I think that if I were to list all the things I have enjoyed during my 38 years in this business, the first item would be the interesting people that it has brought me into contact with.
In 2009, I was working as the newly installed chair of the committee responsible for the second annual Churchill Dinner at my downtown club.
Fortunately, as good luck and timing can have it, I had met Churchill’s grandson Winston S. Churchill the previous summer in connection with his new cigar. Certainly, getting him to join us would be a major coup; and good luck I did have, because not only did Mr. Churchill have a second residence in the U.S., his business was bringing him to Houston on a regular basis, and his timing coincided with mine.
Gratefully, I had a couple of wonderful opportunities to meet with him in the months prior to our event during which we discussed everything we were about, and which gave me a chance to get to know him a bit.
On one such visit, he asked me if I would give him a lift to a private dinner party being held at a residence in River Oaks that evening. Of course I agreed, a duly dropped him off at their door, then left to return to the store.
Not five minutes later, my mobile rang, and it was Winston apologizing, saying that his hostess for the evening had reminded him that it had been impolite of him to not invite me in for a drink, so “if you have nothing pressing, would you come back and join us?”
Naturally I agreed, made my u-turn, returned to the manse, and experienced one of those times when you end up doing something very unusual that when you got up that morning, you would have never imagined would happen.
When the door opened, I was greeted by our hostess Joanne King Herring (Charlie Wilson’s War), taken by the arm, and introduced to the other guests with Joanne on my right and Winston on my left…ahh, but this is another story.
One of the many points of interest I had for Winston was how he came to be a cigar manufacturer, so during our drive I asked him, and this is his story…I hope you enjoy it.
Well Jeffrey, I was sitting in my Mayfair flat one day when I got a call from the US Trademark Office.
The agent said that he had a man In California who wished to make a line of cigars and call them Winston Churchill, and asked if that was all right with me.
Of course I said ‘heck no!’, and a third of a million dollars later, I had my world-wide trademark for Winston Churchill cigars.
Now I needed a manufacturer, so I spoke to my friend Sidney Frank, who made Grey Goose vodka such a huge success, and told him of my project to which he immediately replied “well, there is only one manufacturer to consider for your project, and they make the finest cigars in the world in the Dominican Republic…Davidoff!”
So off I flew down to Davidoff in Santiago, and met with Master Blender Henke Kelner, his son Henry, and their quality control director Master Blender Eladio Diaz.
As we discussed the project, the biggest question was what style of blend should we create for a cigar bearing the name of the greatest Cuban smoker of all time…
(I asked Winston to tell me which was Sir Winston's favorite cigar, and he stated definitively that for the last 20 years of his life it was the Romeo & Julieta Churchill.)
…The unanimous decision was taken to produce a cigar in the earthy Cuban style but with the refined complexity of the extra aged tobaccos from Davidoff’s vast ‘tobacco library’.
Once the blend was established, we had to decide what type of packaging would befit a cigar of such exalted stature…
After the liberation of Paris in 1944, my grandfather was in a high level meeting to discuss the future of that city, which was attended among others by the famous Champagne producer Paul Roger and his wife.
During the occupation, Madame Roger, a member of the Resistance, had been arrested and tortured by the Nazis. In the course of the discussions she related her terrible experiences. Churchill, who loved his bubbly, and who was quite emotional and would blubber at the least sad provocation, stated tearfully that in her honor he would drink Paul Roger Champagne exclusively for the rest of his life.
Messieur Roger immediately declared that his elaborately packaged, finest grade Cuvee, would thence forth be called Paul Roger Winston Churchill Cuvee, and had all of the packaging of their lower quality products changed to differentiate them…and that is where we took the packaging for the cigars.
It’s an interesting life…JS
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