62 TOBACCO BUSINESS | MAY / JUNE | 22 Like many in the cigar industry, Eddie Tarazona is running what many would consider to be a small business. His brand, Tarazona Cigars, has been in the market for over two decades and has maintained its boutique, small-business status. Over the years, Tarazona has built his brand on a foundation of collaboration and partnering with others working in the cigar space. It was through networking and referrals that Tarazona met one of his manufacturing partners, TabacaleraWilliamVentura. It’s also through the advice and guidance of notable figures in the cigar industry that Tarazona has been able to navigate the ins and outs of being a brand owner in such a competitive space. While other industries view those at other companies as competitors, Tarazona has come to view many of his competitors as friends and advisors who are often willing to offer valuable insight and advice to point him in the right direction. “We have some awesome figures in this industry,” he says. “Of course, I have not met everybody, but I’ve got to say, after 20 years of doing this, just about everybody I’ve met have been good people. I’ve been blessed by the relationships I’ve made where my colleagues are concerned.” Two things become very clear when speaking to Tarazona about his business. First, Tarazona gives credit to his industry peers when it comes to their assistance with advice or resolving problems that his business has faced over the years. Second, Tarazona relies heavily on passion to motivate and drive all that he does in life and business. The Kindness of Strangers Long before he launched his own company, cigars always seemed to find a way into the life of Tarazona. Growing up, he remembers his grandfather could always be found smoking a Hav-a-Tampa cigar. When Tarazona was just 15 years old, he would often visit a cigar shop with his older brother who would frequently buy cigars. It was at this shop that Tarazona met a cigar roller who left a big impression on him. “I can’t explain it, but there was something about that roller,” Tarazona recalls. “He was really, really cool. When I was 15, I didn’t know I was going to be in the tobacco business, but it was one of those ‘when I grow up’ type of things. It was really either football, lawor cigars— that’s what it came down to.” It took a bad situation for Tarazona to finally make the leap into the tobacco business. In 2000, Tarazona was working for a company that asked him to relocate to a small town. He decided not to and left that job, and he chose to use some of his severance to launch his own cigar brand and company. Inhindsight, Tarazona says this chapter of his life was a bit scary because he needed the business to succeed in order to support his family. It took a while for his cigar business to gain some steam. As he built up Tarazona, he learned about business and the tobacco industry at the same time. Needless to say, starting a new businesswas tough, and thebiggest challengewasbuilding awareness not only around his product but himself. L Whether he’s at a trade show or in a tobacco field, Eddie Tarazona does business based on his “DIWP” philosophy, which stands for “do it with passion.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzMDM=