Bill Valentine walked into a small cigar shop in Aruba this summer to buy a friend a cigar and walked out with a plan to import Aruban products to the U.S.
The Bradenton business consultant is starting with Aruhibas, nonblended cigars made from tobacco grown in the Caribbean island country.
The first shipment of 60 boxes containing six varieties is due today, and Valentine will launch a marketing campaign at two events next week — a Nov. 20 preview at Cork’s Cigar Bar in downtown Bradenton, and the Nov. 21 official introduction at the Ybor City Cigar Fest in Tampa.
“They are very, very unique,” Valentine said. “Most cigars are blended with different tobaccos used in the filler and wrapper. These are from tobacco grown, harvested and rolled on a small plantation in Aruba.”
Most cigar aficionados are surprised to learn that the former Dutch colony even grows tobacco.
“I never had a clue,” said Cork Miller, owner of Cork’s Cigar Bar, which will be an exclusive distributor of the product. “I introduced them here and most of my customers said, ‘Aruba?’ They didn’t believe it.”
Valentine is marketing the cigars to a niche group of smokers who prefer high-end, quality cigars. They will sell for $15 to $20 a piece, he said, depending on the tariff he will pay.
Surprisingly, Valentine is not a cigar smoker. But he is hooked on the idea as the beginning of exporting a variety of exports from a country where he has vacationed for the past 16 years.
“It is a beautiful country, I usually make two to three trips a year and I’m always fascinated by the products they have,” said Valentine, who owns Aquarius Consulting Group, LLC.
Most people who have tried the Aruhibas say they are comparable to Cuban cigars, said Valentine, who describes the cigars as “very light.” Miller describes them as medium to full flavor.”
Benjamin Petrochi owns the shop Valentine walked into that June day. He owns two shops in Aruba and learned the cigar-making trade during his travels to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Having sold cigars from other countries for more than a decade, Petrochi decided six years ago to produce his own from scratch. He and his four employees plant the seeds for the tobacco plants, grow the seedlings and harvests them after nine months of cultivation. He then dries the leaves and places them in special bags to ferment.
He doesn’t use any pesticides in the process, Valentine said, which is almost unheard of in the industry.
Valentine is targeting Miami’s South Beach, Chicago and Las Vegas for his U.S. launch and hopes to approach people like Michael Jordan and Dick Butkis to see if they want distribution rights.
He’s hoping the cigar’s success will further his vision to bring Aruba products to the U.S.
Miller thinks if his testing of the product is any indication, its success will be a sure thing.
“Everybody has been ranting and raving,” he said. “It has a great taste.”
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