UK Cigar Scene Magazine June Issue 6 | Page 17

He started working for a small company making cigars in the youthful, and at the time, small scale Dominican cigar industry. In just 9 years he had rose to the position of General Manager at the age of just 31. But he still had huge ambition and wanted to create a new division to create premium cigars for export. In 1984 he decided to go it alone and create his own small manufacturing company at a time when there were only 6 cigar factories in the Dominican republic. At that time the Dominican cigar export trade accounted for just 30 million cigars, today it has risen to over 210 million cigars and it has been an interesting journey. He started with just 6 rollers and in his first year he exported less than 1 million cigars. This rose steadily to 2.7 million cigars by 1989 and today his business has grown to the point that he has over 530 rollers. When he created his factory he wanted to be vertically integrated with control over all elements from the growing, fermentation and manufacture. He decided to focus on private label and took the decision not to create his own label. Then in 1990 everything changed and he started to produce cigars for Davidoff. This was a huge upshift as, at that point he was producing just 2.7 million cigars per year and Davidoff were projecting a requirement of 3 million. The Davidoff team had targeted Henke and his production having discovered him and the cigars he was making which were being sold through their New York store. At the time he says he was making the top three selling cigars in their store and in October 1988 he got a visit from the Davidoff team. This was followed by an extensive round of sampling and testing until the final blends and sizes were agreed. without having to worry about sales and marketing and Davidoff had that covered so he is clear that the relationship with Davidoff was ideal from the outset. In January 1990 they started full production. Davidoff’s Dr Schneider made very clear specifications for the cigars he wanted. The cigars had to be completely different to the Cuban cigars. Lighter blends with light wrapper and with Henke’s blend. At this time he was only producing a limited range of cigars for Davidoff. The Robusto size was the first addition, but called the Special R and a torpedo, called the Special T followed. In 1990 he made 5.5 million cigars and six years later this had risen to 22 million. It’s clear that Henke has a passion for the cigars he creates. He likes to create blends with aromatic and a lighter flavour. He carefully selects the area where the soil gives an aromatic tobacco. He is also very specific about the curing process. Careful control of the temperature avoids the loss of essential oils and aroma. He specifies and very slow fermentation at low temperature. What would normally take 120 days, with Henke will take 180 days. This process removes the same toxins but being slower it maintains the aromatic elements he treasures. His latest creation, the new Sir Winston range is a case in point. He tells me that it is blended for flavour and ‘character’ while maintaining taste. For a man with his experience, passion and proven track record it is hard to argue with that. At that time Henke’s family looked after 50% of the tobacco growing in the Dominican Republic and his was the first company to be vertically integrated. He wanted to focus on production 16