“I’ve had this idea in the past, and now with you we will create the most beautiful book on cigars ever made.” And I like to think we succeeded.
What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching this book?
Aaron Sigmond : Just how much I missed the people in the cigar industry. My professional experience in the cigar industry started when I was in my early 20s—in late 1992, when I was hired as an assistant manager of the now-closed Davidoff of Geneva flagship store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. I eventually became acting ➤ general manager for a short spell before launching Smoke magazine. However, after a string of long-term consultancies—with General Cigar Co., as consulting creative director; Nat Sherman, as consulting executive director of retail and cigars; and Alec Bradley, as creative consultant—and the publication of my first volume on the subject, Playboy: The Book of Cigars, I didn’t see anywhere to go. So, while I still regularly enjoyed cigars personally, as a smoker and collector, I haven’t been around the business in a long time. So, it was nice to reconnect.
