I
Cigar Press - So why cigars? What made you get into this business?
Jon Huber - Back in '94 I moved to Nashville from LA. On a lark I was in a wine
store and saw a cigar magazine with George Burns on the cover. I thought it was
cool that there was a whole magazine about cigars. In those days they were thick. I
took it home and read about Robusto tastings. It really peaked my curiosity. I was
flying home for the holidays and wanted to get my father something cool. Some sort
of a bonding thing, so I thought, cigars - perfect. I had been reading up on them and
going to Uptown's Smoke Shop in Green Hills. I walked into the humidor and was
just completely overwhelmed. Some guy walked in and asked what I was looking
for. He gave me the usual stuff, Macanudo, Ashton Classic. I think he gave me a
couple Griffin's as well.
I really started to get intrigued by the whole concept of
cigars. I got a little journal and saved up what little extra money I had each week to
buy cigars at Uptown's. I would use Aficionado's ratings and ask for whatever cigar
got a high rating. If they didn't have it I would go down the list. I just kept journal
ing all the cigars. It was actually pretty funny because I remember at the time one
of the cigars that I scored really low was the CAO. black.
CP -So you just kept getting into cigars and eventually found a job in the busi
ness? What led you down this road?
Huber - At that point I really wanted to make a change. I was pushing thirty
and wanted to do something that I
loved to do, not something that I
had to do. I decided to start writing
letters to every cigar company who
advertised in a cigar magazine.
went through them cover to cover.
If I saw an address or contact, they
would get a letter from me. My very
last resort was C.A.O. because
they were the very last ad in the
book. I found out later that they did
that on purpose. Cano (founder of
C.A.O. Cano Ozgener -
pro
nounced John-a) always wanted
the last page because he thought
that when people picked up