Ringside with George

See you on the beach Thursday.

2010-01-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

I first heard it leterally on a beach on a Thursday in Marina Del Rey in the lat 70's. I lived there fifty feet from the sand on Topsail street. One of my oldesrt friends Lenny Levitsky said it me for the first time as he was leaving the beach on his way to Hollywood Race Track. Many races have passed on and off the track for both of us, but win or lose there is never a time that goes by that we don't hang up from each other saying "I will see you on the beach Thursday."

The zeitigeist during that time and I still believe is a connection of character. I work at Cigar Masters, which is going to celebrate fifteen years of doing business in Boston. I have that one word that defines our success, and that word is connection. The guest that we see experience it with their cigars and their stories of smoking them. They also have it with friends, and lastly our service. Our staff knows how to make you feel right! Cigar Masters is a place that cigar smoking helps you renew conversation. It also draws the character of man together. Life these days can be cold, and certainly not short of sorrow. So to have a place like ours that gives you a sense of peace is invaluable.

When you look out the window you don't see the sand but the beach is not far, and either is Thursday.

Ringside with george

Class in media networking

2010-01-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

The opportunity for me to stay on top of my media networking has to be made daily. We here at Cigar Masters are on a mission to not let anything get away from us, and to stay in prime shape in our industry. We increased sales in "09" because of this and how we will continue to train for it. Brandon has us doing major sparring rounds with a lot of trading of information. I feel I am back in the ring but this time with a laptop instead of my left hook .
Ringside with George

"Stand UP Guy"

2009-12-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

I come from a generation and place that when you said he is a "Stand Up Guy" it meant something. The qualities that stand apart from the ordinary cover many different shapes and weight classes. It's not so much in want they say, but what they simply do. I had met Don Pepin earlier this year in Miami. I was introduced to him by an old friend Ernesto Carrillo (La Gloria Cubana), and my immediate impression was I am in the presence of a "Stand Up Guy." Although English is not his first language he does not flinch to what is being said, and he looks at you in the eyes. Ernesto informed him that I had opened up the Grand Havana Room, in Beverly Hills and New York. This made it very easy to talk about Pete Johnson (Tatuaje) and to the time (1995) when GH started and all the characters that crossed our paths. Not to mention Pete's success and how Don Pepin is a key guide to Pete's journey. He was also informed that my ex-wife was of Cuban descent and it was she who first introduced me to Ernesto. I felt he did not see me as a complete stranger to his world or language.

There is another quality that fits this mold and separates a man like Don Pepin from others, and that quality is "humility." He makes you feel as though you know him from some other time. He embraces any questions you may ask about cigars and his journey to the top. His passion for what he does is without edge, but not without a genuine smile.

My second opportunity to meet with Don Pepin was on December 10 at Cigar Masters Boston, where I am employed as the Director of Operations. The event was titled "A Night of Family." The reason for the event was just that. Here at CM we are a family and cigars provide us the connection that ties us all together, not only within our own establishment but with a man like Don Pepin. Listening to Don and his daughter Janny talk with such passion about some of the brands within his cigar line (My Father, Don Pepin Blue, and Tobacos Baez), I feel as though the brands have become members of the Pepin family. It is also with that same passion for creating such distinguished cigars that makes me understand what brings a community like ours together. One of the highlights that night was watching him roll cigars. He moved through the tobacco like Manny Paquaio moves in on his opponents. He did with speed and and exact precision, and the finish roll was a knockout.

Don Pepin is not only a "Stand Up Guy" he is a champion, and all the great champions that I have seen and admired, seem to be blessed with a touch of magic. The kind of magic that is effortless in the face of greatness!

Ringside with George

Round 1

2009-12-09T14:29:00.001-08:00

This is my test blog. I hope you come and join us ringside.

-George