Beyond a bond

ONE IS A HANDS-ON, TOBACCO MAN FROM A LEGENDARY FAMILY OF CIGAR MAKERS WHO’VE LEFT THEIR MARK ON SOME OF THE
WORLD’S MOST RECOGNIZABLE CIGAR BRANDS. THE OTHER IS A HOTSHOT ROAD WARRIOR CLIMBING THE RANKS OF ONE OF THE
LARGEST CIGAR COMPANIES IN THE WORLD. TOGETHER THEY FORMED A DYNAMIC TEAM FOR GENERAL CIGARS AND A FRIEND-
SHIP THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME. WE CAUGHT UP WITH CIGAR LEGEND BENJI MENÉNDEZ AND CAO’S RICK RODRIGUEZ AT LITTLE
HAVANA’S BALL & CHAIN TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON HOW THEIR FRIENDSHIP GOT ITS START.

- BY NICOLÁS ANTONIO JIMÉNEZ / PHOTOS BY GESI SCHILLING -

MAY / JUNE 2017 | CIGAR SNOB | 89
 HEN BENJI MENÉNDEZ special. Today, I am retired… And, believe me, I am trying very hard to take to-
bacco out of my mind. After 62 years, that’s im-
CS: Only semi-retired, because here you are
ANNOUNCED HIS RE- doing an interview for a cigar magazine.
possible. Even before I was born, when I was in
my mother’s womb, I was already hearing about
TIREMENT FROM HIS R: And I still call you all the time about cigars.
tobacco because my father, my grandfather,
my uncles, the whole family on both sides — the
POSITION AS GENERAL You’re never going to be retired.
Menéndezes and the Toraños — they were both
B: In the tobacco business, nobody, nobody can involved with tobacco. Our whole life revolved
CIGAR’S SENIOR VICE ask me anything that I’m not willing to give. When around tobacco. That’s why when I was with
Ricky, I wanted to impress on him this love for to-
PRESIDENT IN 2013, I give something, I give it with my heart. It’s not
what I can get from you or what you can get from bacco. He has it, thank God.

THE NEWS HAD MORE me. That doesn’t exist. My love for tobacco is
above and beyond anything moneywise or advan-
A lot of times, I call Ricky my oldest son. I have my
daughter and two boys. They are not going to be
SIGNIFICANCE TO RICK RODRÍGUEZ THAN JUST tage-wise. Everything is just to make that busi-
ness grow and develop. That’s my feeling on it. I
able to go into the cigar business. But Ricky, who
is a few months older than my boys, has been with
ABOUT ANYONE ELSE. BENJI HAD TAKEN RICK could talk about tobacco and talk about cigars.
me all this time, and whatever it is I can give him, I
“Do you like this? How do you feel about that?”
would love to give it to him. I believe that he will be
UNDER HIS WING LONG AGO, WHEN RICK WAS But Rick has the ability to go beyond what I was
much more important than me in the industry. I’ve
saying and be able to really talk to the people. I
A SALES REP. TODAY, RICK IS LEADING BLEND- don’t have that ability.
said to him a lot of times, “Six months from now,
after I retire, people will say ‘Benji who?’ Who the
ING FOR CAO, HAVING TAKEN THE REINS, AND CS: So, Rick, what were your first impres- heck remembers him?”
sions when that relationship began?
BENJI’S DEPARTURE FROM THE CIGAR INDUS- R: I’m not letting that happen. Believe that. I think
the younger generation wants to keep the memo-
R: I was surprised that I was able to work with
TRY MEANT TO RICK THAT IT WAS TIME TO STEP Benji. I was happy. Again, [training in the] factory ries alive of their fathers and grandfathers. Maybe
you don’t think of us as much, but we think about
taught me a lot about tobacco, processing, aging.
UP AND FILL BENJI’S CIGAR MASTER SHOES. But Benji taught me a love for tobacco. He taught
you all the time. Benji is part of my DNA. Without
Benji, I am not sitting here with you today. He’s the
me why this goes well with that and why you
Cigar Snob: You two are a bit of an odd cou- can’t treat every tobacco the same way. There
teacher who was given to me and allowed me to
ple. Tell us a bit about how your paths con- train and realize what I had — how to share these
are three ways you can talk to a person about to-
verged and how this relationship began. stories with the public.
bacco — especially when you have the knowledge
of the Benjis of the world. You can talk down to
Rick: After my training in the factories, Mr. [Ed- CS: Just to place people in that time and
them, you can overload them with too much infor-
gar M.] Cullman realized I needed to learn from place, around what year was all this happen-
somebody. There were really three people who mation, or you can talk to them. Benji taught me ing and what did the cigar industry look like
were in charge of General Cigar. Benji was one of that lesson. When you’re explaining tobacco, just at that time? What were some of the products
them. talk in terms people can understand about what you were focused on?
we’re doing and what we’re trying to deliver with
Benji: You know, it was something unexpected. a cigar. R: That would be about 2007 or 2006. We were fo-
The relationship begins when I’m told that I’m go- cused on two cigars: Partagas Black and the Benji
ing to go out with one of our sales guys. I didn’t CS: Can you think of some concept or product Series. That was one of the things that we were
know him. In fact, the first time I went out with that you found you were communicating one supporting with him. So you go back to 2007… I
him, I started speaking Spanish. With a name like way and then, because of what you picked up was fresh out of being a salesman and now I’m in
Rodríguez… And he told me, “Hey, I don’t speak from Benji, you shifted how you explained it a car driving with Benji across the country. That
Spanish.” When I came back from this trip, David to the smoker? was where we started to share stories about who
Danziger, who was in charge of sales and market- we are, what we do. It was an honor to meet him.
R: Yes. The banana. It’s a classic story. I said,
ing at the time, asked me how it had gone. I said, I never dreamed he would be such a big part of my
“Benji, we need to help people understand the dif-
“David, we have a live wire.” We hit it off from the life or that I would be a big part of his life.
ference between the maduro wrappers that we
beginning. Sometimes, things don’t happen that
use [and other wrappers].” We struggled with it, B: It has been such an enjoyable relationship. I
way. But I was very fortunate that Ricky and I
but I mention a story we used about a banana. couldn’t think of myself going into a store or into
made a very good combination. I’m not a sales-
When you look at a natural wrapper, it’s kind of an event without him. I just couldn’t do it.
man. I don’t like sales. But Ricky is a natural born
like what we do with a banana. When we want to
guy. I can talk a little bit about tobacco and cigars
and so on, and he can really talk to people and
make banana bread, we tend to let the fruit ripen CS: So you meet, you hit the road, you learn
gets in very easily. And that was fabulous. and get more intense and sweeter. That is madu- from Benji how to talk to people about cigars.
ro. Explain that. If you can’t get it in these terms What was the next major step where you
CS: Benji, do you think any of Rick’s sales- like that, we can’t tell people the story of natural think, “That might not have played out that
manship has rubbed off on you? and maduro. It’s a really simple way of looking at way without what I learned from Benji?”
tobacco, but it clicks for everybody, because they
B: I’m not a good salesman. I will never be. I love don’t have access to seeing these tobaccos like R: Taking over CAO, working on the first blend and
cigars. I love tobacco. Just the whole handling of we do. how much input I had. I was scared to death to be
the tobacco, picking up the leaves, smelling the a part of this merger of CAO and General Cigar. We
leaves, smoking that tobacco, all those things are B: When I talk about tobacco, I get carried away. knew, going into that, the battle to win over con-

90 | CIGAR SNOB | MAY / JUNE 2017

 going to actually run a factory.” At what point
does it click in your head that “My career is
SO THAT FIRST CIGAR taking a different path. This isn’t just a person
I deal with; he’s taking me under his wing and
I SHARED WITH HIM… I’m not going to just be selling these things,
but I may be following in Benji’s footsteps?”
I WAS SO NERVOUS. IT
R: Right away. Really, right away. You cannot be
WAS LIKE, “THIS IS ALL with this gentleman for any length of time and not
know that you’re going to receive more than you
ON ME AND MY TEAM bargained for, paid for, and signed up for.

AND WHAT YOU TAUGHT CS: So immediately your view of where you
were headed in cigars shifts?
ME. HERE IT IS.”
R: I knew he was going to give me the ability to
- RICK RODRIGUEZ do anything I wanted in the cigar business. And
if I wanted to blend my own cigar inside the com-
pany, he’s going to teach me. If I want to blend a
cigar for my own company, he’s going to teach me.
“You want to run your own company? You want to
run General Cigar? You know, I’m going to teach
you everything I can possibly share with you, and
it’s up to you to take this knowledge and do with it
what you want.” I’m perfectly content and happy
to do the job I’m doing with General Cigar and CAO.

CS: So what’s the first cigar where you said,

“OK, I’ve taken the next step. This thing is on
the market, and I have a deeper level of in-
volvement here?”

R: Flathead. Flathead was the first cigar that I

worked on with a team and created without using
Benji as a guideline. I remember the cigar was fin-
ished and I handed that cigar to Benji without any
input. So that first cigar I shared with him… I was
so nervous. It was like, “This is all on me and my
team and what you taught me. Here it is.”

CS: And you knew he would tell you if it was

garbage, too.

R: He is very, very honest sometimes. To the point

that… Yeah, he’ll have no problem sharing that he
sumers was going to be tough. I was reluctant and R: You know, looking at Benji, what you’ll notice doesn’t like a cigar.
scared to share what I learned from Benji with is that he has a lot of knowledge about tobacco.
everybody. My first CAO OSA was a big thing for But when you’re riding with him or talking to him CS: That’s nerve-racking. There’s a possibil-
us. Thank God I had the ability to lean on him and for any amount of time, he’s always going to share ity he’ll come back and say it’s terrible.
for him to come to the factory and help us blend the stories about how to run the factory and deal
the cigars. That was about 2010 that we took over R: It was amazing and scary, but thank God it
with the people. I can run a factory because of his
CAO. So you can look at that timeframe. 2010 to turned out to be a cigar that he liked.
knowledge of how to run a factory. And blending
2011 is when we finally put OSA on the market for with him… Can you imagine cooking with your fa- That leads to the tobacco. For the last 15 years,
CAO. Input from the team that we have in the fac- vorite chef and being like, “I just got out of cooking Benji has been talking to me about his love affair
tory really helped.
school and I’m going to cook your dinner?” You’re with this Brazilian tobacco that nobody was using
B: It also was the first new cigar for CAO. I’m go- so nervous. And when you ask Benji, you know, 15 years ago, and all of a sudden you say, “Watch
ing to say this: I saw Ricky where he is today, but “What should I do?” His response is always, “What out. You need to pay attention to this tobacco in
much sooner. do you want to do?” He’s never going to give you this country called Brazil.” Benji, why Brazil? Why
the answer to the question, but he’s going to lead were you talking to me about Brazilian tobacco
R: I didn’t see that in myself. you to where you can find that answer. before anybody else was talking about that?

B: If I am not saying the truth, say it. I wanted CS: I imagine that, coming from the sales side, B: Because Brazil is a huge country. It’s bigger
Ricky to be doing much more, and it took years for there was at least a period of time where your than the continental USA. You can have tobacco of
him to get there. But I thought he was ready. idea of where you were headed was not, “I’m different types, which is the beauty of this tobacco

MAY / JUNE 2017 | CIGAR SNOB | 91

in Manaus, in the Amazon. It’s so different. These
are the things that make cigar making so beautiful.

R: This is the first tobacco Benji mentioned when A LOT OF PEOPLE

I was asking him what tobaccos I should use to
kind of get my name out there. He said Brazilian. ASK ME, “WHAT
At that time, we didn’t have access to Brazilian to-
bacco until we merged with CAO. All of a sudden,
IS THE BEST CIGAR
there was a Brazilian cigar. That was kind of my
paying homage to Benji with this new blend. Us-
IN THE WORLD?”
ing all these tobaccos that the old guy was talking
about — this tobacco that, now, a lot of people are
IT’S THE ONE
using. It’s great and it can deliver all this unique YOU LIKE.
body and flavor and texture and all that.
- BENJI MENÉNDEZ
CS: It’s cool that that homage to an old school
tobacco guy uses a tobacco that was itself
not old school or at all what people were used
to.

How are your palates and cigar sensibilities simi-

lar? How are they different? Did being around
each other affect the way you experience cigars?

B: [I have made cigars in many countries.] All

these countries I lived in gave me an experience
which I think very few people actually have. The
most important thing in a cigar is not what I tell
you. The most important thing in a cigar is what
you like. A lot of people ask me, “What is the best
cigar in the world?” It’s the one you like. I’m influ-
enced by a lot of things. This is what I have always
taught Ricky. tobaccos we can work with. Every time I go to We have to bring in new people to be the faces
the factory and I talk to my team — or even when of the company. There are people who started
R: I guarantee you we don’t have the same pal- I talk to the consumer — I learn from them. I can’t with nothing but today are great leaders of the
ate. But Benji taught me it’s not your job to deliver shut my ears or my eyes to what these guys want industry. I have a lot of admiration for Litto Go-
what you like. You have a target and you have to from me. mez, Rocky Patel, Pepín. That is what I think Ricky
deliver close to that bullseye or that target. is going to do. Ricky today has started one step
CS: Benji’s not the first or last person to above these other guys I mentioned because he’s
Benji struggles making full bodied cigars because concern himself with how to keep his legacy
coming in from a big company, General Cigar. But I
that’s not his cup of tea. Can he make one? He alive. What can other cigar makers in this
think he will be the guy to look at.
made what is to me one of the best ones: Parta- situation learn from how the two of you have
gas Black. He doesn’t like it. But he taught me that handled it? R: It takes a unique man to do that. To allow
being a great blender doesn’t mean you blend for somebody to overshadow you. That’s something
yourself. R: Be patient with the teacher who wants to
Benji never feared.
teach you something. We’re living in an age where
CS: Rick, what has the transition looked everybody wants things to be short and quick and CS: Are there any projects in the works that
like for you as you have taken the blending simple. This business we’re in is not quick and illustrate Benji’s influence?
reins from Benji? Where do you think your short and simple. It’s a process. And never ever
strengths are and where will you be looking forget who brought you into the game. R: It’s safe to say that Benji will always have a
to develop as a cigar maker? level of influence on the new cigars I develop with
CS: What kind of stamp do you want to leave the team for CAO. Almost everything I know about
R: When Benji first told me that he was going to on the industry, Rick? And Benji, what are tobacco, I learned from Benji. He instilled in me
retire, my question to him was, “How much lon- your thoughts on how your legacy will be
a great love of Brazilian tobacco, which is why
ger do I have?” So I needed to prepare myself handled moving forward?
you’re seeing two new cigars this year made with
because that day was coming. Eventually, Benji
R: I want to leave behind in the consumer’s mind, proprietary Brazilian tobaccos -- CAO Fuma Em
says, “You’re going to have to get out from my
“He listened to me.” Because when I’m doing Corda and CAO Anaconda. They follow CAO Am-
shadow and the way you’re going to be able to
events out there, I say, “Guys, why would I al- azon Basin, a cigar I blended with Benji in mind.
do that is to do it yourself. Now you have to put
what I taught you in your own words. In your own low marketing to dictate the cigars they think you With FDA, like everyone else in the handmade cigar
techniques.” want? Tell me what you want from General Cigar business, we’re limited in terms of creating new
or CAO.” blends, but who knows? Things could change. I’m
My strengths are always going to be in sharing hopeful that the tide will turn in our favor, and that
knowledge of tobacco with smokers. Some of the B: I don’t care about me; I care about what is go- I can continue to share all that I have learned from
things I want to work on include seeking out new ing to happen after me. I’m finished. I’m the past. Benji with the fans of CAO.

92 | CIGAR SNOB | MAY / JUNE 2017