Vincent McGlone - Vicente Blends

Why Me?

One of the most important, fundamental, and very difficult tasks of life is for any individual, man or woman, to assess their life looking back in order to provide an honest assessment of yourself, and to basically answer one simple but incredibly powerful question…Why me?

In my particular case – of creating a newly unique and successful cigar brand – I believe every one of my newly found readers, friends, confidants, critiques, business associates, and Vicente Aficionados should all have the same question. This is what makes us unique as leaders and disruptors.

Why Vincente Blends?

Looking back, I have always been a disruptor to consistent thought patterns and processes which has always provided me with an obscure vision to identify where repetitive patterns and consistencies have basically ceased evolutionary growth. Consistency creates comfort, of which most people love comfort, but for me, the same comfort I feel quickly turns into boredom and anxiety. I then start the process of asking why and what can be changed.

In my opinion comfort should only be temporarily beneficial with long term comfort becoming a severe detriment to learning and growing. So, my ability to identify targets for disruption helps me to promote innovation and evolution which are the basics to learning and growing which are the fundamentals of living a very happy and eventful life.

I am very passionate about my continual learning and growth and have always been fully committed to those ideas I identify as becoming a reality. One particular project (now called Vicente Blends) gained momentum in my thought process around 2016 while living in the Dominican Republic but the seed of the idea dates as far back as growing up in Philadelphia but definitely gained momentum back around 2000 in Bangkok Thailand, which ultimately is the beginning of my true cigar experience.

Philadelphia

Being an American living within the Philadelphia area during the era of the Cuban cigar embargo, I found myself and my friends starting to smoke cigars with the continual pursuit to find, buy, and smoke Cuban cigars, most notably Cohiba. Similarly, I can say with high confidence, every other cigar smoker during their naïve cigar aficionado phase of life can attest to the same thought processes and desires of Cuban cigars.

I can remember guys talking about Castro’s cigar dinner and just the excitement Cuban cigars brought to the discussion. “Everyone knew a guy”

And as a part of my passion for disruption, interestingly, without any mal-intent or disrespect suggested, sometimes I wonder if the Cuban cigar craze would be as concentrated or powerful as it was and still is today if it was not for the US embargo. By no means am I saying Cuban cigars would not be as good as they are, I just wonder what desirable differences we would see today, if any.

Remember, sales and marketing is mostly about psychology and our human nature typically wants those aspects of life in which we can cannot achieve to acquire. What if Dominican Cigars were embargoed? or Honduran or Nicaraguan? How would this have affected the industry as a whole? For the better or worse?

Bangkok & India

So back to 2000 I was living in Bangkok, Thailand and found a plethora of Cuban cigars at the JW Marriot on Sukhumvit Avenue in Bangkok. I remember, walking into the humidor with this amazing feeling, buying a Cohiba and then sitting in the lobby smoking the cigar acting and feeling like a king, while drinking a cocktail (as my Spanish friend David says, the one before the last), and listening to the piano player.

I have to say that this single experience alone is one of most incredible experiences of my life and I can honestly say now, in hindsight, that this single event was the true beginning of my cigar aficionado path and to Vicente Blends.

I started going back to the lobby bar almost every night to have a Cuban cigar (Cohiba, Montecristo, Partagas, or Bolivar) and to enjoy such a relaxing experience.

I lived in Bangkok and India for almost 7 years enjoying and smoking Cuban cigars with friends from all over the world with one intense thought in mind, being young and naïve, that I had truly made it in life to live in Bangkok, smoke Cubans, but also finally to understand and to feel the true cigar experience and culture.

Dominican Republic

Fast forward, to approximately 2011, I started to travel to the Dominican Republic, of which I currently live and spend the majority of my life. And one of the amazing aspects of the Dominican is how intertwined the cigar culture is within the DNA of the Dominican people, thus making the Dominican Republic a true smoking culture.

Quick Note; Some sources provide estimates that Dominican cigars comprise over 40% of the total sales throughout the US or world market which is impressive and solidifies my opinion that the Dominican Republic is a true cigar culture.

One of my many experiences within the Dominican I would like to share with you has to do with the differences is psychology between the Dominicans and Americans and/or other non-cigar cultures whom have deemed smoking in public illegal.

Whenever I go to a late lunch or dinner (which is often), I find myself joyful in knowing I can smoke at almost any restaurant as long as we are outside without any complaints from any patron or establishment. In some cases, there are cigar ashtrays already on the tables waiting for me. And if the ashtray is not currently waiting for me, as soon as the waiter sees a cigar, an ashtray is immediately brought to the table.

Dominican Culture

I also want to be very clear about this point because I also believe respect is required as a part our cigar culture. I would never light a cigar if I arrived at a table and others were eating adjacent to me. Just a part of my upbringing. I would always wait for their meal to be completed and then ask them if they minded, and never, not one time have I ever had a Dominican refuse my desire to smoke a cigar next to them. And if I did not want to wait to light up my cigar, I would move to another table out of respect for others whom were enjoying prior to my arrival throwing off amazingly scented smoke and aromas.

The irony is, while knowing the Dominican culture is one of the most tolerant cultures I have ever seen when I ask questions of permission to have a cigar, these weird looks get thrown my way as to why I am asking their permission to smoke as if my question is just stupid. Dominicans typically would want you to light up and enjoy so why waste the energy or time to ask a such stupid question.

Cigar Aficionado

So I guess as of today and the most recent past years of living in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, I can honestly and confidently say that I have experienced and lived within a true cigar culture that few others have had the ability to do. This has increased my passion and knowledge of cigars, so hopefully I may be able to deem for myself the title of Cigar Aficionado.

A friendly reminder to everyone, the definition of Aficionado is “a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime. Therefore, I have the utmost confidence in stating that I am a Cigar Aficionado relative to being enthusiastic about the activity and passionate about the relaxing psychological benefits.

Why Vicente Blends?

So back to my original question. So why Vicente Blends?

Vicente Blends started as a passion project, still is, but I want to do something different since not many people have the world experiences as I do. This doesn’t mean I will be successful, but it does mean my experiences have been very unique and my knowledge somewhat complete.

So I want to use my passion, knowledge and resources to create a cigar brand that is just different and suavely disruptive to the cigar industry.

Vicente Blends is not only about me, it is about everyone within the entire cigar ecosystem, from the tobacco growers and blenders, to all beginners or aficionados or connoisseurs, to all brick and mortar shops throughout the world, and to anyone who has ever thought about creating their own cigar blend or brand, Vicente Blends will truly be unique.

The sign of a good businessman/woman is to surround themselves with good, knowledgeable, and passionate people in order to build a team of confidence and trust, and this is exactly what I have done with Vicente Blends.