Revelation. Three Days of Billy Perdomo’s Life

Billy Perdomo has come to Moscow. He is a younger brother of Nick Perdomo, the Head of the Nicaraguan company, Tabacalera Perdomo. Сonnoisseurs need no further explanations: Perdomo cigars are top-quality products, but not so wide-spread in Russia. Billy believes it is a temporary situation. He has brought a box of Edici√n de Silvio that fascinated us with both the rich flavour and the original packaging. This box was the 26th of the 1,000 planned to be manufactured. It contains 50 cigars and costs $1,100 in the USA. During Billy’s three-day visit to Moscow seven boxes were ordered by the Russian smokers.

Unfortunately, Billy, who is Cuban by origin and lives in Miami, caught cold in Moscow and got sick.

- What are your impressions of Moscow?

- I’ve tasted the famous Russian vodka. My cold was cured and I feel much better now.

- Vodka is a national remedy in Russia...

- You can get an impression from publications in American press that every man in Russia walks down the street drinking vodka straight from the bottle. Now I understand it is just a myth.

- What other myths about Russia are there in the USA?

- Americans are sure that it is always cold here, there are still communists everywhere, and nothing has changed. Frankly speaking, we had some doubts and fears on our way here. The girl in the travel agency gave us a list of three dozens items on how to behave in Moscow and how to check in at a hotel. She especially emphasized that we had to get our passports stamped and never leave our rooms without them. Diligently I tried to carry out her instructions, but the hotel administrator looked at me as if I were nuts – it turned out that all these silly rules had been cancelled many years ago.

Also I had in my mind’s eye an image of a Russian woman – a fat lady wearing a huge fur coat, standing near a stove all day long, cooking some soup in an enormous pot. But in the streets of Moscow I saw beautiful and sociable women, dressed in the height of fashion, speaking English fluently, and I sincerely enjoyed this sight. Russian women are very beautiful.

- Maybe you have found a fiancћe here?

- I am already married and have two children.

- …who are definitely following in their father’s footsteps?

- My children are too young to discuss their future, though my elder daughter once declared that she would start smoking cigars, when she was 18 years old. My brother Nick’s son is 10, and in spite of such an early age he shows great interest in cigar production. He spends all his spare time with his father and he has been several times to plantations and the factory in Nicaragua, learning the secrets of tobacco growing right on the spot. It is already clear that he will devote himself to tobacco production, when he grows up.

- Aren’t there any laws in America limiting children’s access to tobacco?

- In America everybody is mad about total smoking ban, but there are no special laws about children. All is up to parents.

- How do these bans influence your business?

- It cuts both ways. On the one hand, if smoking is prohibited in bars or restaurants, sales decrease. But on the other – forbidden fruit is sweet, and the more people are forbidden something, the more they feel curious about it or have a feeling of inner protest. Some analysts even expect the repetition of the 90’s cigar boom. We’ll see…

- And do you regard Russia as an alternative market, if tobacconists could no longer operate in the US?

- Our company is in the first place orientated to the American market, the whole Europe consumes only about 15 percent of Perdomo cigars. But Russia is a very prospective region for us. And the most important thing is not the number or cigars that can be sold in Russia today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I am sure Russia has a great cigar future. Our trip to Moscow is already quite an important step, which confirms our serious intentions.

- Is every country, where your cigars are sold, honoured with a visit of one of the company executives?

Of course not.

- So, Russia is privileged?

- We have found a partner here – NTK Company, and I was eager to meet them, because now the fate of Perdomo cigars in Russia is in their hands. We cannot really control the situation here, being thousands of miles away – it is a matter of trust. We have a rule: if somebody sells at least one box somewhere, it is anyway one box more than we would sell ourselves.

In Europe (though, as I found out, in Moscow too) there is a notion that excellent cigars are mainly Cuban. Our aim is to prove that Nicaraguan ones can be superb as well. Of course, we realize that after our departure the sales will not increase immediately, but, anyway, ordinary smokers will have a certain idea of Perdomo cigars. I am happy that Muscovites like our cigars, and they are ready to spend their money and time on them. Today people in the USA do not have time for anything. Everybody is busy and strained. And if somebody chooses to make a pause and relax with a cigar, they plan it in advance, thoroughly preparing for it. I would be glad to sell only double coronas, but if a person does not have two hours for it, it is just a waste of money. That’s why I sell robustos and coronas.

Cigar is a good investment. What do we have left, when the money, wasted for it, are burnt to ashes? We have left only the time, spent with it. That is the thing which we pay for.

- However, there is a world-wide tendency for enlargement of cigar size. Cigars get thicker and thicker…

- You are right, there is such a trend. It is the market demand. In the USA, as maybe in the whole world, there are more and more smokers, who prefer larger size, because it is stronger and more tasteful. Among our Cuban Parejo there are ‘giants’ with ring gauge 62. On the other hand, there are always people, who are only starting to smoke cigars, and they can be scared away by a large size. Or someone does not have time enough for a churchill… We also take such demands into consideration.

In Europe there is another tendency. It is difficult for people, switching from cigarettes to cigars, to get accustomed to a greater size. They prefer smaller cigars, and it takes some time for them to become a real cigar smokers.

- What is your favourite cigar size?

- I am not tall myself, and I think that long cigars, such as double corona, do not suit me. That’s why I prefer robusto or torpedo. However, I am quite satisfied by these sizes.

Cigar Clan  1'2004 vol.1

– by Sergey Drozdov and Natalia Ryzhkova