64
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JULY/AUGUST 2014
Four-year-old
St. Louis cigar
company Table 36
is launching its third
boutique cigar.
By Jennifer Gelfand
M
any evenings that involve
great food, a terrific
cigar, and the company
of friends probably end the way
Table 36 started. This boutique
cigar company originated when a
group of friends who had a standing
monthly reservation for an evening
of socializing over dinner and stogies
at—you guessed it—table no. 36 at a
local steakhouse began musing about
creating their own cigar.
“It was a group of anywhere
between five and 20 people, purely a
social thing,” recounts Will Blicharz,
a co-owner of the company. “There
were eight of us that particular
night—in May of 2010—that we
started to talk seriously about it.”
The group began working with Chris
Manso, a Midwest representative for
Alec Bradley, sampling blends and
providing feedback. Soon afterward,
they found themselves forming a
limited liability corporation and
beginning the two-year process of
bringing their very first cigar to
market: the Fellowship (see “Table
36’s Lineup,” p.68).
Now the group had a cigar, but
lacked almost everything else an
unknown company needs to bring
a new product to market—most
significantly a sales force. “We all
had—and still have—full-time jobs,”
explains Blicharz, who notes that
some members of the Table 36 team
have changed since its inception, but
that there are still eight owners, all
of whom are moonlighting. Blicharz
Their Table Is
Definitely
Ready
