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
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