54
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
L
ike many in the cigar world,
the Garzaroli family got into
the industry sideways. The
family already operated a successful
business—a thriving luxury boutique
hotel and restaurant operation in
Nassau, Bahamas—when patriarch
Enrico Garzaroli decided to spice
things up by bringing in a signature
cigar, recounts his son, Paolo Garzaroli.
“
In the restaurant business you have
to reinvent yourself every five to ten
years,” he explains. “If you do the same
thing you’ve been doing, you’ll move
backward because everyone else is
moving ahead.That was Dad’s thought
process. Plus, he was doing business in
Cuba and he loves cigars.”
Finding a cigar that would live up to
the Graycliff name in 1995—the midst
of the cigar boom—proved challenging.
But the pieces fell into place when the
senior Garzaroli met Master Torcedore
Avelino Lara, famous for creating
blends for powerhouses like Cohiba
and Davidoff and for his tenure as
Fidel Castro’s personal cigar roller.
Timing was serendipitous. Lara—who
has since passed away—was ready for
a change and proposed coming to the
Bahamas to work at Graycliff.
“
It was like having Michelangelo
offer to come and paint your restaurant
walls,” says Paolo Garzaroli. “So in
1995,
we had Avelino Lara sitting in
our lobby making cigars. We became
famous for that.”
In fact, Lara was such a draw that
customers literally fought over who
would get the next cigar he rolled—a
situation that prompted Graycliff
to expand cigar production and,
GraYCLIFF:
Delivering a
Luxe LifestyLe
This Bahamas-based family business
is about much more than great cigars.