Cigar Birthdays In November 2022

Cigar birthdays in November 2022. Like every month we celebrate some of the people in the cigar industry. If we miss anybody on our calendar, please let us know and we will add him or her. Here are the birthdays for November 2022.

THE BIRTHDAYS

November 1: Scott Almsberger. The founder of Xikar, together with Kurt van Keppel. And the inventor of the butterfly-shaped Xikar Xi cutter. Scott and Kurt changed the cigar accessory industry with their quality and the lifetime warranty that they offered. Xikar was sold to Quality Importers. Scott is no longer part of the company. But because of his accomplishments, he deserves to be on our birthday calendar.

November 4: Omar de Frias. Omar de Frias. The NASA analyst turned cigar manufacturer. And with success. His cigars are popular, and his international network is growing. In a few years, Fratello has become a well-known name in the cigar industry.

November 7: Robert Caldwell. Robert Caldwell. The tall entrepreneur started in the cigar industry providing hotels and bars with cigars and humidors. But now he owns his own, internationally distributed cigar brand. And he is involved in collaborations with Drew Estate, A.J. Fernandez, and Matt Booth to name a few.

November 8: Annemarie Schuster. Annemarie Schuster. The fourth-generation Schuster in the Schuster Cigars company. Schuster Cigars is one of the few surviving German cigar manufacturers. But they also have cigars made in the Caribbean. And they distribute cigars from other companies.

November 12: Armen Caprilian. Another Armenian in the cigar industry. Armen and his partners are making cigars in the Dominican Republic under the name DAV cigars. 

November 16: Hadi Habib. With his brother Bachir, Hadi is responsible for the international markets for Dapper Cigar Company. Hadi is based in California and handles sales efforts in Africa, The Middle East, and Asia. With the growing number of markets supplied by Dapper Cigar Company, it looks like Habib is doing a great job.

November 17: Dany Bermudez. Dany Bermudez. One of the strong women in the My Father Cigars family. Not only the wife of Jaime but also a talented torcedor who is possibly a better cigar roller than her husband. A powerful woman, and a big part of the success of the brand.

November 17: Ernesto Perez Carrillo. Ernesto Perez Carrillo. A legend, not only the founder of the Dominican La Gloria Cubana but after he sold that company to Swedish Match (it’s now part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group) he started another very successful factory. La Alianza makes cigars for his own brand, but also for Viking, Alec Bradley, and Agio.

November 22: Marko Bilic. Marko Bilic. How a wild idea can turn into a worldwide competition. Marko came up with a slow-smoking competition but could not imagine that 10 years later, he had to travel all over the world for qualification tournaments. It’s the only cigar competition of this magnitude.

November 24: Carlos Andres. The owner of Carlos Andre cigars. And a distributor for several other brands on the Swiss market. 

November 24: Jeff Borysiewicz. As a tobacconist, Jeff is a force of nature. Corona Cigars in Orlando and Davidoff of Geneva in Tampa is his. But being a retailer doesn’t get you on the Cigar Inspectors birthday list. Jeff earned his spot on the list because he is the grower of the Florida Sun Grown tobacco. He brought it back from extinction.

November 28: Pierre Jourdin. The man behind the successful Les fines Lames cigar knives. And the launch of the Le Petit was a record on Indiegogo, surpassing all expectations.

November 29: Rick Rodriguez. The former face of CAO. And not just the face but also the master blender. He started out as a sales representative but was hand-selected to be a blender. After intensive training, he blended for La Gloria Cubana before he became the man behind CAO. Earlier this year he left CAO and we all await his future plans.