What’s the Tony Bellatto story? How’d you get into the cigar business?

Haha well, I will give you the very concise version: 

I grew up in the industry, from the literal bottom (working in a basement from the 1800s for my grandfather and father’s stores with six inches of standing water at all times). They were old school entrepreneurs, opening shops in the 60s and 70s, and my dad’s love for premium cigars coincided with the “boom” in the 90’s when I was young myself. I would carry boxes, check in stock, and price the cigars – it just became a part of me from an early age. It was in my blood. At this time, I was also attending the RTDA (now IPCPR) with my father and completely fell in love with the business: meeting face to face with distributors and manufacturers and seeing the way they lived life to the fullest, to say the least.

After I finished college, I fell in love with wine and attended wine school while I worked with my dad to open a store in Niles, OH.  I invested a significant amount of time at the Cleveland Wine School and became a WSET level 3 sommelier. During that time, while immersing myself in all I could learn about cigars, wine, spirits, and coffee, new cigar brands were breaking all kinds of ground – doing incredibly exciting things. So, every day this dream began to form in my head of making something of my own. It felt like an extension of the same spirit of risk-taking that my dad and his dad had set down. They did their own thing, they made their own way, and I wanted to follow that example and create. 

As a consumer, I was inspired by the thought of blending a cigar with both of my passions in mind, to develop something completely original. From then I was off… I got in touch with some friends of mine: Craig Rossi, an engineer and consumer, my friends Hunter Vogel and Andrew Lerner who developed the Treasure Hunter wine brand, my Father of course, and we started formulating a business plan. From there, I was introduced to Robert Caldwell while he had the Wynwood Cigar Factory in Miami and we started to play with different tobaccos coming up with the original La Barba Red. He introduced me to Henderson Ventura which we blended the Purple with, and eventually switched the production of Red as well as every other cigar from then on to his factory in the Dominican Republic.  

In addition to La Barba, what other projects are you involved with? 

To expand on something I mentioned earlier, my partners in La Barba are also in the wine industry and are very good friends of mine as well: Hunter Vogel, and Andrew Lerner of Treasure Hunter Wines.  We developed a Cava together known as Viva La Vida, which is a 100% Pinot Noir sparkling Rosè from Barcelona, Spain, that’s actually tailor fitted to go with cigars.  Also more recently, I developed a coffee roasting company called the Youngstown Coffee Company based in Youngstown, Ohio - the town in which I am from.

"My dad has taught me that patience (which is very hard for me to have), good relationships, and great product will last forever. He taught me how to spot fads and not to chase them."

What are two things most people don’t know about you and one thing that most people think they know? 

This was a tough one, haha, I’ve been working on this question for a week.

1. I also own a coffee company called Youngstown Coffee Company, another one of my passions.
2. I absolutely love to cook, especially at midnight, while smoking cigars, drinking Miller High-Life and listening to music.
3. I’ve been told I am very unapproachable, like a male version of “resting bitch face.” However, I think that I am a very nice, funny, and quiet guy hahaha. 

You’ve got so much experience from different sides of the cigar business.  What sorts of things run through your mind when creating a brand that most of us don’t even think about? 

The very first thing I think about, before anything, is “Can I create a great cigar and make it consistent every time?” I’ve learned this lesson from many years on the other side of the counter talking with consumers as well as taking lessons from the great manufacturers in this industry that have created cigars that have stood the test of time for decades. This is, beyond anything, the most important to me.  

The second thing I learned from the wine business.  I have to always be learning my customers palate and release cigars based on that while adding my personal touches.  La Barba is a brand that is based on consumers and their flavor profiles, and it is very important for me to stay in touch and encourage feedback on every single project I do.  However, it is my job to take that information and create a cigar that is unique. 

I remember reading about your fascination with wine from your website.  Which wines (or other pours) would you recommend with the different cigars in your lineup?  

I actually had specific wines in mind when I made the Red and Purple and sort of based those profiles off the general flavor aspects of certain grape varietals. “Red” was specifically blended with cabernet in mind and shares a lot of the same characteristics: white pepper, black pepper, leather, chocolate and earth. That being said, the best wine in my opinion to go with “Red” is California Cabernet.  The spice from the cigar and the subtle sweetness and slight over extraction of California winemakers today goes quite well together.  

“Purple” was blended with the Pinot Noir grape in mind.  Pinot Noir is one of my absolute favorite wines. It's very delicate and floral with touches of spice and vanilla.  This was the ground work for “Purple.” We use a special tobacco in that cigar that is very sweet and floral in nature while the Ligero components add the spice. “Purple” and Pinot Noir marry very well.   

Lastly, Ricochet is a series of cigars specifically intended to bring me back to my roots in wine.  While I kept certain varietals in mind for red and purple, “Ricochet” was very intentional.  I wanted to take the style of old-world Italian wines - specifically from the Apulia region, in which they grow a grape commonly known as Zinfandel.  This wine is very rustic and has notes of forest floor, barnyard, as well as red and black fruit.  “Ricochet” uses a San Andres Maduro wrapper which is typically known for its earthy, rustic and sweet profile, and uses filler tobacco from three different countries to add a sweet and spicy backbone.  Perfect for Italian “Primitivo” or California Zinfandel.

What do you consider your greatest success to date? 

Building a brand like La Barba that has connected with so many people across the world.

What is your inspiration for the One & Only artwork and profile? 

Haha well, this a pretty funny story.  On the original One and Only, we wanted to do something fun and quirky.  I was having a conversation with Caldwell, and he came up with the idea to make sort of a nod to the movie about the demon barber guy and make a Sweeney Tony so to speak. It wasn’t supposed to be super specific, kind of like if you already knew me you might be able to draw a conclusion that is was me. But you’d really have to think about it.  

Image Credit: La Barba Cigars

However, as it turned out, the artist who did the portrait is very, very talented and the art ended up looking just like me. Very obviously me, which wasn’t the intention. It looked pretentious and sort of arrogant. That was not the way I intended it to be, nor is that the type of person I am, hahaha.  

So, we went back to the drawing board for the second release.  The inspiration for the artwork on the second one is sort of a representation of how hard It actually is to start your own business and all of the pitfalls and difficulties associated with it. The idea for the blend and profile of the cigars is to use extremely well aged tobaccos (13+ years) that are truly available in very limited quantities to create a once in a lifetime cigar.

Let’s fast-forward three to five years.  How do you see the cigar industry compared to where we are today? What trends do you think will be popular? 

I think that this business, like others, is very cyclical.  We went through the boom and now we are sort of going through the craft or boutique boom. I’m not sure how long that will last, but I believe if you can build a quality brand and connect with people you will stand the test of time.  

What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received in the cigar biz? 

My dad has taught me that patience (which is very hard for me to have), good relationships, and great product will last forever. He taught me how to spot fads and not to chase them. He has also taught me to believe in myself and to believe in my brand no matter what. That would be the best piece of advice. 

The worst is probably when someone (who will not be mentioned) told me I would never make it.

What can your fans expect in the next 12-18 months? 

We have a ton of new things coming this year, but specifically we are extending the “Ricochet’ Line with another blend. I’ll be in the Dominican Republic in two weeks to finalize everything for that and I’m hoping it will be ready by the trade show this year.  There are also a couple of fun projects we have as well, but I’m keeping those under wraps for now.

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