This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Vlada Stojanov, the West Coast U.S.A Product Ambassador, and Jeremy Casdagli, the founder of Bespoke Cigars.  What follows is a little bit of Q&A from Vlada and Jeremy (where noted) as well as some excerpts from a document they sent over detailing their rich history. 

Vlada, what's your background and how did you come to be acquainted with Bespoke Cigars?

My first cigar experience happened when I was doing a sommelier course in Europe some 10 years ago. We had a full 8-hour day focusing on cigars, service, enjoyment etc. It was a Punch-Punch from Cuba, a benchmark medium bodied smoke (for Cubans anyway), or so we were told at the time.

Growing up in Europe, it was Cubans all the way with a little bit of Davidoff and maybe an occasional Rocky or Arturo Fuente here and there. The first time I visited the States about 7 years ago, I looked for everything I couldn't find in Europe in order to expand my palate. Then I visited Cuba and really got hooked.

As my cigar passion grew from one cigar every once in a while to basically one a day or more I tried to read, taste and learn as much as I can... The sommelier training came in really handy as the tasting portion translates with ease, so my notes tend to be pretty detailed but where it really helped was the pairing.

The way I got involved with Bespoke is interesting - Jeremy did a presentation with 3 of his sticks back home: the Grand Cafe (a lancero), the Cotton Tail (a unique coned 62-54 ring gauge format) and the Gran Mareva. I tried the cigars and with having all the major Cuban brands and the Eslavo regional edition at my fingertips... I smoked nothing but Bespoke Cigars for 6 months and when Bespoke came onto the market about 2 months after I moved into the States, it just clicked!

What's the Bespoke story?  How did Bespoke come to be?

Jeremy: Well this is a big question of course. I’ve attached a zipfile [that] touches on the Bespoke Cigar origins.  Here is an excerpt: 

During January of 1951 – Emmanuel Theodore Casdagli, representing the UK Board of Trade, met with the Cuban Ambassador along with Cuban Trade delegation lead by Dr. Andrea Vargas-Gomez. This was primarily to seal a trade of over 5 million tons of Cuban Sugar. Totally unexpectedly the Cuban Ambassador asked Emmanuel whether, as a gesture of goodwill, the UK would agree to a resumption of imports of Havana Cigars which, at that time, had ceased completely. The Cubans wanted importation licences granted in the region of £100,000 (around £2,000,000 in today’s value – 2016).

These discussions were very sensitive for both countries. Any agreement with the UK by Cuba would be dismantling the preferential tariff agreements the Cubans had arranged with the USA. Likewise any such agreement with the Cuban government by the UK would be perceived as damaging to UK trade with the commonwealth.

Emmanuel Theodore Casdagli

Emmanuel knew the political implications were huge and so, on the undertaking that the Cubans would agree that there would be no publicity in regards the cigar importation until the deal was done – or “Hush Hush” in Emmanuel’s words – the go ahead by the highest authorities was given.

Unfortunately Emmanuel and the Cuban delegation were ambushed by a certain Mr. Evans of the Daily Express. The whole deal was exposed in the front pages of the Daily Express. But nevertheless Emmanuel pushed it through and the Cuban dominance of the UK premium cigar market resumed. The rest as we say is history…

So to sum up it all started in Cuba around 21 years ago when, in partnership with some of the best torcedores in Havana, I had a made a small production of cigars based on the Hoyo de Monterrey blend. These were "made to order" for some celebrities as well as top hotels in London and the Saudi Royal family. "Made to order" is the definition of Bespoke - Hence the name Bespoke Cigars was adopted using symbols of our family which was historic in this trade - hence our trademark The Colossus of Rhodes. 

Jeremy Casdagli, Bespoke Cigars

We also had a small production of Dominican cigars sent to the USA in the early 2000s as some of our iconic cigar vitolas we heard were in demand there - for example our original  "The flying pig" which you can read about in the attached booklet. So many of our vitolas are actually grandfathered in the USA. We changed our production from Cuba to the Kelner Boutique factory in 2013 and since that time we have not looked back.

Flying Pig: A torcedor named Hamlet, from La Corona factory, was seen rolling this unusual vitola by one of Bespoke’s prominent Saudi clients. A mold was promptly created and the “Flying Pig” was born. In 2011 whilst being smoked at a party in London’s Playboy club it was renamed the “Cotton Tail” in deference to Playboy’s iconic Bunny girls as well as bowing to the Casdagli family’s history with the cotton trade.

If your cigars were fictional characters, who would they be?  

Tough call...  I am personally torn between Indiana Jones or Han Solo! 

It seems that Bespoke is only whispered about in very few circles - and always favorably.  Is this part of the master plan?

I am extremely happy that the quality and care we put into the cigars is recognized and appreciated!  

As for availability... Yes and no. We do want to be in the premier lounges, private clubs, and great shops in the US. For me, that means a great selection of cigars and a knowledgeable and hospitable staff that cares. On the flip side - our size does stop us from being everywhere, currently we make between 150 and 200 thousand cigars, which is not a lot when you spread it out over a dozen countries and 3 continents. 

What's the intent for the different lines in Bespoke?  

I would sum it up with: "Make the best cigar we can with the tobaccos we have."

From their attached reading material, below is a brief history of their portfolio:

Traditonal Line:  The Traditional Line of cigars was inspired by the lavish life led in Egypt by the Casdagli family in the early 1900s centered around the beautiful Villa Casdagli.

Basilica: The Basilica Line was created to honour the great patri­arch of the Casdagli family who established the family Egyptian cotton business - Emmanuel Casdagli. 

Club Mareva: In 2014 to celebrate the partnership with Cigar Club Mareva, home of the Cigar Smoking World Championship (CSWC), Bespoke cigars launched the Club Mareva Line.

Any specific pairings that you enjoy? 

I love fortified wines and think Madeira is too often overlooked when pairing and there really isn't a better deal for your money when it comes to wine. Ports and Champagne are two of my favorite pairings - Port because it has enough body to stand up to most cigars, has acidity and sugar to balance it too. Champagne because it has body (especially the ones that spend some time in neutral oak like Krug), acidity, sugar and carbonation/bubbles.

For spirits - Glenmorangie La Santa and the 18 yr are some of my favorite universal pairings, they have enough body, complexity and lets not forget - are affordable enough to drink daily/weekly. 

Also - ice cream! I'm working on a book about pairing cigars and ice cream, so more info on that at a later point I hope.

If our readers could only walk away from this interview with three bullet points, what would you want them to know about you or your brand?

• Uniqueness
• Quality
• Consistency

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