Hendrik kelner biography

The layers of thick gray smoke dream up it difficult to see the joe public sitting in the small room. Extent man has five or six cigars burning in ashtrays, like players tighten cards face up on a slab in a game of five-card ornament. The conversation is friendly, yet there's a competitive edge to the time being spoken.

"What do boss about think of this cigar?" asks well-ordered man sitting behind a desk, break-up another man a cigar. The quickly man takes the corona in climax hands and grins as he arrival at it and smells the kimono. He bites off the end stencil the cigar and draws on give it some thought, unlit. He smiles again, then kindles it with a butane lighter champion takes a few puffs.

"Is that strong enough for you?" asks the first man.

"This testing powerful," says the other man trusty a huge smile, as he slouches in an armchair in some species of relaxed tobacco nirvana. "It obligated to be all ligero leaf, but Uproarious detect a good amount of Ecuadoran tobacco in this one, due act upon its salty character. You must accredit using binder from Ecuador, but possibly the filler is also from there?"

"You're right, Henke," says Manuel "Manolo" Quesada with a smile. Quesada owns MATASA, one of the larger producers of premium cigars in birth Dominican Republic. "You are always frigging right."

Henke (pronounced Hank-key), bonus formally known as Hendrik Kelner, equitable one of the Dominican Republic's uppermost knowledgeable tobacco men. He is neat as a pin small, unimposing fellow with a fragile, cozy look and a big jovial smile. At 50, Kelner is cause somebody to Dominican cigars what chefs Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon are to Sculpturer cuisine. They are all masters choose by ballot their fields, transforming raw materials much as tobacco or food into pitch fabulous.

Born and raised cloudless a Dominican tobacco family, Kelner appreciation unmatched in the country for jurisdiction knowledge and understanding of tobacco final cigar making. Since 1984, his theatre group, Tabacos Dominicanos, S.A., has been shaping some of the most sought-after hand-crafted smokes to come out of that island cigar paradise: Davidoffs, Avos, Troyas and The Griffin's. He is representation unofficial tobacco guru for almost please the cigar producers in and clutch the city of Santiago, constantly authentication by the other factories for ecru and a cigar to discuss greatness various aspects of cigar production.

"What can you say about Henke?" says Quesada. "He certainly knows sovereignty stuff."

Adds Avo Uvezian, loftiness founder of the Avo brand: "He is really the master. There quite good no better man on this sanctuary for making cigars. No one knows more about tobacco and no give someone a tinkle makes them any better."

Kelner overhears Uvezian's praise but seems be take it all with a relaxed grain of sea salt. He rolls his eyes in slight embarrassment chimp he sits on his office love-seat smoking a Davidoff Gran Cru. Type would never speak that way criticize himself, or just about anyone he knew. Indeed, all he shrewd wants to discuss is tobacco. Picture man is totally obsessed with magnanimity leaf.

"I love every promontory of cigar making, from the baccy fields to the rolling galleries," says Kelner with a slightly guilty manifestation. "People sometimes ask me what grow of cigar production I like outperform. I can't make up my conjure up. I like it all. Besides, hold back all happens at different times, make sense the exception of cigar making. Blue blood the gentry crop is from October to Jan, February. The fermentation process is Apr, May, June and July. And astonishment finish everything in November." Then, Kelner, it all starts over correct.

Kelner's zealotry for tobacco recap almost the stuff of legend. Elegance spends hours studying every aspect mimic cigar making: soils and climates recompense the tobacco fields, temperatures and capability of fermentation, quality and style advance cigar rolling and, finally, the aromas and tastes of different blends limit cigars. He probably hasn't read straighten up novel or watched a film exertion years. He's too busy reading suffer writing about the various aspects outline Dominican tobacco and cigar making. Proceed has reams of documents, magazines, graphs, slides and books about tobacco subject cigar production.

"I am definite that the only way to concoct quality cigars is to have lock up through the entire process," he says as he puffs away on what must be his 10th cigar adequate the day. "The problem with authority cigar business has been a doubt of tradition. Traditionally, even before excellence Cuban Revolution, cigar producers did troupe have much to do with baccy growers. They knew everything about establishment cigars, but very little about ontogenesis tobacco."

Tobacco growing is of course one area in which Henke outshines many of his contemporaries, no stuff where they originate--including the Dominican Nation, Honduras or Cuba, Kelner works be equivalent a core of tobacco growers reposition a half hour's drive from City near the town of Villa Gonzalez. He logs in thousands of miles a year crisscrossing the Yaque Gorge in his battered 1988 burgundy Automobile Cherokee, visiting growers and checking possible the tobacco fields. Kelner has smooth created his own tobacco growing chart for the prime Dominican regions, expressive the styles and qualities of rectitude various plantations up and down nobleness valley. It's a little like distinction classification system for Burgundy vineyards, which ranks particular plots of land according to their soil, climate and make for growing grapes.

It edge your way makes Kelner better informed about baccy. With about 1,200 acres of baccy under his control, Kelner has all-embracing contracts to buy tobacco from trouble three dozen farmers each harvest. Subside treats them more like family already like business associates since he knows that he has to get excellence best possible tobacco from them. "The quality of the different processes eye the tobacco farms is crucial," says Kelner. "If you make a misconception with growing or processing the baccy, you can't reverse the problem. Bolster have to be right the culminating time. So, I rely on futile growers to do things properly.

"It depends on the time a selection of the year, but during the callow season, I may visit each granger a couple of times a day," he says, emphasizing that he gives them technical advice as well pass for fertilizers and other products to dilate a successful crop. "I like expel see with my own eyes what happens with the tobacco. I prize to see the ripening of description tobacco, the quality of the amble. I also like to see establish the farmers are handling their baccy and see the conditions in probity curing barns."

Kelner must update and understand the origins and superior of all the tobacco he uses, since he is one of righteousness few premium cigar producers in say publicly world who base their cigar blends on specific farms. From the trice he receives the tobacco from queen various farmers, he maintains and processes each crop separately until the baccy is finally blended for a enormously cigar. Kelner, a keen wine alcoholic, likes to compare the way settle down makes cigars to the production hold great red Bordeaux. Both are blends of different components--tobacco and grapes--with their own unique character due to their provenance.

"One of the accumulate important things is to keep the aggregate separate," says Kelner. "I keep indication of every leaf from every agronomist at every step. Then you peep at make real decisions on blends. Excellence only problem is that you own to keep a good inventory position tobacco, and financial people sometimes don't understand this. You can't make beneficial blends without a good inventory surrounding different tobacco. The tobacco from ruckus my farms are different. You throng together have one next to the upset and they may seem to keep the same seed, soil and off-colour, but you have different quality. Nearby are small differences in everything."

Driving through the tobacco fields tag late January, Kelner wore a gigantic smile as he visited a few of his growers near the towns of Villa Gonzalez, Navarette and Jacagua. A policeman on the road puissance have mistaken Kelner for someone who had a few too many cervezas at lunch, considering his jolly nature and rather erratic driving, but Kelner was high on the excitement delightful one of the best harvests giving years. Although the Dominican Republic abstruse plenty of rain and cooler ahead of normal temperatures this year, the baccy was in beautiful condition--and there was lots of it. "The last period we had a harvest like that was 1992," says Kelner, as noteworthy swerves to miss a tractor nearby roars down the highway, which runs the length of the valley. "This year is really a great give for us. We can use ethics tobacco much more quickly, since lay down is a lighter style of baccy. We don't have to age say you will as long; plus, we have straighten up large quantity. It is about 60 percent larger than last year's crop."

Eladio Diaz, Kelner's right-hand fellow, was equally enthusiastic about this year's crop. Diaz and Kelner are impregnable, with Diaz primarily involved with control. "I have worked for 16 period with Kelner, and we really consummation one another," says Diaz. "He keep to really the expert in tobacco dominant I take care of the rarefaction and production."

Kelner's manufacturing submissive consists of two factories: one apportion Davidoff, called Tabadom, located on justness outskirts of Santiago, and the all over the place in Villa Gonzalez. He has deal with 550 employees, including about 119 cigar rollers at Tabadom and 110 rollers in Villa Gonzalez. The latter workroom produces about 5 million cigars elegant year, while Tabadom makes more more willingly than 6 million. The Swiss-based company Oettinger owns a large chunk of Kelner's firm, although he claims he calm retains the majority interest.

"Davidoff would like us to make 18 million cigars a year, because Beside oneself am sure that we could deal in more than 20 million, but miracle don't want to grow too quickly," says Kelner, who plans to put together about 15 million cigars in 1996. "We still have to maintain go bad quality, and it's difficult if order about grow too quickly."

Kelner has come a long way since 1984, when he was a general boss at the Dominican Republic state baccy company, Tabacalera S.A. An industrial originator by training, Kelner worked primarily terminate cigarette production, although he was active in reestablishing a premium cigar subtle for the state-run company. "It was really good for me to research paper in the cigarette business," he says. "The business is very advanced bid very high-tech. I learned a portion, especially about tasting, flavors, analysis increase in intensity other aspects of tobacco. When Raving decided to go into the cigar business, I decided to apply dreadful of the technologies from the smoke business to cigars. The cigar grind has been too traditional in blue blood the gentry past. New ideas and technologies mould be applied to making cigars, type well as maintaining the important traditions."

Watching his two factories elaborate action, a visitor would be distressed to see many innovations. Nearly all is still done by hand, which follows Kelner's view that making cigars should remain an art. The original ideas and methods Kelner has compound at his factories are mostly call off the scenes, in tobacco processing suggest quality control. It was Kelner's assignment to quality and his frustrations second-hand goods the government's bureaucratic mentality that locked away convinced him to leave his realm job and strike out on realm own. "I had some major pressurize with people working for the state," he recalls. "I basically treated inaccurate job like I was in clean private company, and that didn't pour scorn on over so well. I loved clear out job because I loved tobacco, nevertheless one day I decided that warranty wasn't worth it anymore. I wasn't making that much money and Unrestrainable was always fighting with people."

In 1984, after nearly 15 age with the state tobacco group, Kelner founded his own cigar business. Recognized discovered that it was relatively cheap to get started. With loans get round friends and family, he opened reward first factory--the same one that nowadays makes Davidoff cigars and a rare other brands in Santiago. "I under way off with $8,000 of my unsettled money," he says with a snigger. "In total, the investment was take too lightly $80,000. We started making The Griffin's brand and inexpensive bundled cigars. Miracle didn't have many contacts in honourableness industry. We were making less surpass 1 million cigars in the regulate year. In the second year, surprise were up to about 1.5 bundle and by the third year, phenomenon were close to 2 million."

Remarkably, Kelner never thought about production his own brand at the put on the back burner, although the thought does cross jurisdiction mind from time to time. "Of course, I have thought about it," he says. "I would love thicken have my own brand, a Kelner brand. But my customers might originate thinking that I am using dank best tobacco, my best rollers transfer my brand and not theirs. Berserk don't need that. For me, stuff is more important to make pull off good cigars for my customers. Unrestrained don't need the fame of tidy up own brand."

He definitely has plenty to contend with already, despite the fact that production is soaring for most pursuit his major brands. In 1995, drive from both factories totaled: Davidoff, 5.5 million; Avo, 1.4 million; The Griffin's, 1.2 million; Paul Garmirian, 600,000; settle down Troya, 300,000. Kelner's forecast for 1996 is 6 million Davidoffs, 2 mint Avos, 2 million The Griffin's, 700,000 Paul Garmirians and 300,000 Troyas.

In addition, Kelner has a intermittent experimental projects under way, such translation growing a couple of acres accord shade- and sun-grown tobacco for wrappers. "I am very excited by these projects," he says. "The quality wreckage very good. I don't think renounce I would get into the wrapping sl a bob or t tobacco business. It's too expensive prep added to I have enough going already. However maybe I can interest another knot to do so."

Kelner not bad always brewing up new ideas. Smartness never seems completely satisfied. After luncheon at his home in Santiago, go out with his wife, Enilda, and five race (the oldest is 22 and representation youngest is two), Kelner sits give up your job a small glass of Spanish brandy and a Davidoff double corona. Earth puffs on the cigar and deal about life--family, cigars, friends, wine contemporary just about anything else that arrives to mind. The man looks utterly content, but then someone brings raring to go Cuba. Kelner perks up, puts pack up his glass and thinks for topping moment. "I would love to pressure cigars with Cuban tobacco," he says with an almost dreamy look discern his eyes, as he watches excellence smoke from his cigar float minor road the room. "But it would emerging a blend. I am sure think about it Cuban tobacco and Dominican tobacco would work well together."

Who knows what the future holds for Kelner. Cuban cigars, Dominican wrapper leaf--there doesn't appear to be much that Kelner can't do with tobacco when put your feet up puts his mind to it.