Same format as an An Evening with Benji Menendez and An Afternoon with Ernesto Perez Carrillo. This weekend Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars was in Washington DC and Bethesda MD celebrating the start of W.Curtis Draper 125th Anniversary year with the release of the Cabaiguan WCD 120 Redux. Towards the end of the afternoon, Pete and George Brightman (W.Curtis Draper-Bethesda) sat down and talked about Tatuaje Cigars and the cigar industry in general.
The discussion between Pete and George totals about two hours. To make the experience manageable and thus, enjoyable, I will be breaking the footage into four, thirty minute clips. This is Part One focusing on the start of Tatuaje Cigars, meeting Pepin at the Grand Havana Room in LA, what cigars inspired Pete and the story of the Cojonu series.
Sitting here smoking an Epernay and watching this video and your 20 minute interview….. what a great afternoon! Thanks Jerry.
Great stuff Jerry!!! Awesome
I was very fortunate to be there for this, and to say it was enlightening would be an understatement (I told Pete and George after the interview “thanks for making me feel like a moron”). As much as I enjoyed the previous the previous Draper’s interviews, I think this will be the best as far as discussing new ideas goes. You aren’t likely to see the same sort of outspoken dissent from any one else they have lined up (though I’m sure they’ll be great in their own right).
What spoke to me the most was in the later stages of the interview when Pete talks about an alarmingly underwhelming percentage of cigar consumers he sees as “educated” (5% or less). Whether or not you agree, or even care to take your knowledge of cigars further, it is ultimately about being an educated consumer. Engage your tobacconist, your cigar smoking friends, the “cigarlebrities” in discussion. Find out what’s real and what isn’t, what you like and what you don’t, but most of all WHY.
I’ll end it here at the risk of this comment becoming a “guest blog post”, but if you got anything out of this interview, share it. Disseminate the information. It’s a very easy way to push this culture we all love forward and increase its vitality. As always, thanks a lot Jerry for capturing this and putting it on your site.
– t
I was at this event, as well, and I also felt it was incredible hearing both of these pinging off each other, digging deep into the history of cigars and the current state of the industry!
After they vented for a bit, it was nice to hear them talking about new ideas later on in the interview.