The Dominican cigar makers’ association is launching a national school for rollers.

 

Since last May, Litto Gomez, president of La Flor Dominicana (LFD), has been the new president of Procigar, the association of the largest cigar producers in the Dominican Republic. We asked him about his priorities during the 2024 Intertabac trade-fair in Dortmund (Germany).

 

What are your priorities as new president of the Procigar association?

The first thing I did was buy a building to house the Procigar offices. I also launched the battle against counterfeit cigars on the domestic market in the Dominican Republic. This is a big problem. I have had several meetings with the authorities, we are training them to recognize real and fake cigars. They are now carrying out checks in stores across the country. Furthermore, the 1st October in Tamboríl the first academy of cigar rollers in the Dominican Republic will be launched. We will train there in rolling but also in sorting leaves, stripping and at all stages of manufacturing. We are starting with 40 students for three months of training, and we will therefore train 160 people per year. We will also open another school in Santiago to increase training capacities. Once trained, these students will be free to go and work wherever they wish. 

 

How was this project born?

The National Institute of Vocational Technical Training (INFOTEP in Spanish) is a public vocational school which also trains mechanics, carpenters, building painters, etc. Finding qualified labor is very difficult for cigar manufacturers. However, our industry funds professional training at the national level through a tax on each employee – that represents millions of dollars. So I went to see those in charge and told them “this is what we give every year”. They are now very motivated and realize how important it is for us. 

 

Where does the Dominican cigar stand today?

If you look at this trade-fair in Dortmund, Davidoff had a booth here for years long before any other Dominican brands [Davidoff no longer has a booth since 2022, editor’s note]. There were the Cubans and the only non-Cubans were Davidoff. Davidoff familiarized Europeans with Dominican cigars, they opened minds to new flavors so that amateurs got rid of this idea that if the cigar does not taste like a Havana, it is a bad cigar. It’s just a different proposition. No one in Nicaragua, Honduras or the Dominican Republic is trying to make a Havana. We do what we do. Little by little, cigar aficionados understood that there was now a very wide range of tastes that could correspond to different occasions, different times of the day… The new generation understood this very well, even in Europe. And in recent years, the lack of Cuban cigars has accelerated this process, which otherwise might have taken another 10 years but would have happened anyway. For our part, we also need to be able to increase deliveries, which will take a few years. 

Litto Gomez answering our questions on LFD booth at Intertabac trade-fair. 

You also work to promote the image of the Dominican cigar. 

I show my factory to ambassadors who represent the Dominican Republic all over the world. I explain to them that no study has ever shown that cigars kill. I make them understand that the cigar is something they should be proud of. At the end of a meeting with the [Dominican] Minister of Tourism on cigar counterfeiting, I asked him “Mr. Minister, do you smoke cigars?”  He tells me no. Then I ask him: “do you know the difference between a cigar and a cigarette?” He answers: “Not really”. I explained it to him, of course, but I realized how little these people know about our work. I’m going to try to change that. It’s going to take time but everyone will know what we’re doing. 

 

Now you have two hats. How do you divide your time between the management of La Flor Dominicana and the presidency of Procigar?

I think I owe the industry something. I entered it late, without having any connection to this world and it completely changed my life. My sons are taking on more and more responsibilities at LFD. I have refused several times to sell my business because I built it for my family – with the risk that it would not interest them. But I’m blessed: my sons love cigars. 

 

Interview by Laurent Mimouni, special correspondent in Dortmund (Germany)