We at Tastethedram love interviewing people who are similar to you and I, the only difference am, they have built a company or a name for yourself. And luckily, they all share their tips of the trade with the rest of you. Read closely, you definitely do not want to miss this.
We spoke to the founder of PuroTrader Pierre Rogers and got some great insight into who he is and what PuroTrader is all about. As well as the proper way to smoke a cigar, light a cigar and even purchase a cigar. All this knowledge will only make your smoking experience so much more enjoyable.
Let’s kick things off. Please tell us a little about yourselves. What were you involved in before starting PuroTrader?
PR: So I am a former finance and economics guy. Most of my career was on the institutional asset management side of Wall Street. My clients were mostly consultants for large pools of capital like Merrill Lynch, Google, and State of California etc. It gave me the opportunity to travel and meet lots of amazing and talented people not to mention a hard knocks education on how the free market works.
How did the PuroTrader project begin? Did you see a gap in the market that offered you this opportunity? Also give us some info on the name. Any significant meaning?
PR: I have become a big fan of collecting and aging cigars and really wanted a name that identifies that. “Puro” is the old Spanish word for cigar which to me denotes the heritage and linage where we get our enjoyment. Trader is more obvious but our goal is to put the power of pricing and distribution into the hands of the consumer. Said differently if we can connect all the retailers, collectors and cigar guys together in one place then everyone will have access to whatever cigar they are looking for. They will find it easily (regardless of age or rarity) and they will find it for the right price and those sellers with the best customer service will win the day. This will greatly benefit the cigar community!
So the story of how we got started is more of an accident than anything else. I had been a collector for many years and I was looking for a certain somewhat rare cigar from Avo that held special meaning to me. I spent hours looking on cigar forums, calling cigar shops and bugging my cigar buddies with no luck. I thought that if there was a place that collectors could connect all of their humidors together (like and online database) I could then easily find out who had the cigar I was looking for. So I set out to build an online “e-humidor” that collectors could track their own collections as well as make it searchable. Seems easy enough?! Well it’s brutally hard to do! With the help of a lot of people we built the largest cigar database in the world. With cigars dating back to the 1890’s!
The next problem to tackle was now that collectors could geek out and look through other peoples collections how can we make it easy for them to buy or sell to each other… That opens a whole can of worms as you might imagine. That’s were we had to really decide to either leave the site as a small free tool for a small group of hard core cigar collectors OR go big! We are now the world’s largest peer to peer cigar trading site in the world. We have users in every developed country in the world with thousands of cigars being listed from large scale retailers to regular cigar guys.
Pierre that is very impressive. What features are you currently offering on Purotrader.com for someone who has never visited your website?
PR: Where do I start! There are so many things the platform can do. We are currently the only legal and safe platform in the world. We have top level identity and age verification to protect the community which means no fake accounts, Spammers or bots. You can be sure that whomever you are buying or selling to is of legal age. We have geo-fences on the site to prevent users from inadvertently breaking their local or federal laws. We encourage users to upload their personal collections into their PuroTrader e-humidor to be able to track their personal collections as well as allow other users to view their collection.
Peer to peer reviews (not unlike Airbnb, Amazon or eBay) to help the community protect each other and promote great sellers. Those are just some of the highlights… Remember that all of these features are free! PuroTrader only charges a small fee upon completion of a transaction. So please come and check out all the cool features we have to enhance your cigar experience.
How long have you been smoking cigars, and do you remember your first stoggie? Tell us about that story. How long have you been smoking cigars?
PR: I have been smoking cigars since I was 18 years old.., My first cigar experience I will never forget! I was working at a ski mountain as a ski rental lackey. It was a super busy and exhausting shift and my buddy headed down to the local cigar lounge as it was the only place in town where we could drink great coffee and play chess. My buddy proclaimed he wanted to try a cigar and asked me which one to buy. I had NO freaking clue about cigars, but my boss and mentor smoked Dunhill Caberra Tubos, so that’s what I recommended. He started smoking it, and he said it was so good you have to try it…. So I bought one too. It changed me completely that day.
The stress of the day melted away, it’s that day I became a cigar guy. I started smoking cigars a few times a week, and then bought my first humidor. I worked in cigar shops and started slowly collecting cigars. It’s been an amazing journey.
A true gentleman pairs a fine cigar with a beautiful dram of whisky. What in your opinion makes this pairing such a natural occurrence. Also give us some knowledge how to pair whisky and cigars.
PR: Actually I am not really a drinker and prefer to pair my cigars with coffee. Coffee I believe is one of the single best beverages to pair with cigars for so many reasons. Without droning on and on about all the different types of coffee and how they work. I thought I might suggest a simple coffee pairing tip:
“Pair strength compliment flavor”. What that basically means is whichever cigar you are smoking then pick a coffee based drink at the same level of strength as to not overpower the cigar. Then pick a flavor that’s the opposite of whatever you are smoking. So, if you are smoking something dark, rich and oily then pick a coffee on the sweeter side. The two flavors of similar strength with complement each other.
Over the years you must have smoked some amazing cigars, give us your top 5 list, number 1 being the most memorable experience.
PR: I have been very fortunate to smoke some amazing cigars thus far. Here are my top five cigars I have personally ever smoked.
1.) The Davidoff 2000 Cuban from 1983. This cigar was what I and all my groomsmen smoked on my wedding day. So not only is this a super rare and very elegant cigar. It was also special as all of my close friends were there smoking them with me.
2.) Cohiba Gran Reserva. This cuban cigar is considered to be one of the best if not THE best cuban cigar in the last 20 years. It was so perfectly balanced with tons of flavor but the strength was restrained. I enjoyed this cigar at a friends birthday in a Castle of all places in the south of France. You couldn’t ask for a more amazing setting
3.) “Zino” Davidoff Limited Edition 2006. This Dominican born cigar is nothing short of perfection. Elegant, creamy with a refinement you seldom see. I first enjoyed this cigar sitting pool-side at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in South Beach many years back. Much of what makes a great cigar is who, what and where you are smoking and this was no exception.
4.) La Palina Limited Edition “Goldie”. This cigar’s wrapper practically glows. Rolled by a master roller these amazing cigars really blew me away. I deeply appreciate a cigar that doesn’t try and use strength over flavor. This cigar was also one of my favorite formats which is a petit lancero. I enjoyed this cigar with some dear friends at a local cigar lounge over great conversation
5.) Fuente Fuente Opus X “God’s Whisper’er” This was one of my greatest cigar moments. I am standing next to the cigar luminary Carlito Fuente and he hands me this short robusto. This is easily the single best Fuente I have ever smoked but it might be the best cigar I have ever had. The tobaccos within varied in age from as old as 12 and 9 years old to as young as 3 years old. This cigar was a flavor bomb but never harsh or brutal but well rounded and approachable
For those of us new to the cigar game, educate us on purchasing cigars. Does the pricing or age matter, how do we go about selecting between the size, the quality and the producer of the cigar. Is it comparable to whisky, where something aged longer ends up with a higher price tag and usually with a more complex palate?
PR: This is a very interesting question and one that’s not covered near enough. Age matters a LOT. Adding a few years of age to a regular production cigar can really improve not only the flavor but the burn and draw as well. As a cigar ages the different oils within the different types of tobacco leaves begin to blend with each other while simultaneously the ammonia (naturally released during fermentation) has time to evaporate. This allows for the natural subtleties and complexities to come forward.
This as a secondary effect of improving burn and draw as well. In terms of pricing aged cigar continue to go up in value steadily for most of their life. Although it’s rarely in a lunar fashion. The bulk of their return happen in the first ten years where they appreciate in value quite a bit, then it slows down a bit until they break 25-30 years of age where the box of cigars will again appreciate in value. I always recommend to those wishing to get into aging to use the 3 and 5 year increments as a starting point. It’s really the best bang for your buck for most cigar novices.
In terms of selecting a size that is really a matter of personal preference: I always recommend trying as many different brands and sizes as you can as you will start to figure out what you have a preference for. But there is an inverse rule readers should know.
Ring gauge has an inverse relationship with strength. Meaning larger ring gauge cigars tend to be milder then the same blend in a smaller ring gauge. This has to do with a couple of factors like smoke to air ratio and heat management. So guys, don’t be afraid of smoking a lancero (long and skinny) the cigars strength will surprise you.
We have heard many stories on the proper way to light the cigars, with so many people having their own opinions. Set the world straight, what technique is best used to get a smooth and even burn of the cigar?
PR: Ok this is actually really important for two reasons. The ritual of properly lighting a cigar gives you a moment to slow down and appreciate what you are about to embark on. A journey that took craftsmen years to refine and master for you to enjoy. The even more important reason is a bad mistake improperly lighting a cigar can completely ruin the experience. How so you ask?
Many people shove the end (or foot) of their cigar into the flame in order to light their favorite stogie. This causes black soot also known as char to build up around that burn line and wrapper. This black char is basically carbon that you have just created and drawn through the length of your cigar as you attempted to light it. Which means that bitter, tar and acrid taste has now tainted the entire cigar. This cannot be undone or fixed…
The best practice for lighting a cigar is to slowly and gently use the heat not the flame from your lighter or match to toast the foot of your cigar. Toast the foot evenly all the way around, while being careful not to burn the wrapper. Slow down and take your time to enjoy it. Then when its time to actually light your cigar using your breath, draw the heat into the foot of your cigar. Slowly turning your cigar with long slow draws will evenly light your cigar every time.
Pro-tip: Do NOT super heat the “cherry” of the cigar (the lit part). Far to often do I see people taking short rapid draws on their cigar to get the cigar to light faster. This should be avoided and often will sour a cigar. Cigars are not to be rushed, slow down and enjoy the moment. – Pierre Rogers
That is so much information Pierre. We are grateful for all the knowledge. How do we go about buying cigars from your website, and or joining in on the auction of some rare pieces?
PR: PuroTrader is the only platform that connects buyers and sellers globally! PuroTrader itself is not a retailer. We just are passionate about connecting aficionados. To get started, create your account and complete the age verification when prompted. You can browse auctions and “Buy It Now” listings, and when you find the one…you know, that cigar you’ve been searching everywhere for. Either place your bid or make the plunge and purchase! Once you successfully win a listing, you’ll receive an email from PuroTrader with contact information to bring together buyer and seller. You will then provide payment and shipping information to the seller. (Psst.. we recommend Paypal here!) Your cigars will be on their way!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
PR: PuroTrader isn’t just for the cigar collectors we want the cigar newbies to come and check out all the cool features and options that PuroTrader has. We have some of the best sellers (and thus amazing prices and selection) for cigars in the world. Come join, connect and realize that every time a new person joins PuroTrader that you are changing the cigar world forever! Come join the revolution!
