Jose Oliva at The Outlaw

Another fine afternoon of great food, great cigars and great beer was had thanks to The Outlaw Cigar Company. This party featured Jose Oliva of Oliva Cigars. (on the left, below)


I had a chance to talk with Jose about the cigar business in general and his family's involvement in it. The family business had long been tobacco-growing. After leaving Cuba because of Castro and later fleeing to Honduras because of the Sandinistas, they returned to Nicaragua when the political climate stabilized and got into cigar making at the very start of the boom in the early '90s. It was interesting to hear about the numerous pitfalls of starting a business with some 3,500 competitors, most of which would not survive the decade. And after hearing about all the ways cigar making can go wrong, from the planting and growing to the fermentation and aging, the blending, rolling and finally shipping and storage, I can really appreciate what it takes to be successful in this industry.



The weather, and construction on I-29 may have been responsible for keeping the usually huge crowds away, and that made for a nice change, IMHO.