I said to the owner, “You have an amazing clientele, and they’re all cigar smokers. If I bring cigars in, I think it would be beneficial to the store.” At first he was very hesitant, but eventually, after five or six months of twisting his arm, he got rid of the magazine rack and turned it into a little humidor. That first month we did about $4,000 in cigar sales. By the sixth month, I was doing $25,000 a month. By then, he’d built a huge walk-in humidor in the store. In about a year we became very well-known in the Los Angeles area, at a time when there were not very many cigar shops. Because of my clientele in the wine industry, I knew a lot of celebrities, so I would ask them to come and do cigar dinners with us, and they became very successful. We started a trend there.

The shop won the Retailer of the Year Award, mostly because of the innovations in bringing cigars to a wine shop. And once word got out, retailers from all over the country started calling, wanting to know how to set up a humidor. So I would fly all over the U.S., opening humidors for high-end shops. During that time, I got to know a lot of cigar brands and I started distributing for La Aurora and Miami cigars. In a matter of two years I became the No. 1 distributor in the country for Miami cigar, but at that point, I just got burnt out. I decided to move to Costa Rica with my wife and take it easy.

SMOKE: Are you originally from Costa Rica?
BORHANI: My wife is from Costa Rica. I was born in Iran.

SMOKE: When you left the country, did you have any idea how you’d earn a living?
BORHANI: My wife’s grandmother passed away and left her a restaurant in Costa Rica. She used to run the restaurant before we got married. She also left her a house, so we went there to take care of all of that for her. While we were there, we found that we didn’t want to be in the restaurant business. So we sold the restaurant and the house, and I opened a nightclub. It was successful, and San Jose, where we lived, is absolutely beautiful. We were doing fine in Costa Rica, but there were no decent cigars there. I had to fly to Cuba once every month for cigars.

Eventually, I found this little manufacturer about 45 minutes from San Jose. It was like a sweatshop, with just eight rollers. A guy named Claudio Pintor ran the place - a very interesting character. He was from Spain, and had been living in Costa Rica for 35 years and manufacturing cigars, buying only the cheapest tobacco he could find, all short filler. He sold them in airports and hotels for tourists in Costa Rica. The cigars weren’t export quality.

SMOKE: Where did the cigars’ tobacco come from?
BORHANI: Nicaragua, mostly. The funny thing is that the tobacco was inferior, but the construction was fantastic. So after I tried some of his cigars, and didn’t like any of them, he tells me, “Go to Esteli. They have tobacco; it’s expensive, but if you want to buy it, they have it.”

I went to the see the Perez family, who Claudio bought from, and stayed there for about a month. I came across this small batch of tobacco from the ‘88 harvest, that they were asking too much money for at the time. They said it was so strong and so harsh that nobody wanted it. But it was good tobacco. So we tried it out, and rolled a cigar. I thought it was just the most magnificent tobacco. I purchased it and shipped it to Costa Rica, where Claudio and I rolled about 100 cigars with it.

Before, in my travels to Cuba, I had met the gentleman who was most important in my cigar career. His name is Eduardo Irrizari - the gentleman who created the Cohiba brand in Cuba. I would fly back to Cuba, and show him the cigars [we’d made in Costa Rica]. He would taste them, and suggest some changes. He was kind enough to share with us the secrets of the Cohiba. After a year of traveling back and forth, we finally came up with one that we really liked.

SMOKE: This wasn’t an actual brand, though?
BORHANI: No, this was just for my personal consumption. I wasn’t thinking about the cigar business; I just wanted to get some cigars without traveling to Cuba and the U.S. But the club required me to go to the U.S. twice a year and buy equipment. So the second time I went back, I was going to show off. I went to see all the cigar shop owners that I knew prior to leaving California and said, “This is what I’m smoking in Costa Rica. I just want you guys to smoke it.” No band, nothing. I went back to Costa Rica a couple of weeks later, and I received a dozen faxes and phone calls saying, “How can we get these cigars?” It was amazing, because at the time - this was 1994 - all cigars in the market were very mild, like Dunhills and Macanudos. and we had a strong, full-bodied cigar. After that, we went back to the Perez family, purchased the rest of the tobacco that they had for the blend, and made another 30,000 cigars. We brought it to market and the rest is history.

SMOKE: Why did you decide to close down your factory in Costa Rica?
BORHANI: Douglas Puringer runs a really good factory. He’s an amazing manufacturer, very meticulous. In Costa Rica, when you do things as perfectionist as he does, you run into a lot of unwanted costs. Costa Rica is very expensive to do business, labor-wise. I told him that if I couldn’t get a lower price, I’d have to open my own factory in Nicaragua. I gave Douglas six months to decide, and I traveled to Nicaragua, looking for tobacco land. As I was signing for my new building there, he called me; he found out that I was in Nicaragua. He said, “I’m willing to go to Nicaragua and start a factory there. As a matter of fact, we just closed the doors. I’d like you to stay with us and be our customer.” This was just three months ago.

SMOKE: Why are you moving from San Diego to Miami?
BORHANI: Several reasons. First of all, I’m sick and tired of supporting an anti-smoking state. California is ridiculous. I can’t even smoke in my house if my maid decides to complain. And I don’t accept that. I bring a lot of employment, I pay too much tax, and my business is not welcome there. Number two, the labor cost is high. Number three, I’m so far away from all my best customers, who are mostly on the East coast.

SMOKE: How many cigars did you sell in 2000?
BORHANI: We did about 1.2 million cigars, which was really more than what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, we had a few problems at the factory, so we had to sell some of the cigars at a lower price in the market because they were not to my liking. Production went up without the factory being able to handle the production increase. This year, we’re not gonna go over 900,000.

SMOKE: How do you control quality?
BORHANI: We’ve changed everything since last year. We are only buying the wrapper that we want - fourth and fifth primings of Ecuador Sumatra, dark, spotless, and beautiful. If it’s not there, I’m not going to make cigars. Douglas has put together a system of quality control with absolutely no room for mistakes. Two years ago, we had a problem with the draw in our cigars, because of this machine called a Draw Master that had incorrect readings. Now you’re not going to get a Bahia that doesn’t draw well.

SMOKE: Tell us about the new and existing Bahia lines, and what’s coming up.
BORHANI: The newest thing we have is the Bahia Trinidad. I re-branded it last year and it’s a whole different cigar. We’re using a corojo wrapper from Ecuador, which is exclusive to us. It’s strong, spicy, and beautiful, and will retail between $4.50 and $5. We have a regular Maduro line, which is also gonna retail between $4 and $5, currently using a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. In about eight months we switch to a Costa Rican maduro wrapper. Of course, there’s the Bahia Gold, our flagship and most sought-after cigar. That retails between $6 to $11. It’s more balanced: not as strong as Trinidad, not as mild as the Maduro. It’s very aromatic and satisfying; one of my favorites. We also have the Bahia Gold Maduro, which is our most full-bodied cigar. It’s got the same wrapper as the regular Maduro. We wanted to show that we can use the same wrapper and create cigars at the opposite ends of the strength spectrum.

SMOKE: Where do you see the cigar industry going now?
BORHANI: Certain things are encouraging, like cigar makers now having no choice but to really get down and start making real cigars, instead of all these gimmicky shapes, presses, and colors. The consumer is more aware than ever. They’re educated. They’ve heard all the B.S., and now they know what they want. They want a good cigar at a good price. In a year or two, you’re gonna have the best quality cigars available in years, at reasonable prices. The manufacturers who are really here to make cigars are here to stay, and the retailers who are serious about selling them are still here. The rest are gone. And I can’t wait for the embargo to be lifted; that’s going to be exciting times.

SMOKE: Would you open a factory in Cuba?
BORHANI: We’d certainly try. If we couldn’t, we’ll just stay in Nicaragua and buy Cuban tobacco and use it there. Like the Cubans are doing now. Most people don’t know, but Cubans are buying hundreds of thousands of pounds of tobacco from Nicaragua and Honduras. The Cuban cigars you smoke today are not puros. Cuba denies it, but we know it’s happening. And actually, I think that Cuba should be proud of that; you wouldn’t believe what a great combo Dominican and Cuban tobacco is together!

SMOKE: Do you see the trend toward more full-bodied cigars continuing, as well?
BORHANI: I’m disgusted by it, actually. Everybody’s really taken everything to extremes trying to show this macho mentality. Now these young kids - 24, 25 years olds - are getting into cigars, and they want to say, “Yes, my cigar is stronger than this. I smoke Cubans. They’re so strong.” You know, a strong cigar is not necessarily a better cigar. You smoke a cigar to get so much nicotine in you that you can’t get up from a chair, and that makes you a bigger, better cigar smoker?

And making a strong cigar is extremely easy. Just pack your cigars with 100 percent lijero. You’ll get an unbalanced, very strong cigar that’ll make you dizzy. There’s no pleasure in that. When I smoke a cigar, it’s got to be pleasant. It has to have enough body and strength to satisfy my palate and my senses, but it has to have balance. If you really want something strong, go get a cigarette, take 10 fast puffs and inhale it all.

SMOKE: Is there such a thing as a typical Bahia customer?
BORHANI: No, I do not believe in that. We don’t target anybody or test-market. I make a decision on a blend. I say, “This is it. This is what I want.” Thank God we’re fortunate enough that a lot of people agree with what I think is a good cigar.

SMOKE: Do you remember your earliest cigar experience?
BORHANI: It was interesting. My father was a governor for the Shah of Iran. At my 15th birthday party, I remember my Dad was sitting with the heads of state, and they were all smoking cigars. There was a box of Cubans, a gift from Fidel, that Dad was telling them he’s going to give me when I turned 18.

However, I was a very curious 15-year-old. The next day, I snuck into his office while he was out, went into his humidor, and looked for a box that was really old. I found the right one, took two cigars out of the box, and called my friend who was a cigarette smoker. I said, “Come, let’s go to the park. I want you to teach me how to smoke a cigar. These cigars were given to my Dad when I was born. ” I really wanted to see what was so special about them.

My friend, of course, tells me to inhale it, so I’m inhaling and inhaling until I get sick. After that, I went to my house, straight to my room, not knowing my mother could smell it on me. The next day, I’m in school, and the principal comes in and says my father needs to see me. I’d never seen him so upset. It wasn’t about the smoking, though; it was about the theft! He said, “You’re a man now. You can smoke a cigar if you want, but I expect you to come to me.”