The Vicente Difference
I have known Vince for over 6 years and this guy is totally focused. I am definitely a convert to being a Vicente Aficionado. The quality and complexity of the Vicente Gold Standard is out of this world.
~ Jorge Beltre
Aficionado
/ə-ˌfi-sh(ē-)ə-ˈnä-(ˌ)dō/
noun
“1. a person who likes, knows about, and appreciates a usually fervently pursued interest or activity”
“2. a devotee”
“aficionados of the bullfight” or “movie aficionados”
The Cigar Aficionado
As you can see by definition, an aficionado is defined by passion or those whom simply appreciate a good thing.
Whether you just had your first cigar, or are trying to expand your flavor palette, you are just as much a cigar aficionado as someone who has been smoking cigars for years or decades. There’s no need to feel intimidated by family, friends, colleagues, or even strangers in the cigar lounge who sometimes boast of additional knowledge or experience about cigars. But the single most obscure fact about being an aficionado is also about maintaining the desire for learning in order to continue with your passion. Because there is much learn within the cigar industry.
So if you have a passion for cigars, the culture, the aroma, the burn, the blend, the hold, the frustration when your torch is out of gas in the middle of lighting your favorite blend, the relaxation, the anger when you burn a hole in your favorite piece of clothing, the gathering, and the pairing with your favorite cordial or cocktail, then you should take pride in knowing you truly are a cigar aficionado.
The Vicente Difference
Yes, a cigar aficionado is someone who is passionate about cigars. And we would venture to say that there are millions if not tens of millions of aficionados throughout the world today.
However, being a Vicente Aficionado is about being more curious and particular. We are unique because of requiring various additional requirements within the pursuit of our learning experience no matter of our current levels passion or knowledge within the industry. Because it is our passion that drives our continual evolution never permitting our resolve to fade.
So what does it truly mean to be a Vicente Aficionado?
- Passion for cigars
- Curiosity for what could be
- Desire for something truly unique
- Expectation of striving for perfection
- Disapproval for continual repetition
- Demand for true quality in all aspects of a brand
The Vicente Aficionado is simply about having confidence, being curious, and desiring something more from every aspect of the cigar. It is about questioning how the cigar and/or brand could be better, not to just complain, but to actually consider and validate alternatives on the few have ever thought about.
We are passionately disruptive (not to be confused with complaining as we are not) with deep and precise viewpoints. And will always be asking ourselves one simple question (why ?) which will continue to evolve our passion for cigars.
Vicente states, “To be candid, I was tired of seeing the repetitive promises of other brands for something different and yet the only aspect of being different were potentially the names and paper labels. By no means am I purposefully trying to critique others in a disrespectful manner, but my entire life of being an entrepreneur has been to question everything. Why we do what we do and what has always made me different.
I found myself hearing the continual stories of master blending cigars which just seemed common to me and verbatim. And in many cases the cigars were producing too many inconsistencies like linear complexity accompanied by a difficulty draw and limited smoke.
One of the most important aspects of blending that I learned is about airflow. If there isn’t enough airflow in a cigar, then the flavor, the aroma, as well as the overall experience totally degrades. Airflow can actually take a bad cigar and make it better starting with the experience.
If you do not believe me, then why are their devices on the market, like a cork screw, in which you can tunnel through the cigar before smoking it ? This is to increase airflow simply because the cigar brand is manufacturing your cigar with too much filler. This is a fact and not my opinion.
I also experienced both reading and hearing that ‘cigars may burn irregular because they are hand rolled, no cigar is ever the same’. At the time, before Vicente Blends, while being an engineer and naive to cigar construction, my intuition of this comment was an excuse.
So it was being a Vicente Aficionado, of asking the question why, that guided me in the 4+ years of my blending and re-engineering of the Vicente cigar construction experience. I can say with absolute confidence, that yes every cigar may be a little different simply due to natural variables like tobacco leaf size and shape.
However, if the cigar can be viewed as an engineering masterpiece, then there are specific quality control metrics, most are very simple and overlooked, that can ensure that every cigar is created within the same perfection as the previous one.
One of Vicente Blends’ operational trademark is to slow the pace of our master rollers which then allows them to truly feel and create the perfect cigar. Another Vicente trademark is to weigh our cigars prior to pressing them, providing the master roller with a quantitative checkpoint before continuing, rather than just feeling the weight in his or her hands. Yes, the master rollers are incredible with their hand and weight sense coordinations, but doing the same thing every day can also cause quality issues due to continual repetition.
These types of quality metrics are unheard of simply because slowing down production for quality checks, actually decreases profit for the brand.
Everyone hears or has read about how a 2-person team of rollers should be creating 220-300 cigars per day. This equates to approximately 37 cigars per hour (based upon 8 hours per day) or less than 2 minutes per cigar rolled. Think about this ? 2 minutes per cigar rolled ? Can you perform the same task (any task) the entire day every 2 minutes for 8 hours?
Here at Vicente, our master roller teams only construct 100-120 cigars daily which permits time to implement the necessary quality control measures which I might add is excessively more detailed than just fitting them through a stainless or wooden gauge ring sizer.
It is because the entire Vicente team and myself demanded more so we had to learn but then implement Vicente Blends’ quality control metrics in order to provide the highest consistency and perfection to our and your smoking experience. This is what a Vicente Aficionado is about.
Relaxation with a cigar is about everything being flawless. The cut, the cold draw, the light, the aroma, the burn, the flavor, and then the complexity. So many variables must be perfected simultaneously.
Can you remember the last time you had this flawless cigar experience?
Vicente Blends is positively unique, as we truly identify with The Vicente Aficionado within you, as we truly identified within ourselves and simply wanted to produce what we believe the essence of a cigar experience should be, flawless!
Our advantage was our ability to create the brand but more importantly to identify with the 1000’s others like us and you.
This is the nature of The Vicente Aficionado!
Aficionado my ass...I just love to smoke cigars.
~ James Woods