Blog & Cigar News | Mardo Cigars

What's up everybody? Neil and Gerard here with Mondays with Mardos. I'm the visitor today hanging out with my buddy Gerard and we're going to be talking about taking our cigar collection to the next level. So enjoy.

For this section of the video, we're going to chop it up in two. 50/50 chance here. I'm going to talk about taking your collection level to the next level. As a consumer, let's say you got the Opus X down, you got the Liga Privada, you got your Cubans, you got this, you got that, you got all the collection you want, and now you're thinking, how can I get to the next level? I have it all.

Well, this is where you can go visit countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Peru. You're going to find a host of cigar makers like you've never ever seen before. There's going to be a lot of freelance cigar rollers. Basically any of these cigar rollers that work a nine to five job, after they leave their factory, they usually go home to their livelihood. After dinner, what these guys do, they have their own supply of tobacco and they roll a lot of cigars, freelance wise, hoping to land their brand into the hands of somebody that is a visitor to the country, that may be a business entrepreneur that could take their brand and be able to sell it here statewide or Europe-wide and therefore living their dream.

We're not going to go to that extent, but if you want to take it to the next level, you can approach to these freelance rollers and they can make you cigars anywhere between a hundred to 200 quantities. It could be a blend that you guys can sit together and blend this cigar. It could be Piloto Cubano, with a mix of Creole Novanto Ocho, with this kind of wrapper. The only downside that is, if you do find a very good blend you like, and you take some home with you, like 200 cigars, if you smoke through all of them, the next you visit, you go there, you may not be able to find those tobaccos again. So that's one thing that is a downside of it. But to take your collection to the next level, that would be pretty supreme. On that end, that's my end of the topic. Neil, you're going to touch on some.

Oh, well, that it just brings back memories from our travels overseas and being in a position to be at some of these countries and seeing exactly that. So when Gerard's talking about that, it brings back those memories. Remember, they are on the corner.

HVA. Piloto Cubano.

And then we were sitting in the front of a small little factory and one of the little kids came by with a chicken.

The rooster.

The rooster, and then they were having, no pun intended, but cock fights down in the corner. I mean, I felt so bad for that little rooster, but man, it's a full on thing going down. It was pretty interesting. But...

The one you had was a national champion.

He was unbelievable and kind of spooky, but nonetheless. So yeah, I think Gerard, I'm always thinking on the business side. As you guys know, I played... Well maybe don't know, but I played baseball for a while, but I was a catcher, so I'm always trying to be the cook in the kitchen, so to speak. So I'm always trying to see how the operations go around everything. So when he is talking about that, I remember all those small little factories, some of the larger factories, seeing how the intricate details go into making each cigar and starting a collection, kind of on the manufacturing side. What it takes to come up with the specific band, the creativity that goes into box design, the creativity that goes into some stuff like the Jake Wyatt has a lot of artesian accents on the cigars. There's so many unique intricate details that make cigar making and the cigar business as a whole an awful lot of fun. So both sides, it's pretty interesting to think about for sure, but it's a lot of fun.

It definitely is. So if you are into the collection of cigars and you want to take it to the next level, please drop us a comment. Let us know what your aspirations are, your visions, your dreams. We love cigar. We are turning into big, big geeks and nerds here. Pretty soon we're going to be wearing our glasses and then our proctors in our pockets. But I'll see you guys next week. Remember to follow us on Instagram, like us on Facebook, and remember, tell your friends to subscribe to our YouTube channel. See you guys. Bye. Thanks for being here, Neil.

You got it.

It's a little hot in here, but...

It's hot all week.

Yeah, I enjoy your presence.