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Recently, I was joined by Lou Cross from Lure Cigars and we were able to talk about Lure as a brand, Lou himself, and exciting releases from the brand that are available at Smokingpipes.
Note: The following transcription has been edited for clarity and brevity.
[Tyler Caldwell]: Thank you for being here with us, Lou.
[Lou Cross]: My pleasure.
[TC]
[LC]
[TC]: I'm a big fan of Lure and have been for quite some time now. Why don't you share a little bit of information about yourself so we can let the folks watching know why they should be a fan too.
A Tribute to Lou's Late Father
[LC]: First, I appreciate the opportunity to come out and chat with y'all. You guys have been a great supporter of the brand since you became aware of it and I thank you for that. Lure Cigars is a tribute to my late father. In 2023, he passed away at 90 years of age. He had a full life, and the two things that we did together were fishing and smoking cigars. The theme of tackle and tobacco comes together in Lure Cigars. When we originally came up with the idea of doing a cigar, I wanted to do a cigar for his 90th birthday. I went to my friend Nimmer Ahmad at Valacari Cigars, who's also out of Tallahassee. I asked if he could roll a cigar for my dad's 90th and he said sure.
At the end of my dad's life, he smoked much more mild cigars, and so Nimmer rolled a little short story Figurado style in a Connecticut. We ordered them but they didn't show up in time for his 90th birthday. We smoked a lot of other great cigars, had a great party, had all the friends and family together, but a couple weeks after, his health declined and he just said, I'm tired, and he passed away. The cigars showed up the week that his decline happened so I had these cigars and Nimmer was apologetic. I gave those cigars away at his funeral and when I was giving the eulogy, I thanked them for coming. I had the box at the back of the church for any cigar smokers to take as they left.
I didn't expect many people to take cigars because you just don't know who is a cigar smoker and who is not a cigar smoker, and while I had a core group of friends that were there, the 200 cigars that were there were gone. I walked in the back and I didn't even have any left for myself. That was a surprise.
Over the next few weeks after that service, I got text messages, phone calls, and people coming up to me in the grocery store sharing their great experiences smoking the cigar. It reminded them of smoking with family members, and I knew I had something there. I went back to Nimmer and I said there's a lot of momentum and people love the story. Can we get a cigar that I like to smoke? And maybe I'll do that and I'll hand it out at poker games and at the lounge. At the factory, I had to get orders bigger than simply 200, so I went to my wife and asked if I could do it. She thought I was crazy. But I knew this was something that would last me a long time and that I'd have them.
The Big Lou, BLT, and The Lil' Tony
[LC]: Next we had the Corojo blend, which was actually a gift. I was shooting for Habanos, but I just wasn't finding one that was meeting my palate. I was a little bit frustrated. Nimmer went to the back of the warehouse and came out with a reddish-brown cigar. I tried it and really enjoyed it. It was a Corojo blend that Nimmer had been working on, with a Corojo Oscuro. That cigar became The Big Lou.
I named that one after my dad. That's kind of how it started. Nimmer could see the potential for a business as I handed them out, so on Black Friday of 2023, we launched with The Big Lou. That was a 6" x 52 Toro, and then we had The Big Lou Torpedo, which was a 6" x 54 Torpedo. My dad loved BLT sandwiches and he always would judge a restaurant by their version of the sandwich. I called that one The BLT, and then we had The Lil' Tony, a 5" x 50, which was named after my son. He's actually 6'5" in stature, which is ironic, but when he was little we called him Lil' Tony.
We launched with those three cigars and we sold out before Christmas, and at that point he said, you've got an enterprise, you need to do something. We continued to go forward and shored up everything with trademarks. On January 1, 2024, I sold cigars out of my local shops in Tallahassee, and then I also had an online presence at a couple places and I was just kind of seeing how things were going.
The Holy Colie, The Tally Allie, and The Last Cast
[LC]: At that time, I was doing it part-time and we came out with the Habano next. My daughters were like, when are we gonna get a cigar named after us? And I was like, I didn't know you were paying attention. So The Holy Colie came out named after my daughter, Nicole. That was the Robusto and Habano. Then we had a 6" x 52 Toro, which was named after my daughter, Allison, that we called Tally Allie because Tallahassee's nickname is Tally and Allie's her nickname. The Holy Colie and The Tally Allie came out in February of 2024. That went over very well.
We had two core lines at that point. After that, I wanted to do a tribute cigar for my dad, and that was on June 1, which was his birthday. He passed away on June 27, and Father's Day is also in June, so June's a very special month for Lure. That was The Last Cast. I had a limited allocation of Broadleaf and the Connecticut Broadleaf was one of my favorite tobaccos to work with, in terms of cigars. That term, the last cast, is a phrase that fishermen use to say it's the last one you're gonna have that day. Sometimes it's not actually the last cast, but you say it is and you reel it in a little slower, putting some more action on it. That's a cigar that I wish I could have smoked with my dad. It's the one that really kind of makes you slow down to think about it and just reflect on the day. It's not one that I would smoke as the first, second, or third cigar of the day, but it's a cigar that is definitely the last one of the day.
Fish Stix, The Mean Jean, and Brown-E-Trout
[LC]: We went into the fall and we had a couple other fun projects we did. We did Fish Stix. That was something that was kind of an experiment. I smoke a lot of different cigars and I've smoked over 30 years myself. I like what's new and I get excited about it and most people think I'm kind of bonkers to come up with as many different lines as I have. But there's this momentum to be able to ask, what is new? And we've been very blessed to have so many people that have smoked our cigars and returned to them and continue to smoke them, which is really exciting.
I wanted another cigar that was a little bit more amped up, like a Habano, that had a little more kick. Our Habano was our medium. I wanted a medium-plus, full-bodied Habano, and I asked Nimmer to add Ligero, because I don't know what I'm doing, I'm not a blender, right? I'm a cigar smoker and a cigar enthusiast. Those at the factory told me no, hermano, you let us do whatever we're gonna do. They came up with a box-pressed version of the Habano. They actually removed tobacco, taking out some of the filler tobaccos, leaving the Ometepe Ligero, and the result was a box-pressed Toro, 6" x 52, and that cigar I called The Mean Jean.
That one's named after my wife because when I was sitting on the porch and smoking the samples, I said, this cigar is awesome, and she happened to overhear me. She said, well, if that cigar is awesome, I want it named after me. So I said, I'm gonna call it The Mean Jean, because it's really tough. That cigar is an hour, hour and a half to smoke, for sure, and I smoke fast.
I went back to the factory and I asked about rolling that cigar in a smaller format to be a Petit Corona. I like a smaller-format cigar that I can smoke when I'm going to the bank, or cast fishing, or on the golf course between holes. They didn't have the molds in the factory for a box-pressed version. Until I committed to volume, they didn't want to make them. Instead, they sent me a little Parejo Corona Rothschild format, a 4.5" x 46. On a whim, I put a little fake band on it that just said Fish Stix that I posted to social media. Our social media following is so strong, thank you very much for following us. People were excited and wanted to know when they could get Fish Stix? So the 2,500 cigars that I had rolled for myself, for personal consumption, just for fun, were put into five packs, in a Ziploc-style enclosure, with a Boveda pack inside, and a sticker. They sold and they vaporized. Poof.
I knew from there that I was ready to commit to this and then we came out with an actual box-pressed version, the 4.25" x 46 Fish Stix that's out now.
We had a couple other instances where we had Catch and Release, which are little five-pack kind of projects that we do. Short run, little micro drops that we do. That's something fun where I can come and get some feedback from cigar enthusiasts out there. They try something, they like it.
We did The Brown-E-Trout. That cigar is now coming out in full production next week.
[TC]: Brown-E-Trout has been my personal favorite, so far, next to Lil' Tony. I love it. I love the size. The flavor profile in that size format just works perfectly for my taste. Now knowing that Brown-E-Trout is coming, I'm looking forward to that one.
[LC]: Coming soon. Get ready for it. The Brown-E-Trout's coming back in the 6" x 54 box press, and then I've got a Lil Trout, which is a slightly amped-up version. It's got a little bit more spice to it and cinnamon kind of notes, and that's in a 5" x 52 Robusto.
The Big Joe, The Lil Joe, and The Jolly Walleye
[LC]: In between, we did have another one. I wanted more of something that had full flavor that I liked to smoke with coffee, a high-proof spirit, or whatever. When I went back to the factory, they had a blend they were working on called the Oscuro. That's the orange packaging that I called The Lil' Joe and The Big Joe. Those names were inspired by a cup of joe, or a cup of coffee. I smoke it daily. This blend definitely hit my palate, and it has been exciting for other people to enjoy it as well. That is our third core line. So we'll have four core lines at the end of this month coming up and we've had a couple other things. So it's just been an exciting ride.
[TC]: The Oscuro Lil Joe is chocolatey, and drinking an espresso with it definitely amplifies the espresso flavors. I also get a creamy vanilla in the background of it. You definitely created something that is full of flavor. It's a great cigar.
[LC]: Thank you but the talent is from the people who deal with the tobacco and those at the factory. I can pick a good cigar that I like to smoke. Props to those who grow the tobacco and blend the tobacco. I'm not a master blender. I'm a guy that really likes good cigars, and I've been very fortunate to have some blends presented to me that I can sit there and validate and say, this is something I wanna put my brand on.
I would love to someday be able to go down there and have the hands-on experience but I'm not so sure you'd want a cigar that I would blend myself. I'll hopefully be there in 2026.
We also had a holiday release called The Jolly Walleye that was a Habano 2000 Robusto Extra. That was something well received. We're gonna do some fun holiday things this year, and then we're ramping up for PCA next year.
It's just been a wild ride and this has been a full-time effort since May of this year for me. It's a joy to meet more people and be on the road with some great cigars.
Lou's Relationship with Valacari & La Tabacaria Cigars
[TC]: Is there anything you'd like to add about your relationship with the manufacturing side of things?
[LC]: Sure. I've been very fortunate. I came into this with the benefit of having somebody who had 10 years of experience. Nimmer Ahmad from Valacari is coming up on 10 years next year, so when I had gone to him, he had been a mentor. While he's a lot younger than I am, you wouldn't know it because he's got a lot of experience and I owe him a lot.
There's been other people in the industry that have given me guidance too. I still had my own challenges, but at the same time, I have a great relationship with the factory. We're at La Tabacaria Cigars in Estelí now, and that shows up in the cigars. Estelí tobacco and Nicaraguan tobacco are just so incredible.
[TC]: Oh, absolutely.
A Limited Collaborative Release: The Red Fish
We also want to talk about a brand-new and limited release: The Red Fish.
[LC]: I know there's a lot of people that are coastal fishermen out there going out for the red fish and it just happens to be that The Red Fish was named because of the Corojo Oscuro reddish-brown wrapper that's on it.
The Red Fish is a collaboration cigar. My relationship with Valacari Cigars has grown over the last 18 months that we've been in business and he's been in business for 10 years. As a tribute and a thankful nod to him helping me, we decided to collaborate.
One of my favorite cigars from Valacari is the Lumineer, which is his new one that launched this last April at PCA. It's a Habano that is an all-Nicaraguan Puro. I thought it would be cool to use the Corojo Oscuro from The Big Lou.
When they sent up the experiment in a box-pressed format, it hit both of our palates and we knew we wanted to release it together. We made 2,500 cigars total. We'll be doing other collaborative projects in the future.
[TC]: That's awesome, man. How would you describe the body, strength, and flavor profiles?
[LC]: I smoke a lot of strong cigars, so when I say something is medium-plus to full strength, please be mindful that it could be stronger for some. I really think that this cigar is on that medium-plus profile for strength, it is full flavored, and you're gonna get the natural sweetness of the Corojo Oscuro, which is that aged Corojo, with dried-fruit, leather, and a coffee background.
The Red Fish has a lot of Ometepe tobacco in it. The binder is Ometepe and then the filler is Jalapa Estelí and Ometepe in the filler as well. You do get some nicotine strength, but you also get full-flavored notes too, like dried cedar on the finish. The retrohale on this is straight black pepper and creaminess. It's a long finish. This cigar is truly a signature of both brands. You get the Corojo that started our business and you get the pinnacle of his Habano line that is coming out with Lumineer. It's kind of a nod to both.
[TC]: Absolutely. I will say, from the few that I have smoked so far, you hit it right there with cedar, especially once you get to that halfway point. To me, the cedar really illuminates. There's some creaminess. There is a coffee nutmeg but on the retrohale, it's almost like crushed red pepper. I would assume that's where that power with the flavor profile and the strength comes in.
[LC]: Oh, yeah.
Where to Begin in Lure's Portfolio
[TC]: What I find interesting about Lure is that when you think of cigar brands, you think of heritage, boutique, or brands that have been around for 10-plus years. There have been a lot of brands celebrating significant anniversaries this year. For Lure to be still so new and to have the success you're having already and to be able to put out different lines, that's gotta be inspirational for other people out there who are also wanting to get into the position you're in. I give you a lot of props for that.
One last question for you. For the folks watching at home who are now learning about Lure and now want to try it, where would you say would be the perfect first Lure cigar for folks to dabble their toes into the water, so to speak?
[LC]: Sure. If you want to build in terms of ramping up from flavor and strength, I would start with Habano and your preference for size, then I would move to the Corojo Oscuro. And then I might go Oscuro, which is the orange, and then, as a kind of a finish for the core line, I would go to the Maduro and the Maduro that is coming out. There's always a Robusto and Toro, and there's a couple other box-pressed sizes that we have from some of the special projects we've done along the way, or limited releases that we've done.
[TC]: Thank you, Lou. It's always a pleasure to see you and talk with you.
[LC]: Likewise.
[TC]: It's a pleasure for you guys out there watching to learn a little bit about Lure and hopefully check them out right here at Smokingpipes. Let us know which one is your favorite.
[LC]: Yeah, please. Let us know on social media. Follow us at Lure Cigars. We love to have feedback and read the comments. If you like it, we love to hear your experience. At the same time, if you don't like it, let us know why you don't like it. Our slogan is, "Smoke Great Cigars and Tell Tall Tales."
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