Much of the white block-and-shingle building housing his family's 10,000-square-foot North Street factory dates to the Civil War era, while the stemming machines inside the dim old plant hark back to the early 1900s. The 16 rolling machines in the large, austere production room are themselves 40-plus years old. In late summer, ventilation is provided by open windows, so only a whiff of the aromatic tobacco can be detected inside the factory.
Smith is quick to point out that his operation is both hands-on and old-fashioned. Topper adds, "You can only automate so much. Tobacco is so brittle and expensive, you don't want to ruin it with too many machine processes."
Thus, at FX Smith's, the mixing of filler blends relies on pitchforks, shovels, and strong backs. Of the plant's leaf preparation process, Smith says: "There's a knack to it; you have to feel it in your hands." After the tobacco is machine-stemmed and rolled into cigars, the different brands are likewise hand-packed in trays by gradations of color. "Today, it's unusual to go through by hand and make sure the cigars blend," says Smith. "By ensuring there's no color contrast between cigars, customers find a consistency across the box." With so much close attention and detail work - and quality inspections at every step - Smith compares his cigars to handmade.
In the midst of all this cigar-making tradition, Chris Topper and Craig Smith provide a breath of fresh air. Both are 30-ish, energetic, and optimistic about the future of their families' companies. Each young man reflects the areas of their business partnership in which he excels.
The bespectacled Topper, wearing a white button-down shirt, tie, and pressed pants, and with neatly combed reddish hair, is in charge of acquiring the company's imported handmade cigars - plus the Connecticut broadleaf for which his family's cigars are known - as well as for marketing and distribution. His Meriden office provides the proximity to deal directly with Connecticut Valley suppliers, and his name and background give him an entree with them that a newcomer wouldn't have.
"My dad was well-respected in the industry and developed good relationships with the farmers in Connecticut," says Topper. "They've been loyal to me and have kept those relationships intact." That's important, since Connecticut tobacco - considered some of the best in the world - is becoming a scarce commodity due to high demand.
Although Topper uses Connecticut shade tobacco for sot-tie of its wrappers, the lower price of broadleaf along with its quality, makes it the company's binder and wrapper of choice - especially for its dark but mild oscuro cigars. "Growing up in Connecticut, I was weaned on broadleaf tobacco," remembers Chris. "That's all a lot of the old-timers will smoke." To ensure its flavor, he continues to age his tobacco for 18 to 26 months, despite market pressure to rush to process.
The youngest of six children, Chris was the only one born after his father Frank left Pennsylvania for Connecticut to run the family company. As a child, he often tagged along on Frank's visits to farms, factories, or customers, and displayed an early interest in cigar making and entrepreneurship. But upon his 1990 graduation from Bryant College, a Rhode Island business school, the industry was still gripped by the '80s doldrums, so he entered another field.
"My first job, at a financial company, gave me a good background and a better appreciation of business than I would've had if I just started here," says Topper. "After I'd had a few years' experience outside, cigar smoking was regaining popularity and my dad and I felt it was time I got back into Topper."
Luckily, Chris had three years to learn the ropes under his dad's tutelage before the elder Topper died at age 68. After 45 years in the business, Frank had numerous areas of expertise to pass on to Chris, the only Topper of his generation prepared to take over the reins. "I wish I could have worked with my dad longer, but I think I took advantage of the time we had," says Chris. His mother, Donna, helped Frank keep the books through the years and has continued to work alongside her son.
These days, when he's not in the office or meeting with suppliers in Connecticut farmers' fields, Topper may be found in Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic, touring the factories that produce his imported cigars. He could be visiting customers in the New England area and beyond - or introducing a new product at a cigar dinner. About once a quarter, he travels to McSherrystown to meet with the cigar manufacturing team headed by Craig Smith.
In their business arrangement, Smith provides domestic filler tobacco, all production labor for Topper Cigar's domestic line and shipment to customers. Dressed for his hands-on day in work clothes and sneakers, the bearded, curly-haired FX Smith's president shows an easy rapport with his 48 employees (most are women, many hired from local sewing factories because they can handle the delicate tobacco leaves without tearing them). Three years ago, he took over the operation of this company at the death of his father, although, like Chris Topper, Smith is the youngest in his family. Currently, his older sister, Steph Blettner, is his "right-hand helper" and his mother Janet works at the plant as well.
Also like Chris, he grew up in the business. "We lived next door when I was a kid and I was here every day," Smith recalls. "I've been running the machines since I was ten and was mixing filler at 12." Although Smith left for a time to build racecars, he returned to the family business when his uncle - one of his father's partners - died.
Today, as owner, he does whatever needs to be done to keep quality up and production output at about eight million cigars a year. Since he's worked his way through the ranks, that can include anything from repairing machines to sweeping floors. "There aren't many cigar factories as clean as ours," Smith asserts.
One of the most creative parts of his job is helping to develop blends for the 20 companies he manufactures for - and, of course, for F.X. Smith's own brands. These factory brands contain more Pennsylvania tobacco, which Smith says has recently made great strides, while the mixes for Topper's line lean more heavily on its tried-and-true Connecticut leaf and on imported short filler. "My dad always thought the blend was a better mix with short filler," says Chris. "We're using the same tobacco, so it's pretty close to a premium cigar - except that it costs less."
In fact, he's particularly happy with the results of the blind taste test of Topper's Old Fashioned Perfecto published in SMOKE's Spring 1997 Cigar Review section. "The panelists thought that our machine-made Perfecto [wasl as good as a hand-rolled cigar," Topper reports. "Their rating gave smokers an excuse to try a cigar that isn't $5 to $10." And smokers did so in large numbers, plunking down about $.85 to enjoy the rich, Connecticut-leaf flavor of Topper's signature cigar.
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