60 TOBACCO BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER | 22 CreatingHumidor Appeal As many retailers could attest to, it’s easy to create a premium cigar product with the right connections. The real challenge to take that product to market andmake it into a successful brand requires a special skill set, one Carson Serino in particular is well versed in. While attending Florida State University, Carson studied entrepreneurship andmarketing and reveals that long before he officially joined Serino Cigar Co., he was attracted to branding and the art of the cigar industry. Inadditiontohelping tocreate thecompany’svarious cigar blends, Carson also spearheaded Serino’s overall lookandbranding.When lookingat the industryoverall, Carson felt the cigar industry was “stuck in a time capsule,” and while some of the branding and art was beautiful, others felt very dated and antiquated. This was something he wanted to take on with Serino Cigar Co. and its products. He wanted a more modernized look that would appeal to cigar enthusiasts faced with a choice of what to buy in a humidor. “One of my favorite brands when I was growing up and working in the retail store was Tatuaje. When Tatuaje first came out, I thought it was really elegant— just a little cursive script on their band. It looked very modern, but it looked very classic at the same time. I always thought that was a route we’d want to go [in]. I’ve definitely leaned more into the modern side than the classic,” Carson explains. To make Serino cigars even more memorable, Carson uses color in the band and packaging to help the cigars stand out in humidors. For example, a blue band was chosen for the Serino Royale line because Carson and his father felt it would make the cigar line very inviting and also elegant. At the time the Serino Royale was released, few manufacturers were using deep blues in their brands, so it was an easy visual way to set Serino Cigars apart from other brands. Serino Cigar Co. sets out to make all of its products visually appealing and uses design elements, like color, to capture the essence of the brand. Carson also understands the importance of making each cigar photo ready due to the growing role social media has in building awareness for a company and its products. “I absolutely love our Wayfarer bands. It’s the first one that I got to do with the company. It’s black on this really flashy gold foil. If you have bad lighting, it just looks worse. I mean, it still looks pretty but you’ve got to get the lighting right. It’s not reflective as to how pretty the band is. I see it all the time on social media; the lighting will be off, but people still post it. “One of our other ones, Elenor Rose, is more flat. It has an Ecuadorian rosado wrapper, which just means it has a rose-tinted wrapper. It’s where its name came from. This [band] doesn’t have too much foiling on it, so you’ll always get a nice, crisp picture, which was something I had to learn. Not only do you have to make a pretty band; think about all the little reflection points afterwards of how it’s going to be presented on social media, blogs and websites.” While branding plays a big role in helping lure consumers to a product, it’s the cigar’s overall consistency and quality that will create a returning, loyal customer. Every Serino Cigar Co. cigar was blended to serve a purpose and to tell a story. The Serino Royale is a reimagined Connecticut cigar, the Wayfarer line was inspired by Cuban cigars smoked during a backpacking trip in Iceland, and Taíno pays homage to the indigenous people of the Caribbean.
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