Tobacco Business

[ 26 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MARCH / APRIL | 21 ] presented themselves. As their cigarmaking business con- tinued to grow, the Cigar Boom of the 1990s enabled the family to buy new farms in Jalapa and Estelí, giving the Plasencias enough tobacco to produce their own cigars and to also sell to other manufacturers. By 1997, the Plasencia’s business had made a turn for the better, and they were also now debt-free. Passion for Work As Nestor Andrés and his siblings were growing up, his parents did their best to shield their children from the stress and adversity they were grappling with. When looking back, Nestor Andrés doesn’t easily recall the various hiccups in the family’s business but instead fondly remembers the role tobacco and cigars played in the family and what he refers to as a happy childhood. Growing up, Nestor Andrés spent much of his time out- doors and in nature, riding horses and regularly visiting the family’s farms. “I always said that I wanted to dedicate myself to help- ing my family by being part of the family’s business,” he says. “My earliest memories are those being surrounded by the aroma of tobacco and seeing my father, grandfather, uncles and cousins with a cigar, having a great time.” Nestor Andrés’ fascination with cigars began early in his life. When he was four years old, he woke up early one day following a family reunion and discovered some cigars had been left out from a previous day’s festivities. Nestor Andrés and another young cousin decided to take those cigars and smoke them—while hiding underneath a bed. Not only did they light the cigars up, but unintentionally they also lit the bed on fire. Nestor Andrés and his cousin ran out of the room, and the fire was put out quickly— angering his mother but making his father proud. As Nestor Andrés grew older, his father would teach him more about cigars, and the two would bond over tobacco. From an early age, Nestor Andrés knew that he wanted to be an agronomist so he could work with land and in nature. Nestor Andrés studied agriculture in school, and after graduating in 1998, he began working within his family’s tobacco business full time. One could say that it was at this point that Nestor Andrés received his real education and introduction to tobacco as a profession and business. “I consider myself as an eternal apprentice, and I always seek to learn something from all the people that cross my path, but the greatest mentor I have had has been my father,” Nestor Andrés says. “He taught all of his children that if you have a passion for what you do and your deter- mination to achieve your dreams is extremely powerful, there is no difficult situation that can stop you. We try to instill that same principle in the culture of the company and to all our collaborators. I have also had the joy of working closely with great people in the tobacco indus- try, such as Daniel Núñez, [Hendrik] Henke Kelner and Manolo Quesada, to name a few of whom I have learned a lot from. Another source of inspiration is books. I really like to read, and there is a lot of wisdom in them.” Nestor Andrés was involved in the family’s tobacco busi- ness long before his adult years. As a child, he would visit the family’s farms with his grandfather, where the aroma of tobacco from the curing barns would greet him each time. He went to work with his father many times and learned about selecting tobacco and assembling pilones, two things that would become a regular part of his job. After earning his degree in agricultural engineering from the Escuela Agricola Panamericana Zamorano in 1998, Nestor Andrés began learning and studying the art of cigarmaking, a process that taught him how to present an idea and also how to negotiate and compromise in order to get someone to accept an idea. “I remember that I had to present my ideas very well to my father in order to put them into practice,” Nestor Andrés explains. “He let me implement some of my ideas, while others had to wait for the right moment. It was also a very interesting negotiation ‘school’ for me. I have to give credit to my father. When he saw that I felt strongly about something, he would give me the opportunity to put it into practice.” One of his first tests came with the desire to create a completely organic cigar. Nestor Andrés’ father was open to the idea, but there was still a lot of work required to cre- ate a cigar that could be considered 100 percent organic. I consider myself as an eternal apprentice, and I always seek to learn something from all the people that cross my path, but the greatest mentor I have had has been my father. -Nestor Andrés Plasencia Jr.