccos." 841 00:31:48,870 --> 00:31:50,280 And he's like, "Well, you know, just come over, 842 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,980 and, you know, check it out, see what you think," 843 00:31:52,980 --> 00:31:55,503 you know, not from nothing, and so I did, 844 00:31:56,430 --> 00:32:01,430 and over the years, I'd worked with a particular person 845 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,320 by the name of Alberto Padilla, 846 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,380 which oversaw a lot of the fermentation 847 00:32:07,380 --> 00:32:10,503 over at Eduardo's operation. 848 00:32:11,340 --> 00:32:14,310 And about five years ago, 849 00:32:14,310 --> 00:32:18,300 he decided to go to another job, 850 00:32:18,300 --> 00:32:20,576 take, you know, for whatever reason. 851 00:32:20,576 --> 00:32:21,840 - Yeah, moving on. 852 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,840 - And he went to work for AJ as AJ opened a new factory, 853 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,830 so this was a nice opportunity for him 854 00:32:28,830 --> 00:32:32,790 to step up, little more responsibility, 855 00:32:32,790 --> 00:32:35,520 you know, a better position, what have you, 856 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:36,903 in another organization. 857 00:32:37,860 --> 00:32:42,630 And Alberto was a guy 858 00:32:42,630 --> 00:32:45,270 that I worked with side-by-side 859 00:32:45,270 --> 00:32:48,420 for years at the factory, 860 00:32:48,420 --> 00:32:50,850 at Eduardo's factory in Nicaragua, 861 00:32:50,850 --> 00:32:53,100 and he was the one, again, you know, 862 00:32:53,100 --> 00:32:55,980 so as tobaccos came from Jalapa Estelí, 863 00:32:55,980 --> 00:32:58,380 the first thing that I do when I go to Nicaragua 864 00:32:58,380 --> 00:33:00,000 is I review the raw materials. 865 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,350 I smoke the raw materials. 866 00:33:01,350 --> 00:33:04,380 And so he says, "Dion, you know, I want you to take a look 867 00:33:04,380 --> 00:33:05,213 at these pilónes. 868 00:33:05,213 --> 00:33:06,840 We just got these in from Jalapa, 869 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:08,310 you know, they're coming along nicely. 870 00:33:08,310 --> 00:33:09,270 I want you to smoke them." 871 00:33:09,270 --> 00:33:13,773 So he was very knowledgeable with my tobaccos, 872 00:33:14,790 --> 00:33:17,737 you know, going back to the original group of people, 873 00:33:17,737 --> 00:33:20,040 you know, that worked with Eduardo Fernandez, 874 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,410 and many still do to this day, 875 00:33:22,410 --> 00:33:24,720 but again, he had intimate knowledge 876 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,760 of what I was looking for and what I liked, 877 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:28,680 so that kind of clicked with me. 878 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:30,510 So as we sat down and we started talking 879 00:33:30,510 --> 00:33:33,060 about the olden days and blending with Arsenio Ramos, 880 00:33:33,060 --> 00:33:34,020 you know, God rest his soul, 881 00:33:34,020 --> 00:33:36,813 which passed away a few years back, 882 00:33:37,860 --> 00:33:41,250 it really kind of got my creative juices flowing again 883 00:33:41,250 --> 00:33:43,230 because, again, he had that knowledge, 884 00:33:43,230 --> 00:33:46,470 has that knowledge still to this day of what I look for 885 00:33:46,470 --> 00:33:48,930 when it comes to raw materials or tobacco. 886 00:33:48,930 --> 00:33:49,763 So I said, "You know what? 887 00:33:49,763 --> 00:33:52,320 Okay, let's smoke some tobaccos." 888 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:53,910 You know, "Let's see what you got." 889 00:33:53,910 --> 00:33:56,250 And you know, we came up with a blend 890 00:33:56,250 --> 00:33:58,440 and this is the Habano, and you know, 891 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:00,750 AJ grows wonderful tobaccos, 892 00:34:00,750 --> 00:34:04,650 many of which I really do not still understand, 893 00:34:04,650 --> 00:34:07,860 but with Alberto's expertise and knowing it, 894 00:34:07,860 --> 00:34:11,520 you know, kind of like in the beginning with Eduardo, 895 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:13,368 you know, led me through and he's like, 896 00:34:13,368 --> 00:34:14,760 "You know, I know you're gonna like this tobacco 897 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:16,140 because this reminds me of things 898 00:34:16,140 --> 00:34:17,610 that we did back in the day." 899 00:34:17,610 --> 00:34:20,730 So we came up with this, and this is a Habano line. 900 00:34:20,730 --> 00:34:22,500 It's a truest, I think, expression 901 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:26,790 of a Nicaraguan Habano blend that we can do. 902 00:34:26,790 --> 00:34:29,010 I just didn't wanna slap a Habano wrapper on it 903 00:34:29,010 --> 00:34:32,733 and call it Habano because that can be a bit misleading, 904 00:34:34,140 --> 00:34:36,120 and a bit untruthful. 905 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,890 So all the tobaccos that we put in combined with this, 906 00:34:40,890 --> 00:34:44,280 I think really is the true representation 907 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,810 of what a Nicaragua Habano cigar can be 908 00:34:48,810 --> 00:34:50,700 when it comes out of Nicaragua. 909 00:34:50,700 --> 00:34:51,780 - The sweetness. 910 00:34:51,780 --> 00:34:56,103 - Yeah, sweetness, aromatic, it's mild spices. 911 00:34:57,270 --> 00:34:59,160 It doesn't overwhelm the palate, 912 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:03,420 and it falls right in line 913 00:35:03,420 --> 00:35:07,260 with Illusione Cigars and Illusione Original Documents. 914 00:35:07,260 --> 00:35:09,810 So this would not come to fruition 915 00:35:09,810 --> 00:35:14,070 had not, all these components were in place 916 00:35:14,070 --> 00:35:17,490 and this level of trust that I had 917 00:35:17,490 --> 00:35:20,073 with Alberto Padilla in the past. 918 00:35:20,910 --> 00:35:24,840 - So much of, like, really good things, 919 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,933 really luxurious things or really high-end things, 920 00:35:29,100 --> 00:35:32,733 things that just have, that grab your attention, 921 00:35:33,630 --> 00:35:36,990 take whoever made them 922 00:35:36,990 --> 00:35:40,023 or whomever made them, multiples, 923 00:35:41,550 --> 00:35:46,263 it takes for them, those people that are the creators, 924 00:35:47,250 --> 00:35:51,900 to have a lot of trust in each other. 925 00:35:51,900 --> 00:35:53,640 - And it's an expression of our souls. 926 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,100 It's an expression of our creativity and what we do. 927 00:35:56,100 --> 00:35:59,220 You know, we want to make good things. 928 00:35:59,220 --> 00:36:00,930 We want to make luxurious things 929 00:36:00,930 --> 00:36:05,760 because it's, you know, it's what you deserve 930 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:07,320 in this industry, you know? 931 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:12,120 And it's what our enthusiasts, 932 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,400 our cigar enthusiasts deserve- 933 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:15,420 - It's what the people want. 934 00:36:15,420 --> 00:36:18,540 - Exactly, that's my focus is to make cigars 935 00:36:18,540 --> 00:36:21,450 that can be enjoyed universally. 936 00:36:21,450 --> 00:36:22,283 - I love that. 937 00:36:22,283 --> 00:36:23,196 - Yeah, thank you. 938 00:36:23,196 --> 00:36:24,029 - I love that. 939 00:36:24,029 --> 00:36:24,862 - And still not get away from, 940 00:36:24,862 --> 00:36:26,880 you know, the focus of what I wanna do personally. 941 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:28,650 - Right, absolutely. 942 00:36:28,650 --> 00:36:31,650 - So these will be out next year, 943 00:36:31,650 --> 00:36:35,760 along with the refresh of the Illusione brands, 944 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,330 and we're starting to go through and rebrand 945 00:36:39,330 --> 00:36:44,330 or reimagine a lot of our current brands 946 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:45,960 within the Illusione portfolio. 947 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,600 Another one we did was the Singulare right here. 948 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:53,600 So a Singulare was originally my limited-edition cigar 949 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:56,340 that I would release every year. 950 00:36:56,340 --> 00:36:59,580 So when August 8, 2015, came around, 951 00:36:59,580 --> 00:37:01,920 when the FDA, you know, decided to, 952 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:03,360 you know, quote, unquote, "Regulate" us 953 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:07,830 or begin the process, I wanted to make sure 954 00:37:07,830 --> 00:37:10,020 that I had all those sizes in those blends 955 00:37:10,020 --> 00:37:12,990 into the market before that date elapsed, 956 00:37:12,990 --> 00:37:17,990 so I released all of my Singulare limited-editions 957 00:37:18,180 --> 00:37:20,460 into the market to have those to use for later. 958 00:37:20,460 --> 00:37:22,263 So as years went by, 959 00:37:23,670 --> 00:37:25,980 you know, the hardest thing to do is maintain consistency, 960 00:37:25,980 --> 00:37:27,600 and some of these tobaccos that I used 961 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:29,490 for my limited-edition were very unique, 962 00:37:29,490 --> 00:37:30,630 they were very special, 963 00:37:30,630 --> 00:37:32,670 and you can have little amounts of them, 964 00:37:32,670 --> 00:37:34,590 or you can have large amounts of them. 965 00:37:34,590 --> 00:37:38,640 So it can be almost chaotic 966 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,390 to have eight different sizes in eight different blends, 967 00:37:42,390 --> 00:37:44,910 you know, sizes or whatever in one thing 968 00:37:44,910 --> 00:37:46,530 and maintain that consistency, 969 00:37:46,530 --> 00:37:48,630 so what I did was I took the spirit 970 00:37:48,630 --> 00:37:51,060 and the essence of one blend that I had 971 00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:54,960 within the Singulare releases that I made, 972 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:58,710 a, what's called, Singulare Origin line. 973 00:37:58,710 --> 00:38:03,433 It's four sizes, a 5x52, 6 3/4x48, 974 00:38:03,433 --> 00:38:06,360 a 6x56, and a 6 3/4x, 975 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,270 5 5/8s by 46 was the fourth. 976 00:38:09,270 --> 00:38:12,750 So four sizes encompassing everything 977 00:38:12,750 --> 00:38:15,330 that was great about the Singulare blend. 978 00:38:15,330 --> 00:38:17,820 Now what I can do is I can go on later 979 00:38:17,820 --> 00:38:20,370 and release all those great limited-editions 980 00:38:20,370 --> 00:38:24,960 to fortify and to compliment this Singulare Origin blend, 981 00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,380 which is now a core line. 982 00:38:28,380 --> 00:38:32,070 Did a little bit of imagery, 983 00:38:32,070 --> 00:38:33,570 brand imagery and repackaging. 984 00:38:33,570 --> 00:38:35,280 There's an owl on there that you can see, 985 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,230 and this is the owl of Ramses. 986 00:38:37,230 --> 00:38:39,810 Ramses II had a pet owl. 987 00:38:39,810 --> 00:38:42,210 And the fable, or the lore behind that was, 988 00:38:42,210 --> 00:38:44,490 you know, he's holding his owl one day, 989 00:38:44,490 --> 00:38:47,070 and then the owl slapped him in the face with his wing 990 00:38:47,070 --> 00:38:49,230 and then he was banished or punished. 991 00:38:49,230 --> 00:38:53,850 So you know, again, keeping in line with the icons 992 00:38:53,850 --> 00:38:58,290 and the brand imagery fits perfectly into Illusione Cigars, 993 00:38:58,290 --> 00:39:00,300 you know, with a little bit of Egyptian theme, 994 00:39:00,300 --> 00:39:02,190 but not quite on the nose, you know, 995 00:39:02,190 --> 00:39:04,470 not, you know, King Tut, 996 00:39:04,470 --> 00:39:07,350 you know, things like that. 997 00:39:07,350 --> 00:39:09,720 So it has a little bit of that in there, 998 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:13,020 but it has really incorporated the soul 999 00:39:13,020 --> 00:39:14,220 of Illusione as well. 1000 00:39:14,220 --> 00:39:15,150 - Love that. 1001 00:39:15,150 --> 00:39:18,183 Dion, if somebody was, like me, 1002 00:39:19,860 --> 00:39:23,190 struggling with being able to taste flavors 1003 00:39:23,190 --> 00:39:25,290 that are coming out of a cigar, 1004 00:39:25,290 --> 00:39:28,567 do you think it's important to be able to say, 1005 00:39:28,567 --> 00:39:31,800 "This tastes like the sweetness?" 1006 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:32,633 - Yeah. 1007 00:39:32,633 --> 00:39:34,230 - Well, what type of sweetness? 1008 00:39:34,230 --> 00:39:36,063 Is that important or is it not? 1009 00:39:37,170 --> 00:39:41,370 - You know, I mean it is, but it isn't. 1010 00:39:41,370 --> 00:39:43,560 I mean, people know what they like, 1011 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,180 again, they just don't know why they like it. 1012 00:39:45,180 --> 00:39:46,260 They like it because it's sweet, 1013 00:39:46,260 --> 00:39:48,000 they like it because it's peppery, 1014 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:49,773 they like it because it's spicy, 1015 00:39:51,390 --> 00:39:54,090 but it's the word association game, right? 1016 00:39:54,090 --> 00:39:55,800 So like when you hear, 1017 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,530 or when you read articles or reviews about wine, 1018 00:39:58,530 --> 00:40:01,320 you know, you get blueberries or cranberry, 1019 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:05,850 or essence of, you know, forest floor, 1020 00:40:05,850 --> 00:40:10,850 or ship's hull, or anxiety, whatever, 1021 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,670 whatever adjective that they want to describe, 1022 00:40:14,670 --> 00:40:15,503 you know, what it is. 1023 00:40:15,503 --> 00:40:18,690 And again, it's all just a frame of reference 1024 00:40:18,690 --> 00:40:23,160 to bring you into what that particular wine 1025 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:25,290 or that cigar is trying to express. 1026 00:40:25,290 --> 00:40:30,270 So you know, there are certain components in cigars 1027 00:40:30,270 --> 00:40:32,940 that do mimic certain flavors. 1028 00:40:32,940 --> 00:40:35,077 Now, you know, if you say that something, 1029 00:40:35,077 --> 00:40:37,620 "Oh wow, I get a real hint of dark chocolate," 1030 00:40:37,620 --> 00:40:40,650 it doesn't taste exactly like dark chocolate, 1031 00:40:40,650 --> 00:40:43,680 but you know, you can take a puff of a cigar 1032 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,220 and go like that, and then maybe two or three seconds later 1033 00:40:47,220 --> 00:40:50,860 it's like, "Oh wow, that tasted exactly 1034 00:40:53,368 --> 00:40:56,850 like that Illy espresso that I had the other day. 1035 00:40:56,850 --> 00:41:01,850 It has that same type of earthy coffee characteristic 1036 00:41:02,430 --> 00:41:03,263 that I had." 1037 00:41:03,263 --> 00:41:05,280 So it's kind of like associating, 1038 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:06,480 you know, one with another, 1039 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,300 and it's all very, you know, subjective, 1040 00:41:09,300 --> 00:41:11,070 but it's all very subconscious too, 1041 00:41:11,070 --> 00:41:14,760 and you're kind of like tying things together, 1042 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:16,740 and just associating things. 1043 00:41:16,740 --> 00:41:18,427 So, you know, maybe some things can, 1044 00:41:18,427 --> 00:41:21,730 you know, you could taste black cherries 1045 00:41:22,710 --> 00:41:24,990 in a particular blend, or you could taste cocoa, 1046 00:41:24,990 --> 00:41:27,197 or you can taste Christmas spices, 1047 00:41:27,197 --> 00:41:28,500 you know, something that tastes like a, 1048 00:41:28,500 --> 00:41:31,380 you know, so I've had, sometimes I've had a cigar 1049 00:41:31,380 --> 00:41:32,630 that kind of tastes like, 1050 00:41:33,930 --> 00:41:36,150 you know, like fruitcake. 1051 00:41:36,150 --> 00:41:38,250 You know, it's got those Christmas spices in there, 1052 00:41:38,250 --> 00:41:40,680 so does it taste exactly like fruitcake? 1053 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:44,520 No, but it kind of, the essence of it sometimes reminds you 1054 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,280 of like that fruitcake that you had, 1055 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,410 or like that cup of coffee that you had, 1056 00:41:49,410 --> 00:41:52,260 or, you know, whatever it is, it's just association, 1057 00:41:52,260 --> 00:41:56,133 and I think that's where really people kind of get into it. 1058 00:41:57,150 --> 00:41:58,650 - I just had an epiphany. 1059 00:41:58,650 --> 00:41:59,483 - Yeah. 1060 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:05,130 - So instead of me worrying about I taste sweetness, 1061 00:42:05,130 --> 00:42:09,750 what type, I think I'm just like okay with 1062 00:42:09,750 --> 00:42:11,760 I taste sweetness and I like it. 1063 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,200 - Yeah, exactly. - It's blended well. 1064 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:14,033 - And that's it. 1065 00:42:14,033 --> 00:42:16,620 - I don't need to go to the next level in order to enjoy it. 1066 00:42:16,620 --> 00:42:19,307 - You don't have to get mired down in all of that. 1067 00:42:19,307 --> 00:42:21,480 - Because sometimes that prevents you 1068 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:23,190 from really just enjoying it. 1069 00:42:23,190 --> 00:42:25,410 - Exactly, and yeah, that's it, 1070 00:42:25,410 --> 00:42:29,250 because once you, you know, you go down the rabbit hole, 1071 00:42:29,250 --> 00:42:30,257 especially as a blender, then you're- 1072 00:42:30,257 --> 00:42:32,340 - You're working hard to get there. 1073 00:42:32,340 --> 00:42:34,590 - Then you start getting into, "Oh, I gotta change this, 1074 00:42:34,590 --> 00:42:35,423 I gotta change that." 1075 00:42:35,423 --> 00:42:37,890 Sometimes you just have to let it speak 1076 00:42:37,890 --> 00:42:42,450 and let it just become what it is. 1077 00:42:42,450 --> 00:42:44,460 And you know what to change, what not to change. 1078 00:42:44,460 --> 00:42:46,800 If it's too bitter, then there's ways you can fix it. 1079 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,560 If it's too sweet, then there's ways you can fix that. 1080 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:51,090 If it's too spicy, you could fix it. 1081 00:42:51,090 --> 00:42:53,343 If it's too salty, you can fix it. 1082 00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:56,850 So other than that, 1083 00:42:56,850 --> 00:42:58,530 I mean, going down the rabbit hole, 1084 00:42:58,530 --> 00:43:01,980 those are for the people that do reviews. 1085 00:43:01,980 --> 00:43:04,020 It can be for me sometimes too, 1086 00:43:04,020 --> 00:43:06,510 but sometimes I just gotta let it go 1087 00:43:06,510 --> 00:43:08,370 because if I don't let it go, 1088 00:43:08,370 --> 00:43:11,010 then nothing will ever get made. 1089 00:43:11,010 --> 00:43:14,160 - Right, well, and I think it's important to understand 1090 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:18,810 that it's just an expression 1091 00:43:18,810 --> 00:43:23,437 to try to get you the consumer to possibly say, 1092 00:43:23,437 --> 00:43:27,270 "Yeah, I'd like to pick that up and enjoy that." 1093 00:43:27,270 --> 00:43:29,255 - Yeah, you wanna make a connection. 1094 00:43:29,255 --> 00:43:31,800 You wanna make that emotional connection 1095 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:36,180 or that physical connection, that taste sensation, 1096 00:43:36,180 --> 00:43:38,243 you know, with it. 1097 00:43:38,243 --> 00:43:41,970 You know, maybe it comes to how you sell something, 1098 00:43:41,970 --> 00:43:44,520 maybe it comes to however you market anything, 1099 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:48,120 but, you know, it's all relative. 1100 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:49,353 - I think that's a wrap. 1101 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:52,320 I had a great time sitting here 1102 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:54,810 talking to you, and understanding. 1103 00:43:54,810 --> 00:43:58,560 I kind of call this golfing with Dion. 1104 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:01,560 I just went out and had like a golf. 1105 00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:02,910 - You played 18 holes with Dion. 1106 00:44:02,910 --> 00:44:04,620 - I played 18 holes with Dion 1107 00:44:04,620 --> 00:44:06,750 and I enjoyed every minute of it. 1108 00:44:06,750 --> 00:44:07,740 - And you had a cigar. 1109 00:44:07,740 --> 00:44:09,870 - Every hole, every stroke, 1110 00:44:09,870 --> 00:44:13,080 and then on top of it, traveling to the ball, 1111 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:15,630 riding alongside with you inside the cart 1112 00:44:15,630 --> 00:44:17,790 was just a true honor. 1113 00:44:17,790 --> 00:44:18,623 - Aw, thank you. 1114 00:44:18,623 --> 00:44:20,070 - Again, the top three people 1115 00:44:20,070 --> 00:44:22,200 that I've always wanted to sit down with, 1116 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:23,310 and you're one of them. 1117 00:44:23,310 --> 00:44:24,143 - Thank you. 1118 00:44:24,143 --> 00:44:25,463 - So thank you for sitting down with me. 1119 00:44:25,463 --> 00:44:26,940 - That's very kind of you to say. 1120 00:44:26,940 --> 00:44:29,670 - That's another episode of "Box Press," 1121 00:44:29,670 --> 00:44:32,310 Golfing with Dion is a blast. 1122 00:44:32,310 --> 00:44:34,320 Check out Epernay, 1123 00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:37,050 or sorry, check out the Epernay, because that's my favorite, 1124 00:44:37,050 --> 00:44:39,773 but check out Illusione Cigars. 1125 00:44:39,773 --> 00:44:42,606 (tranquil music)