How do you judge a cigar? Focus on a cigar’s flavor, balance, construction and clean finish suggests HVC founder Reinier Lorenzo. A cigar with a clean finish won’t leave you with a weird taste in your mouth afterward—what smokers call ashtray mouth. 

Native Cuban Reiner founded the small-batch cigar house HVC in 2011, as a homage to hand-made cigars in Havana. “To me, Cubans, when they are right, when you have a really good Cuban cigar, there’s nothing that you can compare with. So now in Nicaragua, we at HVC, we want to replicate that.” 

Filmed on location at HVC headquarters in Doral, Florida with Boveda’s Rob Gagner. 

Snow, cows and how to start your own boutique cigar company: 

• 00:00 Cold open
• 03:05 Blending cigar tobacco is like creating a recipe
• 03:19 Look for flavor over strength when choosing a cigar
• 03:48 What cigars does HVC make?
• 05:56 A Cuban moves to Wisconsin
• 10:33 From Wisconsin to Nicaragua and AGANORSA 
• 12:55 Why rolling a cigar at home is never as good as the premiums 
• 14:14 Starting a business? Observe like an entrepreneur 
• 16:53 What was the first broadleaf wrapper AGANORSA cigar?
• 20:55 Why you can’t create a cigar from just one tobacco farm
• 23:20 Look for flavor, balance, construction and clean finish in a cigar
• 23:29 No more cigar ashtray mouth!
• 30:28 How losing his dad at an early age affects a man
• 36:37 As a small business owner, you have to keep going after a failure 
• 40:11 Giving up the security of a job to start your own company
• 46:41 Best advice for launching a family business
• 47:19 Best response when someone says no to a sales pitch
• 53:29 Is it better to smoke a cigar alone or with friends?
• 54:41 Cigars vs. cigarettes—no comparison

To get great taste out of cigars, keep Boveda in your humidor. Using Boveda packs makes storing premium cigars easy. Makers of 2-way cigar humidification, Boveda also makes seasoning packs for wood humidors, travel cigar humidor bags and one-step hygrometer calibration kits. 

Looking for a gift for a cigar smoker, dad or other important guy in your life? Check out the Boveda Humidor Starter Kit and other cigar care accessories. Shop Boveda here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collections/boveda-for-tobacco

Check Out More of Boveda Cigar Exclusives:

A Cuban Cigar Collection | What's in Your Humidor? HVC, Reinier Lorenzo

https://youtu.be/eF6c-3BjfeM

When the U.S. Rolled More Cigars Than Cuba (Feat. Big Sky) 

https://youtu.be/tEBjL44vXF0

The Man Who Taught Me All I Know About Cigars (Feat. Crux Cigars) 

https://youtu.be/T8rUALdjkO4

Talking Family & Matilde's Origin Story w/ Enrique Seijas (feat. Matilde Cigars) 

https://youtu.be/n2OjLXbbAsI