Tobacco Business

How Cigars are Made Difabio is responsible for taking his family’s very traditional business into the future. Making a cigar is a complex process with many steps, and one thing Difabio quickly came to realize is that every step and phase in cigarmaking required a lot of love and attention. His family’s name and history was attached to this product, and Difabio knew a lot of consideration had to be given to the entire production process in order for the business to grow. Rodriguez Cigars was more than a maker and seller of cigars. It was a complex operation that respected all facets of the tobacco business, from seed to shelf. Its very existence also honored Key West’s long tradition of cigarmaking. As the last remaining cigarmakers in Key West, the team at Rodriguez Cigars serves as an ambassador of sorts, connecting the island’s many visitors to its deep roots in tobacco. When it comes to cigarmaking, Difabio considers the actual blending process to be his favorite part of the business—and the most difficult. When working on new blends, Difabio takes the same approach he took with starting in the tobacco business: searching for and identifying meaning behind the work. “I want to be inspired when creating a new blend, so I will start by figuring out what to call it and how it pertains to our family brand,” he explains. “I do not like to create a blend just to create one for our supporters. There has to be a purpose.” The blending process continues as a collaboration, with Difabio bringing together his team at Rodriguez Cigars to decide what seed lines and primings they all want to work with. “Some seed lines and primings just don’t work well with others,” he says. “I personally like to use a lot of Corojo and Criollo fillers. I generally start off by smoking prototypes just with different filler and binder combinations, no wrapper applied. I like to get an understanding of the anatomy of the blend right off the bat in terms of balance between strength and the complexity of the flavor profile we are pursuing.” Difabio really gets excited when it’s time to try different wrappers on the prototypes. This is where retrohaling—the act of blowing smoke through the nose—is a must, according to Difabio, as it unlocks more of the cigar’s taste. At this point in the blending process, Difabio starts favoring one prototype over another or starts the process over again. “If we don’t like the balance between strength and complexity, we will simply go back to the drawing board and make various prototypes that could be the one we are after,” he says. “Along the way, when you find ‘the one,’ sometimes you will know it’s the one as soon as it’s lit! It’s indescribable. My immediate reaction when this happens is to smoke another one right after, and for like a week or two that’s all I will smoke because I want to make sure over time that the cigar will grow on me before we choose to take the next step.” Even after all of these steps, the cigarmaking process is far from over for Difabio. While a blend may be settled on, understanding how aging the cigar will affect its taste is key for making sure retailers and consumers have the optimal smoking experience. This extended process also gives the company the opportunity to ensure this release will be readily available for retailers and consumers for some time, heading off an issue that many smaller manufacturers grapple with regularly. “Before releasing a blend to the market, we like to let it sit for a few months and sometimes up to a year to make sure that this is the one and to ensure that our raw material is well stocked to maintain the blend’s consistency for a very long period of time after it’s released,” says Difabio. “During this time, we periodically smoke the blend as the weeks and months go by. By doing this, we gather info on how the cigar develops through time.” After the blend has gone through this rigorous development, Difabio and others at Rodriguez Cigars are comfortable and confident in releasing the blend and having it smoked by consumers. Difabio and his company have taken the described approach with all of their releases, which have resonated with a wide range of smokers over the years. Rodriguez Cigars’ use of traditional Cuban blending techniques, its attention to details like cigar construction and its pursuit of refined characteristics in the flavor profile of its products are all reasons Difabio attributes to his company’s success so far. Once Danny Difabio (left) understood his family's motivations for starting a tobacco business, he was inspired to take the business and its brands to new heights. [ 62 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ NOVEMBER / DECEMBER | 21 ]