Welcome to another edition of "Smoke Rings." I had the opportunity to sit down with Oliver Nivaud, Director of Operations at United Cigars to chat about the brand's history, Oliver's experience in cigars, and the variety of selections they carry.

[Tyler Caldwell]; Thank you so much for being here with me today, Oliver.

[Oliver Nivaud]: Absolutely. I appreciate you giving me the time.

[TC]: It's always a pleasure. To start, what is United Cigars? How did it come to fruition?

United Cigars' Background

[ON]: That's a deep question. United Cigars as a company started in 1901. There's a long history and it has been built up to over 3,000 retail locations across the country. It was newspapers, comic books, and tobacco; They actually sold so many comic books that they ended up buying the same company that bought Marvel comics.

When you look at the history online, and you look at some of the vintage pictures, you can see that they had one of the first flying cigar lounges. There was actually a plane with the United Cigar logo on there and they were transporting cigars there. They branded everything. They had catalogs where you could actually use points from the stores to purchase anything from, pantyhose to branded spoons. They ended up dissolving in the '60s and then in early 2000 the brand was picked back up by David Garofalo and the company started to bring cigars that were already made and manufactured within his portfolio into the United portfolio brand. In 2016, I started with the company and we introduced the cigars to the rest of the country. We grew from there. We have cigars that we manufacture and then cigars that we distribute. Overall it's a one-stop shop.

[TC]: The portfolio is quite massive. You could say that there's something for everyone. Whether you want inexpensive sticks to luxuriously flavor-esque cigars, there's something fitting all strengths and all calibers of the industry.

[ON]: Yeah, we tried to make the portfolio approachable in price and profile.

We distribute some other brands at United: Attabay, Byron, Bandolero, and then Alfonso is produced and made by Nelson Alfonso Selected Tobacco.

We brought that into our portfolio in 2012. Arnold André, which is a 200-year-old German company, was very well known for their machine-made products throughout Europe over those 200 years. They started producing premium cigars in 2011 for the European market and a few years ago they approached us and we thought the partnership was good. We started to distribute their Montosa cigar and then they made another one called Terra Nova for the U.S. market.

We have those two lines and then we also distribute some lines for our factory, Magio Cubana. We distribute the Jose Dominguez and the YAYA in Hightower. We celebrated 30 years of La Gianna last year. It's an extensive portfolio from $2 all the way up to $75, with many tobacco-producing countries represented as well.

Oliver's Experience In Cigars

[TC]: Interesting. Before you got involved with United in 2016, did you have any experience in the cigar industry?

[ON]: Yeah. My experience with cigars started really with taking cigars from my father's humidor.

[TC]: Of course.

[ON]: That's where we have to start. I was 16 years old. I never got into other tobacco products. I experimented, as we all may do, but just gravitated toward cigars. In '98 I started working for a company out in Las Vegas, Fribourg Tobacco, and began developing their marketing and manufacturing sides. That turned into a 14-year-long career with them. With the Vegas company, we started to branch off into more of the hospitality side, which is my family's background as my father was in the hotel business. We moved around quite a bit, so instead of me being an army brat, I was a hotel brat.

I was fortunate enough to live in some hotels for short amounts of time. I captured that sense of hospitality and design awareness from my father and his background during that time. He instilled that in me.

Before there was the internet, restaurants had menus that they would print either on a daily basis or whenever they rotated it. My father would actually take menus from the restaurants so that he could use them as research, or have us kids take them. As I said, in Vegas with that company, they opened up a tacos and tequila restaurant that was a part of Casa Fuente at Caesars Rum Bar at the Mirage. We had a mixology program there. A lot of that hospitality stuck with me and that's where I was able to really thrive.

[TC]: Very cool.

[ON]: I started at United, like I said, in 2016 when it was still a very young company with only about eight years that they were developed. At the time, the cigars weren't on a national level. I came on board and just started work on the blending, the packaging, and the rebranding of United.

United Cigars' Flagship Core Line

[TC]: Speaking of United Cigars, we do have some branded United Cigars here. Let's discuss these a little bit.

These are the flagship cigars: the Connecticut, Maduro, and Habano.

[ON]: United Cigars, as I said, started in 1901. In fact, we have one of our little card decks here. This was something that was part of United Cigars' branding originally. It was just playing cards. There's one card for every single line that we carry.

With our flagship line, we kept the original shield that United Cigars used but just updated it. It was very Americana with the coloring and the shield is instantly recognizable. All of our bands have the United coin on the back just to keep that branding intact.

United Cigars had a natural Maduro box-pressed cigar. When I looked at the branding, we had played around with some other companies in United. We tried to use the idea of live united and work with other manufacturers. One of the first collaborations that we had done when I had started was with JRE.

We created the Aladino and box-pressed it, and also had a round orientation for the different flavors and experiences. With that original blend we were using Brazilian Mata Fina, which was getting harder to source for us, so I played around with some different tobaccos.

I had a cigar that I wanted just as an event-only cigar, our United Lancero, which is a giveaway. Although a lot of people like Lancero, people don't gravitate toward that size so we just kept it as an event-only release. As I was doing that blend for myself, we opened up some bales of some Dominican Broadleaf that I fell in love with.

I thought it was just fantastic; very rich, with a little sweet tinge to it. From then on, I started to blend that into the new United blend. All the United core-line cigars do use Dominican Broadleaf, which I haven't seen on the market yet which makes it unique. Then we expanded two years ago with Connecticut.

The United line went through a little rebranding, a little reblending, and that's always a beautiful experience if people have the time. Getting the final result to the market is always rewarding. The United core line has been doing well for us. It's a well-priced cigar, right around the $10 range, on average.

[TC]: Being able to produce something in the market that's, in my opinion, a nice premium taste of tobacco in that $10 range is becoming a little few and far between.

[ON]: Yeah. I had a friend who is a vet who had given me a star from a flag that had been cut out by veterans around six, seven years ago. I always held onto it because it had a meaning to me because it was given to me by someone who had sacrificed his time to serve our country. I held onto it and then, looking into it further, I realized that there's an organization out there called Stars For Our Troops, so we can donate back to them. We can get the stars from them, ship them to the Dominican, and put them into every single one of our boxes just as a way to give back and to remind us that there's Veteran's Day and that's when once a year we celebrate, but it should be an ongoing thing, also honoring first responders.

[TC]: That's really cool.

[ON]: Also, once a year we do a Veteran's Day box where there are two cigars inside that have a yellow band on the bottom. For retailers, we don't charge for those extra two cigars.

They're meant to allow the retailer, or the consumer that buys a box, to have two cigars in there that they're able to share with a veteran to say thank you because they haven't paid for them.

[ON]: Yeah. Our flagship does mean a lot to us and the company.

[TC]: Awesome, man.

Firecracker

[TC]: We learned a lot about the core line of United. Let's lean into Firecracker.

[ON]: Yeah. Firecracker is a firecracker. There's going to be some life behind it. It's a 3.5" by 50 that is perfect for everyday celebration. Given its name, it's one of those cigars that right around the 4th of July is one that's naturally celebrated with friends and family.

Firecracker's interesting because with the repackaging when I started with the company, I wanted to capture the history in a more modern way. We stuck with the Americana theme, so there's the United shield and behind it it says Firecracker across the top on the original Sun Grown. The redesign included American flags, but also a red anchor if you see right behind, because we're trying to brand everything together, that way you can see how these relate.

Firecracker offers that punch for about a half hour to a 45-minute smoke, but we also use this vitola in collaborations with other manufacturers.

Once a year we come out with a new limited edition. This year we announced it's the Micallef Black. Last year was the Aganorsa Lunatic, and the year before that was the E.P. Carrillo Pledge. We've worked with some phenomenal companies that have just done a tremendous job for us. So it's typically once a year that a limited edition will come out but sometimes there are additional Firecrackers that are released because the timing works out.

This year we are also working with J. C. Newman to come out and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Cameroon tobacco. Sixty years ago, Sanford Newman introduced Cameroon tobacco to the cigar industry. We'll have the El Baton Cameroon Firecracker coming out in the fall, which is a very special collaboration.

It's a lot of fun for consumers and for retailers to keep it fresh. Firecracker does come in the Sun Grown. We have the Maduro, which first came out as a five-pack called the Black Bomb just to introduce it to the market a long time ago. Then I rolled it into the portfolio as our Maduro and then we just released the Connecticut Shade Firecracker a few years ago as well. They're all at a great price point, right around the $7 range. Firecracker is really approachable and packs a Firecracker punch.

[TC]: The ones that I've tried so far, even though these are just little guys here, don't let them fool you. They burn very slowly. You can easily get a solid 20-25 minutes out of this thing. It's perfect.

[ON]: There are fast smokers out there, right?

[TC]: Yes but also it'll last you a lot longer than you'd think.

[ON]: Yeah, and it's full of flavor so it keeps you involved the whole time.

When we released the Perdomo Firecracker, I did a little live with Nick Perdomo and we smoked that thing for an hour. Even in conversation, it never went out.

Red Anchor

[TC]: Next is my personal favorite release of United, which is Red Anchor. For those out there who are fans of cigars like the Arturo Fuente Opus X, I would put this in that category. It's spectacular.

[ON]: Wow. Thank you. That is very humbling because that's a brand that's been around for a long time. It's a very reputable, phenomenal company with a great product line. Just to be mentioned in that same category, thank you.

Red Anchor is an interesting line because this is the oldest cigar to have a band on it. It started in Delft, Holland, in 1772. The company had been around for a long time. The factory ended up burning down and we picked it back up a few years ago and then released the Red Anchor Admiral in 2022 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Red Anchor.

In the branding, we wanted something that would just stand out. There are so many great products out there, but sometimes you forget the names or you butcher the name. Customers walk into the store and ask for a cigar that they remember having a certain letter on it but they can't remember the name; this one has a red anchor to remember. It sticks in your mind.

As we saw on the Firecracker, when that was rebranded, I wanted to include the red anchor because we knew Red Anchor was going to come out in a few years. That was our attempt at bringing everything together, even on the Firecracker.

You see there are little stars, as I mentioned, and the shields on there. There are little stories behind everything.

Red Anchor has a history behind it and origins in Holland. We wanted to work with the Kelner family because Henke Kelner had family origins in Holland. We ended up sitting down with Hendrik Kelner at KBF and going through the blend on this for some time, trying different tobaccos. They have beautiful tobacco. Our binder is from Monte Plata in the Dominican Republic. It really holds everything together and it's a great blend of some Dominican and Pennsylvania Broadleaf. It is robust and it's a very sophisticated cigar to me.

When you're smoking it, there's nothing off-putting. We make sure that the cigars rest after they're rolled in the factory. This is a fantastic cigar right off the bat, there's no need to wait for it to be great with more age. It's one of my favorite blends in our portfolio. It's been a great launch and it's been very well received.

[TC]: This is a perfectly balanced cigar that is not overwhelming. If it's your first cigar, you're going to enjoy it. If you're a seasoned vet, and you've been smoking for 30-plus years, you're still going to enjoy it. I hope people will catch on to the Red Anchor.

[ON]: Release that anchor and give it a try.

I started getting into more of the blending side of cigars when I was in Vegas. When you're working with manufacturers, sometimes it's just a sample of a cigar. This is already rolled. To be able to work on the percentages of the tobaccos used to sample the tobaccos and the bales of raw tobacco is really cool. I was striving to make something that would be interesting and approachable for the new smoker, or to the seasoned smoker. Some beginners' palates might be more refined than some seasoned smokers because seasoned smokers might have bad habits or they've gone down a path of things that are just very overpowering and maybe not balanced. It's a great, refined, everyday cigar.

Bandolero

[TC]: Let's move on to Bandolero. To use your words, Bandolero has been a misunderstood brand. Let's let the people know why it shouldn't be.

[ON]: Yeah. Bandoleros were the bandits that used to steal Cuban tobacco from the Spanish crown. Then they would ship it off to Spain. They would roll the cigars and then send them out to the market. So there were some purists who just believed that wasn't fair. They stole the tobacco, brought it to Costa Rica, as the story goes, and then used to roll cigars and then sell it off to the American market and they would say that only the true connoisseur would understand what that product was.

The inside lid has a story of all the Bandoleros. Every lid has a different story from the tobacco being cultivated, fermented, processed, and shipped. Then there's even one where the rollers are in front of a window so they can see if anybody's coming so that they can then put everything away.

I say misunderstood only because this is how we make cigars: We let them rest more as manufacturers and then put them out to the market so that they're ready to smoke.

Selected Tobacco from Nelson Alfonso has taken that to a whole other level. There are three different Bandolero blends: Serie A, the Aventureros; Serie C, Clandestinos; and Serie T, the Traficante.Serie A and Serie C uses Peruvian tobaccos and then more Nicaraguan Ligeros to have more up-front palate spice on the Serie T.

All of Nelson Alfonso's products go through an aging process, which distinguishes his lines from anyone else in the industry. The cigars are rolled in Costa Rica first, then they're shipped off to Madrid, Spain, where they go through an aging process. That process isn't your typical cedar-lined humidor with Spanish cedar and held at 70 degrees and then 70 percent humidity. What Nelson will do is all of his humidors have five different cedars. He uses Cuban, Spanish, Mexican, Brazilian, and Lebanese cedars.

Then the cigars go through this humidification process where humidity is lowered and then raised back up. This stress purges any of the impurities when the humidity is lowered to 40%. As it increases to 70 plus, they're breathing in all the different cedar notes. All the humidity that's pumped into the humidor is absorbed by the wood. The wood then removes impurities in the water and that's released back into the humidor. The cigars take on this cleansing by going through that additional process. He does that to the cigars for one year.

We all say that tobacco should be aged three to five years before it's rolled in the cigar. That's the standard. There are seven-year-old tobaccos used in the blends. The aging process afterward is that distinguishing point.

The cigars go through that one-year process to cleanse them one last time, and then they're removed from that humidor and placed into another humidor where they have the five different cedars, and Bandolero will go through another aging process of about another year.

Bandolero is one of those cigars that's aged for one to two years post-roll. It depends on that final year; it can vary. If he feels the cigars are ready because the tobacco that year was just special and the fermentation process took off and the cigars smoked well, then they're ready to release, but they'll go through a minimum of one year up to two years on Bandolero.

When you smoke Bandolero, it's very clean and smooth, but just like wines, scotches, and whiskeys, the most important piece that they put on that label is the wood that's used. You'll see, sherry cask, oak, French oak, American oak. That's such an important piece in that aging process. And that's why Nelson uses all those different cedars.

Lebanese cedar is a protected tree in Lebanon, but Nelson uses Lebanese cedar. He used to strip furniture pieces because he only uses a little bit, but that was to pay homage to his mother who passed and was originally from Lebanon. He wanted to have that in there for her. You can taste those cedar notes and sometimes there's a little bit of sweetness that you can taste in the cigar.

Bandolero is for everybody because you have the Aventurero Serie A line that has this dark, rich Ecuadorian wrapper and Peruvian Ligeros. Peruvian Ligero is a smaller leaf. It's not as robust as a Nicaraguan Ligero.

Then you go to the Clandestino line using more of that Peruvian blend and a lighter Ecuadorian shade wrapper. There's still a lot of flavor and again, just like wines and whiskeys, when you have that aging, it helps remove those impurities and that heat.

With Serie T, like I said, he uses the Nicaraguan Ligero, so you're going to have a little more spice on the palate. It's really a beautiful line approach.

[TC]: Killer line with Bandolero.

Atabey

Let's move forward here to a very highly acclaimed cigar for you guys: Atabey. Atabey, to me, was always a little mysterious because not everything is fully disclosed with the blends. For the folks out there who enjoy Connecticut, and something a little on the milder side, you're not going to find too many cigars that are going to be able to beat the quality of this thing.

[ON]: Wow, this is a humbling experience to sit with you and hear these words. Thank you on behalf of Nelson Alfonso, his family, and Selected Tobacco.

Atabey is such a special cigar. I remember in 2016 I sat down and I learned about the United portfolio. The potential was there, but United was still unknown. I did a cool draw on an Atabey Brujos for what I believe was about five minutes, maybe it was a little bit less or a little bit longer. I just sat there and I was like, this is incredible.

Atabey still goes through that aging process because it's under the Selected Tobacco umbrella. The process for this one is even longer. After that first year of aging, Atabey ages for a minimum of five years post-roll. It's a very long time.

That's why the production is so small and that's why we want to ensure that the partnerships with retailers have value for everyone because there's only so much that can go around per year. When it was first released, there were 200 boxes that were made per year.

When I started, there were only three sizes available. It was the Divinos, which is a Corona; the Brujos Robusto; and the Ritos in a Toro size. There was a sample pack of five that were in very special humidified tubes that are very special. If people still have those out there, hold on to them. On those tubes, Nelson has a worldwide patent that was used for only seven lines total; some were international brands, but they have a humidification unit on the bottom. The humidity travels up the side of the tube because it has holes on the bottom, and at the top it has a bullet cutter. I digress a little bit, but it's a beautiful piece if you have it.

Atabey goes through five years of that aging process, and over the course of those five years, again, humidity is lowered down to 40 percent then back up to 70 plus to breathe in all the different cedar notes.

I don't consider it a mild-bodied cigar. It's maybe more mild-to-medium-bodied in strength because if you retrohale, it's so refined, sophisticated, and elegant because it goes through those extra years of aging.

Atabey is inspired by the goddess of the Taino Indians who were originally in the Caribbean. The story of Atabey comes because yes, she was the goddess, but the Cohiba was the spiritual ceremony, the circular ceremony. If we had more people around this table, this would be considered a Cohiba. Then there was the shaman, the tribal leader who would put together these blends so that everyone in that ceremony could have their prayers answered by the goddess. He was the Behike. So that's where the Cohiba Behike came to be.

Then the Behike was the one that could communicate to the goddess. So all the smoke was blown to the center where the Behike was, and then he would blow up the prayers to the goddess Atabey. Atabey is a cigar that, as you said, is very mysterious. Misticos gets its name from that. Hechizos is our smallest size in Atabey, which represents an evil spirit. You have the Spiritus, our Lancero, meaning spirit. Delirios because they would go into a state of delirium as they're smoking these blends and blowing the smoke to the Behike.

Atabey is just a very special line to me because that's what changed my perception of cigars. I had already been in the industry, as I mentioned, working in Las Vegas for a long time on the retail wholesale manufacturing side. We sold cigars for a higher price point. When I came on board and I learned about Atabey and I saw that price point, I was like wait a second. But then I did the cool draw, as I said, and I smoked it and I learned about the process. This is now taking on a different element that I've never heard of. I didn't know it existed. And then, as I was smoking, I could experience it. I could understand it. I smoke it a little bit slower because I can feel the difference when I'm smoking the Atabey. It's relaxing and it's a very special cigar.

Nelson Alfonso's lines have a higher price point because of that extra aging. Atabey goes through an aging process of five years total and sometimes a little bit more because it always depends on his production when the cigar is ready.

[TC]: Very meticulous.

[ON]: I think when Nelson started out, because he was so new and fearful, he didn't want people to know this process and we don't share everything that he does because there's so much more and specific varietals that can be hard to get if other manufacturers know about it.

Atabey uses Ecuadorian shade grown on the wrapper, Dominican Republic binder, and Dominican and Peruvian fillers. It's just a beautiful, sophisticated cigar.

[TC]: Sophisticated is definitely the word I would use for Atabey, for sure.

[ON]: It's an everyday celebration cigar.

Byron

[TC]: Finally for our selection of what we carry on Smokingpipes.com right now is Byron. We have three different choices here. What makes each one of these different, special, and unique in their own ways?

[ON]: Byron is an interesting line. Century is very unique. Within the Century, they're very unique. Byron was a line that Nelson's great-great-grandfather had started in Cuba and he named this line after the poet, Lord Byron, in 1850. It was a brand that was sold throughout the US as a Cuban brand. When they were looking to expand the line, there were distributors in Europe, such as Hunter Franco. They were looking for a line to introduce to the market. There's a letter that Nelson has where they were debating between Byron and Montecristo.

Byron was just a name that was very common and well- known throughout Europe because he was a European and a Londoner. Montecristo just had a more Latin-Caribbean feel.

This line started in 1850. The family had it until the early 1900s, where at the time, back in the 1800s and before there were thousands of Cuban brands, those were all eaten up by larger manufacturers. Byron was started by his family and in the 1990s, Nelson Alfonso was living in Cuba. He was an artist, a photographer, and didn't know his family's history because part of the tobacco side of the family was removed. His grandfather was kicked out of the family because he just didn't have the same beliefs as some of the other Cubans in that area. He met his grandfather when he was 24 for the first time and learned about the family history. Then he said, at that moment, he put his camera back in its case and he never touched it again professionally. He started to immerse himself in tobacco and cigars and that's where he took his design work and his artistry. He brought it internationally and started to redesign and brand some of the other lines out there. That's where Byron started to be brought back to life.

In the Byron line, you have the 19th Century, the 20th Century, and the 21st Century.

They're all very distinct. In the 19th Century, he uses Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers, all-Ecuadorian wrappers, but all different wrappers between the four sizes that are available.

In front of us today we have two lines that are limited releases that come out once a year. They show the year that the cigar started to go through the aging process, but you have the Petit Poema that's aged for four years post-roll; the Poema, which is a Robusto aged for three years post-roll; the Grand Poema, aged for five years post-roll; and then the Epique Poema, aged for four years post-roll. The different shade wrappers for those four cigars make each one very distinct. In my opinion, the Petit Poema is one of the strongest cigars in his portfolio for the Byron brand.

Byron just has a tremendous amount of history. The names for the 19th Century are inspired by Lord Byron, the poet. Petit Poema is associated with what his profession was. It's a little stronger on the palate, with more spice because it uses Nicaraguan tobacco, and it's a fuller-bodied cigar.

In the 20th Century, he removed the Nicaraguan and started to use Dominican and Peruvian on the fillers. Most of the lines have a lighter Ecuadorian Habano wrapper but in the Byron 20th Century, there is Habanero. That comes out with the Grand Poema and the Elegante. These are humidors that are released once a year. As I mentioned, 300 were made before. This year, there will be 400 that are numbered. They show the vintage of when the cigars started to go through that aging process.

In the 20th Century line, you have the Londinense, which is a Toro that is named after Lord Byron, a Londoner. You have the Habanero because he loved his Cuban cigars, Venecianos because he would travel to Italy; that's our Torpedo, aged for four years.

Then there's the Mesolongis, which is a three-year-aged Byron, and that is the location that he passed at a young age in Mesolongi, Greece. They were going through some turmoil there and he wanted to help support them. He ended up passing away in 1826 there.

In the 21st Century line, these were all blends that Nelson recreated capturing what the cigar may have tasted like back then. He wanted to reblend something that was a little bit stronger and more robust in the 19th Century and a little bit softer in the 20th. In the 21st, for those that may love Atabey and want to venture into Byron, this cigar actually uses the same wrapper that Atabey does: light Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper, but more Dominican and a little bit of Peruvian on the 21st Century just shows who Lord Byron was.

He was a distinguished gentleman so you have the Distinguido, the Elegante, the Aristocrate, and Honorable. Honorable is the one that has a larger ring gauge, a 58. All of the 21st Century are aged for four years post-roll. It's a more subtle cigar for the Byron portfolio.

[TC]: A lot of history and just a lot of incredible knowledge. I'm learning more than I ever thought I would.

[ON]: Yeah, it's a beautiful process. It goes through that same aging process on Byron. What makes it unique is the specific amount of time for aging post-roll. That information is notated on the secondary band. Usually, the secondary band will have the number of years that it's aged, so this is five años, for example.

[TC]: Awesome.

[ON]: Yeah. It's a beautiful line. You have gotta try one today.

United Cigars At Smokingpipes

[TC]: I hope everyone watching this has learned a lot, and thanks for coming out, man. I look forward to seeing what United has popping off next.

[ON]: I look forward to the partnership and the growth. We're young in the relationship and that's the beauty of it. You guys have been tremendous supporters and you believe in the lines. Hopefully when you experience it and you're sitting down out there, you can see there's a difference and there's a uniqueness to it.

I appreciate the opportunity to be able to sit down and share some of the stories. This is what I got into cigars for because there were these conversations with good friends. Thank you.

[TC]: Thank you for being here and thank you for watching. Check out all of the United brands that we've mentioned today at Smokingpipes and let us know what you think of them. We'll see you next time.