70 TOBACCO BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER | 22 Parental BusinessAdvice Almonte’s father has always encouraged him to do the best that he can at whatever he set out to accomplish. This advice has stuck with Almonte throughout his life and career, which is why he’s worked hard to make DBL Cigars a company that only puts out the best products. There is no such thing as a second-rate cigar or mediocre tobacco in Almonte’s world. Everything is high end and top quality, from the tobaccos used in the blends to the final products that are shipped to retailers around theworld. Almonte’s in pursuit of success but wants it on his terms, not on those set for him by others. “Let me tell you, honestly, I follow nobody. I love to create; I love to develop new things: new presentations, new labels. I don’t like to copy; I want to be the best,” he shares. “I focus on quality, good price points and presentation. I don’t want to copy. I don’t want to make the same shaped cigar as other people do. When I make something, I always want to create, to innovate, something different.” Retailers and consumers can see Almonte’s creativity and desire to innovate the cigar category with some of his more “out-there” releases, such as the DBL Baseball Bat cigar, which is named for how it’s shaped, as well as the “pipe” cigar, which is a premium cigar shaped to look like a tobacco pipe. Almonte loves a challenge and uses challenges to spark his creativity. The Amarillo Fancy Belicoso is one example of this. It’s hard to make a boxpressed Connecticut cigar or a Belicoso cigar that’s also torpedo-shaped, so Almonte created a cigar that’s all of those things. The pipe cigar and the Fancy Belicoso are just two examples of how Almonte has set out to create a blend that people will like but that also is presented in a way that makes it different frommost other premium cigar products on market. “Innovation is doing something differently,” he explains. “It’s every day doing something different that will satisfy the customer.” The drive to be and make something different is what helps Almonte and the DBL Cigars brand continue to evolve and grow. When he first started his company in 2013, Almonte only had 500 pounds of tobacco to work with, which limited the amount of cigars he could make. Today, he has enough tobacco to make 2 million cigars, but he caps his production at 700,000 cigars in order tomaintain a good inventory of tobacco to produce consistent cigars. This goes back to what his father has long advised him: do your best, and do better. His father also taught him early in life that what you grow is what you’ll receive, and that lesson has shaped how Almonte has run his business and conducted himself in life. Almonte’s mother died when he was 17 years old, but she’s another person who had a great influence on himand his outlook on life and business. “When I was 17 years old, my mom said to me, ‘You need to have integrity; you have to be loyal; and you have to be honest.When she died, do you knowhowmuch my mom left me in the bank? 117 Dominican pesos. This is two dollars. She didn’t leave me any money. We were a poor family, but on the other side, she gave me the best treasure you can give to a son through all of those good things that she taught me and that she encouraged me to do.” That’s the advice Almonte wants to pass on to others working in today’s tobacco business: You have to be honest, you have to be loyal and you have to work very hard to get the best results for your family, your friends and your community. If you want success in business and in life, do better each day and try to do your best. It’s what has worked for Almonte and served as his business mantra for years. TB Knowing how important consistency is to a premium cigar product, Almonte invested in growing his own tobacco early on to ensure his blends’ quality could be maintained year after year. Do you want to create a product or tobacco business that will be seen as innovative? DBL Cigars founder Francisco Almonte offers these four tips to help get you started. 4 INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MOVES TO MAKE TODAY 1. Keep improving. Find a new way to do common or old things. For example, if you use chemicals to grow your tobacco, try growing it organically. Your branding and packaging is another area that can always be improved and made better. Try to improve every day. 2. Be different. Set out to be the best in the market. This means finding out what works for you rather than trying to copy what others have done before you. 3. The “best” approach. Always go after the best for your business and product. Always use the best materials, hire the best employees, and try to become the best company in your market or industry. 4. Make a direct connection. Use social media to connect and engage directly with your current and potential customer base.
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