Smoke Inn Blog
This Year’s Interviews at The Great Smoke
It’s no secret that The Great Smoke 2023 is almost upon us. We know our audience, and especially the Smoke Inn Socialites are chomping at the bit in anticipation. Before the festivities kick off though, we thought it might be cool to do a quick rundown of the schedule and highlight some of the folks we will be interviewing for the main event. Incidentally, each one of these distinguished gentlemen is also behind their own limited edition cigar release in honor of The Great Smoke 2023, so that’s one more fantastic perk for ticket holders to enjoy.
Steve Saka – Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
This will be our good friend Steve’s third appearance in a TGS interview. The CEO and founder of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust is a cigar legend, and former CEO of Drew Estate, known for his larger-than-life personality and exceptional tobacco blending skills. Some people are born into the cigar life. Either their elders introduce them to the joys of cigar smoking, or if they are fortunate, they’re born into a cigarmaking or tobacco growing family.
Many, if not most of us discover them along the way. Steve Saka is one of us, the ones who found cigars along the way, fell in love and never looked back. For Steve, the love affair began in the Navy in 1984. By 1999, he was establishing his career in the cigar universe at JR Cigars, where Lew Rothman served as something of a mentor for him. The two decades since, saw Steve move to Drew Estate when they were a small, but growing brand in 2005, becoming CEO.
Finally in 2013, all he had experienced and learned over the years came to a head. He decided it was time to pursue his dream. A brand of his very own where he would call all the shots and create his Puros Sin Compromiso. Cigars that he would create as a master blender and pour his heart and soul into. We’re happy to say, Steve’s dream came true and today we know it as Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, which produces some truly magnificent smokes made with love, like his excellent DTT-EX-127 made just for TGS 2023.
Smoke Inn Suggests:
Sobremesa Brûlée Blue by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
Muestra de Saka by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
Mi Querida Triqui Traca by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
Alec & Bradley Rubin – Alec Bradley Cigars
Today the Brothers Rubin help run their namesake brand, but it was originally founded by dear old dad, Alan Rubin in 1996. Those of us in the game back then will remember it was a difficult time for the cigar industry. The premium end of the field was still largely dominated by the legacy brands and the renaissance of premium cigars we’re in the midst of today had not yet begun.
Alec Bradley Cigars rose from the ashes of Alan Rubin’s first attempt (Bogey’s Stogies) with a clear mission in mind. To pursue the premium cigar market and stake their claim as one of the new generation of premium cigar makers. The risk and hard work paid off, and within a few years, Alec Bradley Cigars was winning awards, with their Prensado (linked below) being named Cigar of the Year for 2011. For Bradley, working at Alec Bradley was his very first job (and he hopes his last). He’s coming up on 5 years at the company with elder brother Alec at 7 years.
Being born in the cigar business afforded them some unique opportunities at an early age. For example, Alec grew up working summers in the warehouse. So, both brothers have had an opportunity to see how the business works up close for some time. Bradley is known for his mustache. Smoke Inn was able to raise over $10,000 for The Broward County Boys and Girls, which means we hit our goal. And that means Bradley have his mustache shaved live on stage, as he bravely volunteered.
Smoke Inn Suggests:
Alec Bradley Black Market Filthy Hooligan
Robert Holt – Southern Draw Cigars
Southern Draw Cigars is a veteran owned brand from bow to stern and that’s reflected in their values of earnestness and hard work. Founder Robert Holt has also graciously given his time to participate in The Great Smoke 2023, which means a Southern Draw Exclusive cigar for the event, and we’ll have the opportunity to interview Mr. Holt as well.
Proud of his roots, Robert Holt co-founded Southern Draw based upon the refined, but warm elegance of the southern gentleman alongside his wife, Sharon Holt. Since we’ve mentioned Mrs., Holt, we heartily recommend trying out the spectacular Southern Draw Rose of Sharon cigar she inspired (linked below)
From the very beginning, Robert intended for Southern Draw Cigars to be a premium brand and came out both guns blazing and enlisted expert partners in the trade. Southern Draw’s exclusive sticks are, in part, a products of well-known and highly regarded AJ Fernandez out of Estelí, Nicaragua. This helped ensure the authenticity and quality of the brand right out of the gate. Their aim is to make the best cigars they possibly can with all the resources at their disposal. That means a strictly limited run of just 5,000 cigars per blend. That may mean you won’t find Southern Draw Cigars at just any old cigar shop, but we can assure you they’re well worth seeking out.
Smoke Inn Suggests:
Southern Draw 300 Hands Habano
Ernesto Perez-Carillo – E.P. Carillo Cigars
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo if you’ve been moving in premium cigar circles for any length of time, chances are you know the name Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. This Cuban-American cigar maker and master blender is responsible for, many of which were born at the dawn of the new age of premium cigars which began in the 1990s. Moving to New York City as the age of 25 to pursue a career as a jazz drummer occupied him for a while as a young man before he returned to Miami to take the helm at his family’s cigar company, El Credito after his father passed away in 1980.
El Credito was the passion project of his father, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Sr. It is also where Ernesto Perez-Carillo’s professional cigar odyssey truly began and it’s the house that produced some truly legendary smokes over the years including La Gloria Cubana. During his time there, Swedish Match AB purchased El Credito. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo continued to hone his craft working at General Cigar until 2009, when his daughter and son inspired him begin a new cigar house of his very own.
Ever since then, Mr. Perez-Carillo has been putting his decades of experience and honed mastery to good use, turning out some masterpieces (including at least two winners of #1 Cigar of the Year from CA) from La Tabacalera Alianza, their family-owned cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. Today the business remains in the family with E.P. Jr. at the helm and daughter Lissette handling marketing, financial and legal needs at EPC and son Ernesto III serving as a consultant.
Smoke Inn Suggests:
Rafael Nodal – Altadis Cigars
Rafael Nodal is another Cuban-born aficionado who is well known in the cigar business. Some of you will surely remember Rafael from his time running Boutique Blends which made a serious name for itself. Rafael assumed control of what was then called the Habana Cuba Cigar Company, home of the Oliveros brand at the time, with his wife, Alina Cordoves Nodal, herself the Cuban-born daughter of a second-generation tobacco distributor and Hank Bischoff back in 2002.
Experimentation and exploration led to some pretty special and interesting smokes, like the Oliveros King Havano, a tasty Nicaraguan puro. Beginning in 2011, they began to bring the company deeper into small batch production and launched the Aging Room brand, which utilized premium aged Dominican tobaccos. Under the Aging Room brand, Nodal launched the M356, a spicy ligero-kissed stick that made CA’s top 25 Cigars of 2011 list. And the accolades kept rolling in, just 2 years later. Aging Room Small Batch F55 hit the #2 Cigar of the Year slot.
In the spring of 2017, Rafael Nodal’s house which was now called Boutique Blends announced a strategic alliance with Altadis USA in which Altadis handles sales and distribution for Boutique Blends. That frees Rafael up to focus on the parts of the business he loves most, overseeing product development and as a member of Altadis Cigars executive team, he is also called upon to share his expertise to promote quality and innovation throughout the entire Altadis portfolio.
Smoke Inn Suggests:
Smoke Inn is Your Cigar Shop
There’s our primer on the industry insiders we’ll be interviewing at TGS 2023. Of course, there are a lot more people that help make The Great Smoke a reality this year and in years past. Naturally our fearless leader, Honest Abe Dababneh, our good friend Michael Herklots of Ferio Tego, Erik Espinosa, Jonathan Drew, Matt Booth, Terrence Reilly, Kim Keeney, Paul De Grocco, all the fantastic people from the 32 different brands represented at this years event. We want to thank each and every person who help make TGS what it is, and all of you who will be attending this year, either in person or virtually. We couldn’t do it without you either! We know you’re all as jacked about this year’s TGS as we are, and we can’t wait to see you there. As always, if you’re local or happen to be visiting South Florida, be sure to reward yourself with a visit to one of the country’s best cigar shops in person. We’d love to see you.
Our South Florida Locations:
- Smoke Inn Palm Beach Gardens
- Smoke Inn West Palm Beach
- Smoke Inn Delray Beach
- Smoke Inn Boynton Beach
- Smoke Inn Pompano Beach
- Smoke Inn Tequesta
- Smoke Inn Port St. Lucie
- Smoke Inn Vero Beach
