58 TOBACCO BUSINESS | JULY / AUGUST | 22 affected that much [by] it, but I do remember the hardships of cigar makers.” Falto was attending college inWashington, D.C., when he decided to start his own cigar brand. The boom, while great for making cigars mainstream in America, had put a strain on the tobacco industry. New brands were launching regularly, and tobacco was becoming scarce. Factories were outputting cigars as quickly as they could, but corners were being cut and compromises were being made. Falto saw his opportunity clearly now: With a lack of high-quality cigars on themarket, he could launch his own premium cigar brand that made quality a priority. Falto was attending university in Washington, D.C., when he decided to launch what would become Tabacalera Falto. The location of his college gave him easy access to the Embassy of the Dominican Republic, where he visited and was able to acquire a list of manufacturers located within the cigar-producing country. After securing money from his father to start his brand, Falto and his father reached out to some people they knew who worked in the cigar industry and others they learned about from the list Falto received from the Dominican embassy. Falto knew what he wanted: a small production of cigars consisting of just one blend and one size. The goal of these early meetings held in the Dominican Republic was to find someone who could helpmake this cigar. “My idea was very well received by everyone I talked about it with. I took all the advice I received in a positive way,” he recalls. “The main advice I received was that I had to be patient and needed to learn everything I could about tobacco and cigars. Like in life, I felt the need to be humble and to listen to those who knew more than I did at the time. In this industry, you never stop learning.” The meetings mostly took place in the Dominican Republic’s Cibao Valley, which is referred to as the “mecca of Dominican cigars” by some. Falto and his father encountered a mixed bag of results from these meetings. Some didn’t think the very small production was a good idea; others lacked professionalism or didn’t seem interested in helping Falto launch his new brand. The very last meeting with La Aurora, which is known as the oldest cigar manufacturer in the Dominican Republic, turned out to be their best meeting and eventually led to a manufacturing deal. One thing Falto learned from these early meetings was the importance of interacting and engaging with business partners and customers on a regular basis. “You need to be out there yourself; you are the brand,” he shares. “My priority is tomeet and teach people aboutmy cigars and process. I love meeting people that are interested in listening and trying my cigars. That brings me joy.” MakingHisDreams Come True Determining stock quantities and how much product to release to retail is a big consideration for many, and that was no different for Falto as he developed his brand. What he decided to do differently, however, was to keep things limited from the start. Tabacalera Falto’s unique selling point is its small production runs as well as the fact that every cigar is completely “different”—different blends offered in different sizes. Falto had his three goals in mind as he set out to build out his company’s product portfolio: He wanted to be able to choose his own blend of tobaccos for his cigars, he wanted to keep the production quantity small, and he wanted to know the rollers on a personal basis. He also had one more ask for his manufacturing partners: Anyone he chose to work with had to be willing to teach him along the way and take him seriously. In a 2018 article published by Tobacco Business, Falto described his early meetings and discussions with La Aurora as being a “bit intimidating … because La Aurora was such a big company with other businesses besides cigars.” Falto met with Guillermo Leon, president of La Aurora, and Manuel Inoa, both of whom tried to talk him out of his idea of starting a cigar brand, citing the small production runs and long-term commitment to making cigars as concerns. After more discussions, they agreed to help make his cigars and worked closely with him to achieve his small production goal. Falto was involved in every step of the cigar making process, fromhelping to choose the final blend and getting to know those who were going to be rolling his cigars to designing the box in which the cigars would be packaged. After 27 years, this continues to be the case with every cigar blend that comes out of Tabacalera Falto. “I make all the blends myself, and the cigars are made in the La Aurora cigar factory in the Dominican Republic,” he explains. “At the moment, I have 25 different blends, and every blend comes in only one vitola or size, so every cigar is completely different. I only repeat sizes on three occasions with two Lonsdales, two Robustos and three Lanceros—all different blends. I chose these sizes because, tome, these are the vitolas that best complement and develop the flavors and qualities of the blend. Also, my production is very small. I onlymake 100 boxes of each cigar per production. So, if a cigar comes in boxes of 25, for example, my production is only 2,500 cigars.” Because of the small production runs and the uniqueness of each cigar line, Tabacalera Falto could be viewed as a boutique brand, which is not a bad thing in Falto’s opinion. “Boutique, to me, is when you pour your heart and soul into something truly unique; it’s something very special, not necessarily in huge quantities but made with a higher standard of quality and care,” he says. Rather than focusing on quantity, Falto instead set out to produce cigars in small quantities with the hope that the limited production would enable the quality of the product to remain high.
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