Let’s start from the beginning. In February 1994, I encountered a completely unknown world: the path of cigars and tobacco. I was 18 years old and had never tried a cigar. In fact, I had only smoked a couple of cigarettes with my high school friends, without knowing how to do it “correctly,” but that was all.
I have always said that life presents us with the people we need to meet, from whom we learn and gain lessons that will be useful at some point in our lives. That’s where my story begins.
Read in the magazine (rotate your device for a better reading experience):
I met Don Elías Mina, born and raised in Mexico City —formerly the Distrito Federal— where his parents had arrived from Greece to stay. Since his father was the first to bring Lucky Strike cigarettes, among many others, to Mexico, he learned the business and, at the age of 38, founded La Fábrica de Puros Valle de México in the well-known Colonia Roma. In a single location, he established the tobacco warehouse, the cigar factory, and the store.
When I arrived there and realized everything it entailed, everything that was behind it, and the people who made it possible, I was simply amazed. Moreover, when people came into the store and picked up their cigars —able to smoke them on the premises— I watched their reaction as they lit them: a combination of fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy… all at the same time. I fell in love with that place and the magic surrounding its frequent visitors, members of a generation known as “the old school.”
Its three main characteristics were the quality of the cigars, fair and competitive prices, and customer service. As visitors got to know me, they became familiar faces, and each visit was an opportunity for a brief conversation, perhaps a coffee, and if there was enough time, to smoke a cigar with them.
Each person had an opinion, a story, or a memory to share, and that’s what allowed that community to grow and create a brotherhood among smokers. Over time, I learned from all of them and from the day-to-day tasks of the cigar factory.
I was fortunate to work in every position within the company, from the lowest to the highest. I learned to store tobacco, prepare it for the rollers, handle quality control, manage order dispatch, store cigars, package them, create inventories, handle receiving, local and foreign sales, and even exportation.
Observing, learning, and striving to do things right—even making mistakes—were valuable experiences I accumulated over time; truly a great era.
Back then, the situation and lifestyle of smokers in Mexico were completely different from what we experience today. I would be very happy to share some of my memories and daily life in this path of tobacco.
Bienvenidos siempre.
