Metro Cigar News Summer 1998: A Cigar Journalist Shares his Love

A Cigar Journalist Shares his Love of the Industry
by Dale Scott

I'm 62, and have smoked premium cigars for 40 years. I started, like many others, on Hav-a-Tampa Jewels, with the little wooden tips. Back those pre-Embargo days though, they still had real Havana tobacco in them, and were far superior to those of today.

I am an engineering graduate (more later). In 1959, I made friends with a former officer on a submarine, who had been stationed in Key West, prior to Castro's takeover. His boat docked in Cuba regularly, and he regaled me with stories of his weekends in Havana, especially in the world-renowned clubs in their heyday. He told of seeing stage spectacles at places like the Tropicana, with "more people on stage than in the audience." He had fallen in love with Cuban cigars, and would reminisce about their glory.

I smoked my first Havana leaf a few years later (the embargo was in place by then). A European friend sent two boxes of Dutch cigars, of the dried fashion favored by Europeans. They were all-Cuban leaf, and he secreted them into a shipment of electronic equipment. I remember that flavor to this day, more like cedar than tobacco, and it is the standard by with I judge all cigars - and one which no others have matched.

Regulars in my humidor included Royal Jamaica - when they were still being made in Jamaica; potent Joya de Nicaraguas, mild Ornelas; even machine-made Cuesta Rey 95s and 8-9-8s. Castro's revolution and the embargo caught many of the cigar makers off-balance, and the quality and variety of cigars was pretty sorry for several years.

I married, and traveled in my career as a sales engineer, field and national sales manager for high-tech electronic manufacturers. Though never an accredited teacher, my engineering background and a natural desire and ability to explain things served me well in technical sales. I also taught sailing, dancing and karate over the years, so I guess I have a natural ability to teach. This has been the foundation for my niche in the cigar industry.

My family grew to six children, and one story amuses me to this day. My son, now 33, was the baby of the family, so he could get away with things none of the others would try. One night - he was about six - he started pestering to join me in an after-dinner cigar. I thought, "I'll teach him a lesson." "Sure, Richard, but these are expensive, so you can't waste it. Once you start, you have to finish it." The family gathered around to see the outcome. We lit up our double coronas together, and puffed away. I was watching out of the corner of my eye for telltale greenness in his complexion. Forty-five minutes later, we snubbed out the corpses. "Dad," he said, "can I have another one?"

Over the years, people would approach me when I was out with a cigar, probably because they noticed the transcendent state they elevated me to. They asked questions about cigars and what cigar smoking was like. Most often, it was women who were curious, usually in order to buy cigars for men. I enjoyed sharing my observations and experiences with them, and never tired of educating them on the delights of quality cigars.

Some years later, a friend told me about cigar factories in the Hispanic neighborhoods in some cities, notably Miami and Tampa. At the public library, I looked up "Cigars Manufacturers" in the Miami Yellow Pages, and wrote to every one, requesting prices and literature. To my delight, many sent me samples! They were impressive, commanding Presidentes, piramides, even a culebra. They weren't blended for the American taste in mild, sweet cigars, either. Their strength better suited the local Cuban/Americans who bought them. I began buying cigars via mail order, and enjoyed the variety of no-nonsense Havana-style cigars for years, paying a fraction of the cost of name brand cigars.

My business travels took me around the country, and in the mid-Seventies, I visited Miami for the first time. Through my purchases, I had become familiar with the storefront "mamacita and papacita" cigar factories in North Miami, in what is called Little Havana. I took a day off on my trip there in 1974 to visit these shops and their owners with whom I had corresponded, and to experience the mystique of the cigar-making world. This mystique is on a mundane plane, the way they practice it, by the way - after decades of rolling 150-plus cigars a day, they are pretty blasé about the craft. From that day on, Whenever I hit Miami, I hung out on street corners in Little Havana, enjoying the cigars, Cuban espresso coffee, and spirited conversations with Cubans, who are warm and hospitable. The brio of the Cuban people has always drawn me to them, as well as their passion for tobacco.

I befriended Jose Diaz-Hernandez , a Cuban-American then in his mid-fifties. For 38 years, he had worked the tobacco fields in Cuba's prime growing region, the Vuelta Abajo. He says that, as a skinny eight-year old, he dared tell the foreman of the farm that he could cut tobacco leaves at harvest time as quickly and carefully as the grown men. When he delivered on his promise, he began his career as a tobacco farmer, until he fled Castro. He taught me much about the growing and processing of tobacco for cigars, and I have great respect for this quiet, gentle little man.

In 1992, I retired from my sales management position, and decided to self-publish a howto book on premium cigars. I knew they were once again becoming popular - though the boom hadn't really gained steam as it has since. Many people in the cigar industry have emphasized the need for education of cigar consumers. Over the years, I had applied my engineering curiosity about "how things work" to the techniques and principles that lead to real enjoyment of fine cigars. I had also learned about this fascinating field through years of conversations with cigar rollers, retailers and fellow smokers. I even learned and practiced the craft of bunching and rolling handmade cigars. I discovered it was easy for me to roll a cigar, difficult to roll a good cigar, and almost impossible to make a living at it on a piecework basis!

In 1993, 1 published "How to Select and Enjoy Premium Cigars...and Save Money!" Retailers and consumers alike tell me it's the best-selling book for teaching smokers proper cigar techniques. Though written for new smokers, dozens of tobacconists have used it to train their sales staffs. A cigar distributor said, "it is the best and most accurate book on cigars I've ever read - and I'm from a Cuban tobacco-growing family." The president of one of the largest cigar companies said he carries it when speaking at cigar events as a reference when he can't answer a question. So, I know the average smoker can derive a lot of benefit from it. It doesn't contain endless listings of cigars, trivia, or lots of cigar history. It's purpose is to educate, not entertain, although readers say it's a fun, easy-to-read book.

The book not only teaches how to get the most enjoyment from cigars, but also how to get the most for the money. For years, I've preached that great cigars don't have to cost a lot. They are one of the least expensive luxuries known. An hour with a fine cigar is best shared with a friend, but for the mutual pleasure itself, not to impress others. The cigar fad has spawned a lot of nouveau smokers who use the cigar as a statement of status or influence - this isn't the right reason to smoke them. I see too many young smokers who, while posturing, are missing the satisfaction their cigars could give. Their cigars are bitter or biting because they store them, prepare, light, and smoke them incorrectly.

My motto is, "As long as there's one guy out there who's trying to smoke the cedar sheath along with the cigar it's wrapped in, my work isn't done! "You can laugh, but retailers have said they've seen inexperienced smokers try it. SMOKE magazine's editor once said she received a call from the photo shoot for one of their clothing fashion articles. The models were using cigars as props, and they needed to know which end they should light. But I can't laugh at these stories, because how can these new smokers learn if no one teaches them?

I write feature articles for several national cigar magazines, as well as a leading wine magazine. I usually stick to subjects that educate and edify cigar smokers. The articles address topics like: how to shop for cigars wisely, health considerations of cigars smoking, proper storage to retain freshness and avoid pests, lighting and re-lighting of cigars correctly, pronunciation of Spanish cigar terms and names, and cigar etiquette. One editor says my article on proper humidor storage is the most requested reprint he can remember. The cigar craze is passing, leaving the serious smoker. They don't care what Demi or Arnold are smoking, they want to learn the Art of Cigarmanship. They know cigars are an investment in personal gratification that reward those who become connoisseurs. These are the smokers I speak to - the ones who are serious about their cigars. There's too much mumbo-jumbo surrounding cigars - my goal is to replace the mystique and ritual of cigars with technique, based on logic and experience.

In addition to the book and articles, my web site, www.cigar-resource.com, provides educational material and references to other information resources of value to the serious smoker. I know of no other web sites that offer as much free education for cigar smokers. We just launched a forum for cigar dialogue. In addition, I moderate a formal chat session on the last Tuesday of each month, from 6P M to 9PM, Pacific time. Guest panelists from the cigar industry sit in to answer questions on topics like proper humidification, cigar manufacturing, tobacco farming, and even legal travel to Cuba!

As a cigar journalist, a lot of information crosses my desk - I've become an "Information node." I furnish consultations to the industry, including product and market advisories, and sampling and reviewing of new cigars for manufacturers. People flatter me by calling me an authority on cigars, but I've learned more in the last five years, now that I'm the "expert," than in 35 years of smoking before that. There's a wealth of fascinating information on cigars and tobacco, and I love sharing it with others.

I live outside a small mining town in the mountains with my wife Lois, fifty miles east of San Diego. It's a great hideaway for a back-bedroom publishing company. I love the warm afternoons on the front deck, with a view to accompany the meditation of a fine cigar. That's good, as Lois doesn't allow me in the house with one!

I have discovered and mined a fraternity that is bound together by a love for the leaf as passionate as most religions - without the tendency religious zealots show of wanting to convert others. The traditional cigar industry is one of the few that can be truly called a family. It's easy for those in any field of business to practice bon-homie when sales are great and the money is rolling in. But these people - farmers, manufacturers, importers, and retailers, all endured a three decade 30% slump and still supported each other. Retailers tell of having their store burn down, and having their competitors loan them product until they could get back on their feet. It is an honor to be welcomed and treated respectfully by these people, many of whom go back four generations in the tobacco industry. When the craze has passed, the real tobacco people will still be here after all the profiteering entrepreneurs have bailed.

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