44 TOBACCO BUSINESS | JULY / AUGUST | 22 Drew Estate released Freestyle Live packs that contained three samples of some of its newest releases. These samples were unbanded and few details were provided on the blends ahead of the big reveal held during the Freestyle Live broadcast. These Freestyle Live sample packs provide Herrera and others at Drew Estate the first bit of feedback as to how that cigar may be received in the market when it’s fully released. “These Freestyle Live packs include something new that we’re working on,” he says. “Typically, it’s two or three sizes of a particular new product that we’re working on. That gets sent out, and the consumers that purchase these packs get to experience these cigars before they go to the market. They have no idea what it is, and they have no idea what it’s gonna be. All they can do is guess based on the flavor profile, based on the strength, based on the wrapper—it’s a lot of guesses, and it’s always a lot of fun because you hear it all. You’re like, ‘Wow, OK. That’s awesome.’ We get a lot of feedback that way.” The Freestyle Live packs provide some early feedback, but the real test of a blend is when it is officially released and begins to appear on store shelves. Once the cigars are released, Herrera and others at Drew Estate watch how the cigars perform in retail, including how often the product is reordered by retailers and what their consumers are saying about the cigars each week when they’re coming in to make a purchase. The customers—including the retailers, store managers and consumers—are the ones who will ultimately determine whether a particular cigar blend is successful or not. Aiming for Enjoyment Herrera’s responsibilities span far beyond blend creation or tobacco procurement. He is one of Drew Estate’s most important and active team members who’s constantly on the go and engaging with different parts of business. Herrera spends a week out of every month at La Gran Fabrica, Drew Estate’s cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. There, he spends his time working on new projects, checking in on production and working closely with the team there to make sure the company’s cigar business is set up for continued success. When he’s in Nicaragua, a typical day for Herrera consists of going to the factory early on in the day and then either going to a farm to look at tobacco or checking out the tobacco that’s in the curing barn or undergoing fermentation. Just as he did early on in his career, he’s constantly taking detailed notes on the tobacco and trying to figure out how it may fit into a current project or how it may lend itself to something in the pipeline. When he’s in the U.S., his days are just as busy as those when he’s in Nicaragua. While in the U.S., he’s often on the road and spending time with either DrewEstate’s territorymanagers or its retail partners. Within any week he may visit anywhere from three to four different stores, and there’s usually an in-store event planned at another store. When he’s not on the road, he’s either at Drew Estate’s offices in Miami or visiting some of the company’s local partners in Miami and surrounding areas. If Herrera has learned anything over the course of his career in cigars, it’s that you can’t hurry the process. Patience is the byproduct of his years of working with cigars as it’s the key ingredient of every successful blend. You can’t rush the growing process, the curing of tobacco, or how tobacco is fermented and aged. A blend also takes time to create, but the end goal is not to create something just for the sake of having it in the market; the goal for Herrera is to create something that will, very simply put, be enjoyed and will help make someone’s day a bit better than it was before that cigar. TB Complexity, balance and aroma are three qualities Herrera makes sure are included in every cigar blend he produces and puts out into the market.
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