36 TOBACCO BUSINESS | JULY / AUGUST | 22 different blends, by 3 o’clock they weren’t finished with their 100-125 cigars. They had to either stay later or they had to come in earlier the next day to finish what they didn’t finish the day before. It quickly became a problem, and that’s when I was like, ‘OK, I gotta learn how to make a cigar.’” Herrera’s cigar making education began with him standing behind one of El Titan de Bronze’s rollers and observing how they would grab tobacco, create a bunch and put it into a cigarmold. After observing this process, he’d try it himself, and occasionally one of the rollers would pass by and correct his technique. They would give him tips and feedback, and he would work on perfecting his technique. This went on for some time, and he gives credit to them for teaching him how to make a cigar. “Everything was pretty much learned on my own and out of necessity to grow the family business,” he explains. Herrera refers to his time working at El Titan de Bronze as being both his “elementary and my high school in the cigar industry.” Everything he experienced at El Titan de Bronze prepared him for his “college” experience within the industry: DrewEstate. It was here that Herrera says he ultimately earned his “master’s” in cigars. Oneof thePeople Herrera learned the basics of cigar making at El Titan de Bronze, such as how to create things with very limited supplies of tobacco. Drew Estate was and continues to be an entirely different experience for him. Suddenly, he had access to warehouses filled with tobaccos. Drew Estate allowed him to continue to develop his cigar making skills as well as his blending abilities. Though he’s become synonymous withDrewEstate, the opportunity towork at the company that had become a cigar market disruptor happened totally by chance. It was at a cigar industry trade show in 2006 that Herrera met Jonathan Drew, the founder and president of Drew Estate. El Titan de Bronze was exhibiting at the show, and its booth was positioned directly behind Drew Estate’s booth. At the time, El Titan de Bronze was making its own branded cigars in addition tomanufacturing cigars for several other companies. This was just as cigar reviews were taking off in the industry and as several industry websites and blogs began to gain traction. El Titan de Bronze’s cigars were getting good reviews and creating a buzz, and one of the people closely watching the Little Havana factory was Jonathan Drew. “John is always in the background. You don’t think he’s paying attention, but he’s all ears and dialed in,” says Herrera. “He was looking in and following a lot of the stuff that I was working on during that time. And a lot of those brands were getting recognition, and they were getting all these great reviews. It was during that trade show that he just stopped by our booth, and it was just me at the booth. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, here’s Jonathan—this huge guy in the industry, a guy that everybody knows—stopping by to talk to me.’ I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. He came by, I gave him some cigars, and we talked a little bit about the history of El Titan de When he first entered the cigar industry, Willy Herrera knew little about how cigars were actually made. Through working at El Titan de Bronze, and later at Drew Estate’s Nicaraguan cigar factory, he’s become knowledgeable about cigar blending and what it takes to create a successful cigar blend.
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