Tobacco Business

[ 56 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MARCH / APRIL | 21 ] There’s a saying that goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” In the case of Humi-Smart, it was the limited availability of a needed product that sparked the idea for a new business. About three years ago, Humi- Smart’s ownership team was working on a new tobacco business that required two-way humidity control. The team found that, although there were products that could help control humidity already on the market, those products were very limited in quantity, and it was difficult getting through to those companies’ customer service representatives to secure the needed humidity control product. With inventory in short supply and concerns about the quality of what was available, the team came up with an idea: Instead of waiting for the product they needed, why not create their own? “Humi-Smart was born because we needed it,” explains Brian Berken, managing partner at Humi-Smart. “Our group didn’t start out specifically interested in humidity control or on a journey to invent a totally new method. We started out with a need for a small two-way humidity control packet that would add or reduce moisture levels and stumbled into an enormous market need for a different and better option.” Because the ownership group at Humi-Smart also owns and operates businesses in other con- sumer and commercial industries, starting a new business meant it needed to expand its team. The group hired specialty chemists and those with experience in the tobacco industry to help the company create a humidity control product that would be different from what was already available on the market. Taking a methodological and purposeful approach to product development, the team was able to create something it felt was new rather than a product that would be viewed as simply being “good enough.” Dozens of ideas and several early iterations were developed through hard work, extreme dedication and exceptional imagination. Early on in the process, the biggest challenge to the business was actually finding the appropriate workspace necessary to allow the business to grow and expand. For months, the ownership team was running multiple businesses in one space that quickly became filled with all of the raw materials needed for the humidity control products, including samples and eventually boxes full of the final product. While the lack of space may have been an issue initially, in retrospect, Berken refers to his business’s early challenge as being a “great start.” The key to the company’s early success has been its ability to clearly identify its team’s expertise and building on that with the addition of other experts that would not only enhance the company’s knowledge base but also complement the skills that were already present. The ownership group behind Humi-Smart had experience and success in business management, development, marketing and sales, but it lacked knowledge of humidity control and tobacco. In order to achieve real success in this market, Humi-Smart’s ownership team was going to need to surround itself with the expertise and skills its founders lacked. Building on the Expertise Humi-Smart’s team had casual interests in the tobacco industry long before they had a physical product to promote. In particular, different partners behind the humidity product had interests in cigars, though none would refer to themselves as being aficionados. Instead, they were cigar enthusiasts who would occasionally smoke one in their leisure time. Knowing they personally had a lot to learn about tobacco and cigars, the group also knew that their company’s success would hinge on bringing in experts who knew far more about the market and industry that they would be based in. Though its team has what Berken refers to as an excellent base of knowledge, the team as a whole continues to learn and grow each day with the goal of focusing on the needs of its customers and becoming strong partners for other tobacco businesses. Advancing its knowledge is key to Humi-Smart’s overall development and growth plan. “We have been disciplined and precise about every step from when we started until today. We developed what we truly believe is a different and better product. It looks different, it feels different, and it is truly different. We hired people with diverse and expert backgrounds in every field from research and development to manufacturing, customer service, marketing and sales. We intentionally and purposely started with the strongest foundation we could find, so as we grew, the parts would grow and work together,” Berken explains. After years of development, Humi-Smart had a soft launch in August 2019, although it took until Jan. 1, 2020, for the product to begin to be distributed nationally. The COVID-19 pandemic threatened the rollout of the product last year, but it hasn’t hindered