After ups and downs, half a life in La Canela, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, and more time in New Jersey, United States, the rebirth of El Fénix is a reality, and after constant evolution and the patience that this industry demands, today –from the ashes of a diverse past– the bird spreads its wings and takes flight in the adventure of premium tobacco.
Heir to an interrupted tobacco tradition, Carlos Cruz was born and raised in La Canela, surrounded by the 19.4 hectares planted with tobacco owned by his grandfather, Francisco Antonio Cruz, El Negro, who in the absence of his father was in charge of his upbringing and involuntary indoctrination in the Cigar World.
At that time, shortly before the year 2000, La Canela was a small town of humble and hard-working people dedicated to the countryside; tobacco and pineapple growers, among other agricultural products, where there were few houses, Carlos remembers.
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Tobacco Roots
The second son, with an older sister, a younger sister and seven other half-siblings on his mother’s side, Carlos grew up under the tutelage of his grandfather because his father had emigrated to the United States in search of a better life.
This is how he lived his first 14 years, walking the streets and the countryside next to that dark-skinned man, to whom he owed his nickname, who always carried a cigar in his mouth and another in reserve.
According to Carlos, that coexistence sowed in him the seed of a taste for tobacco, since many times he was in charge of acquiring and lighting El Negro’s cigars: “The old man sent me to El Chepe’s winery to buy cigars, without a ring or brand, and I gave them to him already lit,” he shares during the interview.
That man dedicated his entire life to tobacco, until the market changed and the leaf was no longer a priority. As age also represented a difficulty, he ended up handing over his lands to the leasing model for planting cassava, pineapple and banana.
No one else in the family inherited the taste for tobacco, but Carlos, and not by tradition, but as a genuinely acquired taste. “Even when he was reprimanding me, my grandfather had a cigar in his mouth. He never disciplined me physically, but he talked to me with his cigar and a guava stick, the kind that doesn’t break with anything. He was like my father, and I copied his tastes,” he says.
His grandmother was also a smoker, but she preferred Andullo, the fermented tobacco paste that she skillfully wrapped with a fresh lemon or orange leaf, to which she stuck a thorn to hold the piece together. “The old man taught me how to light cigars, but I didn’t learn how to make grandma’s cigarritos.”
The first rebirth
At 14 years old, Carlos Cruz began his journey to New Jersey to reunite with his father; adventure in which he faced the culture shock of moving from the countryside to the city, in addition to finding a considerably different language and climate.
When he arrived in the United States, everything seemed monotonous and gray to him, but over time he managed to get used to it to the point of completing his High School studies, a technical course in electricity and trying his hand at a career in Medicine; objective that could not be met due to economic circumstances, mainly.
Second Renaissance
This brake on his school aspirations did not stop him from continuing to pursue his dreams. Since 2006, once he graduated from High School and supported by a thick beard that made him look older, Carlos took refuge in premium tobacco to relax, make friends, and very soon start a business.
“I felt good to be able to smoke a cigar. I felt in my blood that I needed it and when I reached a goal I congratulated me with a cigar. I used to go to the store, bought it and stayed to smoke with the owner, talking. Any celebration served me as an excuse.”
Thus, the idea of his own brand began to take shape and on every occasion, such as a birthday or a Baby Shower, with the permission of the host, Carlos brought cigars to celebrate and, as time went by, also to sell: “they already knew that wherever I went, the cigar too.”
The first strategy was to make a name for himself: Fénix Cigars, which he adopted as a seller. And the second was to try all the blends he could while finding the right profile to launch his own brand.
As an unofficial distributor of countless brands that he obtained through the Internet, he satisfied his regular customers and their palate, in this search for notes and aromas that reflected their tastes and personality.
“The cigar attracts attention and people always appear who want one to take to a guy, for example. I sold Arturo Fuente, Romeo y Julieta, et cetera… from everyone. I earned 10 or 5 dollars, but the idea was to make myself known among people and not give away what I bought for myself. That’s how I formed a clientele and with them I started selling my own brand, El Fénix“, he adds.
Third Renaissance
The elements of success were added little by little, the doors opened and everything went well. For Carlos, his time as a salesman had been consolidated, combined with his occupations in the construction and transportation branches. It was the right time to take the next step.
In search for the perfect blend for El Fénix, he traveled regularly to Santo Domingo to visit different factories, pairing tobacco with coffee or whiskey, and returned from the Dominican Republic to the United States with cigars to share and gather information. Two years passed before he found the blend he was looking for, something similar to an Oliva Melanio Serie V, with a medium strength that always pleased his palate.
The final choice was Ceniza Cigar Factory, a company he arrived at thanks to the advice of Félix Ferrera, a designer whom he had entrusted with the creation of his ring six months ago.
With the advice, support and expertise of those who run this factory located in Tamboril, province of Santiago, and the Master Blender Pablo Estrella, he finally obtained a creamy blend, without much spice, with notes that come and go in each puff without saturating the palate: “I was looking for a universal bend, that would be liked by as many people as possible.”
Thus, two years ago Fénix first cigar came onto the market, a Toro San Andrés Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler, wrapped with a navy blue and gold ring that contrasts well with the dark tones of the tobacco.
Carlos considers that patience is essential in this industry, but that does not mean he remains still, since he already has the design of the rings and the idea for his next releases, of which he can anticipate that a reddish color will distinguish a Connecticut wrapper cigar.
“We are ready to complete our core line,” he continues, “but as in those days as a salesman, I first want to position myself among the people. The idea is for them to know that Fénix is a good, different… a five-star cigar,” he details.
The brand is currently sold in six stores in the United States, taking one step at a time, but always with ideas, innovation and collaborations. Without rushing, in accordance with the philosophy that Carlos has maintained from the first moment: “Create connections and relationships to make yourself known.”
The first store added to his client portfolio, JO Cigars, arrived like this, as Carlos came to smoke something, talk and share his cigar. In the second, The Cave Cigar Lounge, the procedure was similar, with a bit of luck and charisma –as he considers it– as his cigar reached the hands of a friend of the owner, who recommended including the brand in the store catalog.
Now, Fénix can be found also at Casa del Tabaco, Newark and Sparta, NJ; at Leafs Cigar Lounge, New Milford, NJ; at Puros Cigar Lounge, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and at Havana on the Hudson Cigars, Weehawken, NJ.
The coming renaissance
For Carlos Cruz, constant evolution is a requirement and the next step is to reach where his grandfather did: reach the goal of planting tobacco to help other small brands get ahead, as in his own case.
“Sow to reproduce our products everywhere and take the brand to a high level. Send the message that it is always good to support small companies that dare to launch a product on the market, that they appreciate it, share it and not judge it without smoking it, because until then the sacrifice and work behind the products is appreciated. cigars from a brand that gives the best.”
Fénix describes the life of Carlos, who maintains that it depends on how you do, you learn and your mistakes help you improve. “I stumbled many times. Sometimes things went badly for me, but I always came back and went up. You know that the phoenix dies, but is reborn from its ashes and flies high. That is how I feel. I am a person who, when I start something, doesn’t stop until I finish it.”
