14 TOBACCO BUSINESS | JULY / AUGUST | 22 A question that I get asked a lot when it comes to Tobacco Business is, “Who is your audience?” I’m never bothered by this question because, as a writer, every story starts with identifying a target and speaking directly to them. As a trade publication, Tobacco Business is designed to cover all aspects of the tobacco industry from “seed to shelf,” as they say. That means there are times when we’re covering cigarettes and cigars, and other times when the stories deal with the evolution of the industry and touch on vapor, e-cigarettes, nontobacco-derived nicotine products andmore. Still, that doesn’t answer the question of who our audience is. Tobacco Business is written primarily for retailers, and our stories are structured in a way to be accessible and relevant to other professionals that are working in or interested in the tobacco industry as it is today and as it may be tomorrow. For the past several years, Tobacco Business has had a focus on cigars and more specifically premiumcigars.Why?Because these products have a lot of stories and history behind them that often get overlooked. Another question I hear a lot is, “Why does this magazine not do reviews?” Well, it’s because reviews are, in my humble opinion, objective, and there’s no real industry standard for reviewing a cigar, thus a 93 rating from one media outlet is an 88 for another. It’s also my belief that a rating doesn’t tell the real story of any brand or the people responsible for bringing that cigar to market. Without that story, you’re missing out on a lot of what makes that cigar you’re lighting up special and different from any other tobacco product in the market. I’ve had this discussion with many in recent months: “What’s happened to the story? We don’t hear the story behind brands anymore, and press releases, though helpful in informing the industry of a newly released product, focus more on wrapper, binder and filler than they focus onwho brought this product tomarket and why. Just ask a cigar maker what’s in a cigar and compare their answer to why they made that cigar and what the real story is behind the blend or the product in general. You’re likely to go from a short, terse answer consisting of general information you can find listed online to a deep, rich story full of family history, sacrifice, ups and downs, twists and turns, failure and ultimate triumph, which makes for a heck of a story. It’s those stories that resonate with retailers who in turn can pass along those stories to their customers, who aren’t looking for just any kind of cigar but one that has a story they can connect with and that transforms the relationship between them and the manufacturer from being solely transactional to something more human and relatable. Many of the features in this issue are stories about cigars and why certain people chose this industry as their profession. You’ll read stories that show that a lot of work goes into bringing just one cigar to market and that cigars are often a reflection of those that make them. Willy Herrera and Sébastien Decoppet’s stories in this issue both show the very personal journeys both men embarked on when getting into cigars. We dive into the details of the Plasencia family’s tobacco growing operation and show you the results of J.C. Newman’s factory restoration project. You’ll come out of this issue understanding the importance of the story when trying to understand what makes a cigar such a special product. There’s that old saying that goes, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” That’s only the case when we forget the story of the people who help bring those products to life. As an industry, we need to keep our “audience” in mind, and sometimes that means the people who aren’t in the industry and don’t understand what makes it special. Let’s make sure we’re constantly sharing the story of the families, individuals and people that make this industry extraordinary. TB A ED I TOR ’ S LETTER VOL25 NO4 JULY / AUGUST 2022 PRESIDENT Jason Carignan MANAGING DIRECTOR Ben Stimpson SENIOR EDITOR AND DIGITAL DIRECTOR Antoine D. Reid ART DIRECTOR Harrison Brackett COPY EDITOR Stephanie Banfield CONTRIBUTORS Thomas Briant, Nathan Deily and Danielle Dixon TOTAL PRODUCT EXPO TRADE SHOWDIRECTOR Ellie Hansen TMG SALES MANAGER Dawn Conger DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER Brian Rodak TRADE SHOWOPERATIONS & LOGISTICS MANAGER Scott Gibson SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Rachel Esteffe TMG SALES ASSOCIATE Carly Gegorek TOBACCOBUSINESS MAGAZINE 5449 Endeavour Ct #1712, Moorpark, CA 93021 A DIVISION OF KRETEK INTERNATIONAL, INC. CHAIRMAN Hugh Cassar PRESIDENT AND CEO Sean Cassar CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Don Gormly Tobacco Business is published bimonthly at 5449 Endeavour Ct #1712, Moorpark, CA 93021. Printed in USA. Copyright 2022 by TBI, LLC. Subscription rate is $45.00/year. Send paid subscriptions to Tobacco Business at same address as mentioned above. For reprint information, contact Ben Stimpson at 919.412.7380. Copying: Permission is granted with users of the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. To photocopy any ar ticle, with the exception of those for which separate copyright ownership is indicated on the first page of the ar ticle, provide a base fee of $1.25/copy. Tobacco Business International is a registered trademark of TBI, LLC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Tobacco Business, 5449 Endeavour Ct , Moorpark, CA 93021. LETME TELL YOU A STORY… THE TEAM Antoine D. Reid, Senior Editor, antoinereid@tobaccobusiness.com TOBACCOBUSINESS.COM TOBACCO BUSINESS In the March/April 2022 issue of Tobacco Business, the story "Do the Right Thing" was printed without a proper photo credit. Photos in that story were by Mario Peña / mapstudios.co.
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