Tobacco Business

[ 22 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ NOVEMBER / DECEMBER | 21 ] Between the Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera House and the city’s many museums, Nodal was constantly inspired, and his desire to learn more about music was constantly fed by his environment. The Nodals spent three years in New York City before moving to Miami in 1983. The move was particularly jarring for Nodal, who quickly missed the art and culture that was at every turn and corner in New York City. At the time, Miami had very little art and culture, unlike it has today. “I used to cry myself to sleep every single night in Miami,” he reveals. “Coming from New York City was a big shock. I continued with my music. I tried to do my own opera group, but that didn’t work out. We played violins for restaurants and taught little groups here and there, but it was evident that music was very difficult in Miami at the time.” Nodal’s first job in Miami was at a hospital in 1984 where he cleaned floors. One thing led to another, and Nodal found another job within the hospital as its assistant chief financial officer. Nodal continued to work his way through the hospital, which put him in contact with some people who would have a profound impact on his life. One of those people was his now wife, Alina Cordoves Nodal, and the other was Hank Bischoff, who introduced Nodal to the world of cigars. When Nodal first met Bischoff, he didn’t smoke cigars. Many people, Nodal explains, expect Cubans to automatically like cigars. It went hand in hand with other cultural expectations, such as the ability to salsa dance or roast a pig. At this point in his life, however, Nodal wasn’t a cigar smoker, and it took a trip to Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood to change that. ‟I went with Hank to where he bought his cigars. That was my first introduction to the cigar business, and thanks to that, I am now in the cigar business,” says Nodal. ‟We went to a little place in Little Havana called Nick’s Cigars. I met Nick Perdomo, I bought my first box of cigars, and I smoked my first cigar. And that day, I went home and I told my wife, ‘I know what I’m gonna do for the rest of my life: I’m going to be in the cigar business.’ Alina is a psychiatrist, and it is, obviously, very helpful to have a psychiatrist in the family, especially when you tell your wife you don’t know anything about cigars but that’s what you really want to do,” he says with a broad smile. Nodal and Bischoff got into the tobacco business at the end of the Cigar Boom with the launch of an online cigar store in 1999. Initially, the two entrepreneurs focused their efforts on selling smaller Miami- based cigar brands that included Puros Indios, the early version of Gran Habano, Don Sixto and La Gloria Cubana. Another brand they sold was Oliveros, a brand that would take on a more important place within Nodal’s foray into the cigar business. Nodal and Bischoff first began working with the Oliveros brand as distributors. That relation- ship evolved into consultancy, and when the family behind the brand decided to get out of the business in 2002, Nodal, his wife and Bischoff became the owners of the Oliveros brand. Facing another fork in the road, Nodal and his partners embraced their new roles and dug in, realizing there were more opportunities to be had as brand owners, as well as the mistakes that would be made. Failure’s Lessons Not many professionals talk about their failures, but for Nodal, fail- ures and mistakes are all part of the story and an important part of the business process. “Success is defined in different ways by different people,” he says. “For me, you can never be successful if you’re afraid of failure because those are really the things that will teach you how to move forward.” When Nodal became one of the new owners of Oliveros, the brand had been known for its many different flavored cigars. Nodal wanted to get into the blending and manufacturing side of cigars after spend- ing a few years on the retail side, but he also wanted to make premi- um cigars without the flavors. Always inquisitive and willing to learn something new, Nodal took Oliveros on as a challenge that forced him to learn more about cigars. Even though he embraced the learning process, he made mistakes that would make him a stronger cigarmak- er and businessman in the future. “I thought I knew everything,” he says. “Wow, was I wrong. Every- thing that I could have done wrong, I did it several times around. That made me really realize how difficult this industry is, how difficult making cigars is. I was trying to make cigars for everybody with the Oliveros brand. You know, people liked this type ... I did that. Things weren’t working out. I said, ‘Listen, if we’re going to do this, we’re at least going to have fun. I’m going to do cigars that I like.’ That was how I envisioned both the blends we opened up [with], and the Aging Room, which was part of that.” Making cigars for specific segments of customers seemed like a good strategy, but it held Nodal and his company back. Nodal refers to Oli- veros XL for Men as being “terrible,” even though it capitalized off the large ring gauge trend that’s now very popular. Though Oliveros was I thought I knew everything. Wow, was I wrong. Everything that I could have done wrong, I did it several times around. That made me really realize how difficult this industry is, how difficult making cigars is. – Rafael Nodal