Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Henderson Ventura in the Dominican Republic at the Tabacalera Mina del Rey, the factory of ADVentura Cigars. We walked through some of what makes ADVentura unique in the cigar industry, processes for production, and some of the lines the brand offers.

[Shane Ireland]: Hey, everybody, I'm Shane Ireland. I'm here in the Dominican Republic at Tabacalera Mina del Rey with my good friend, Henderson Ventura. Henderson, thank you so much.

[Henderson Ventura]: Thank you, man.

[SI]: Good to see you. It's good to be back.

[HV]: It's a great time and it's amazing to have you here with the whole group.

[SI]: I think your name is probably familiar to a lot of our viewers, the Ventura family. And real quick, what's the name of the street outside of the factory here?

[HV]: Ventura Street.

[SI]: Right. I mean, come on. So, tell me about the new factory.

Tabacalera Mina del Rey

[HV]: I never planned to have my own factory. I worked with the family for 18 years, building this company beside my dad, working at it for my whole career. So the fire happened, and I had to make a quick move. I was supposed to open a temporary factory just to roll out ADVentura cigars, but I don't know how to do things halfway. So I just built a nice little factory, and I started to recreate what we had at the first factory. We ended up calling the ADVentura factory Mina del Rey, which means "the king's mine." So, the most popular cigar we ever created, the King's Gold, was inspired by the factory name. This is the whole concept.

We wanted to do something more boutique and take the manufacturing skill and quality to a higher level to make it more precise and have more attention to detail. We are pretty much working with younger rollers and we try to teach a new way to roll cigars and we scale every bunch in. We don't use a draw machine. We weigh every bunch, and then we supervise every bunch by hand. It's a very Dominican, old-school method. And that's one of the most precise ways to get the best quality with the draw and everything. As for the look of the factory, it is very rustic, similar to the concept of the brand ADVentura, that vintage look.

Meticulous Production at Mina del Rey

[SI]: And very cozy. Let me unpack a little bit of what you were talking about when it comes to the quality and the differences in how you do production here. One thing that you mentioned is weighing the bunches. So, obviously, you have a pair in the factory, a buncher and a roller. And every buncher weighs the bunch before it's placed into the molds. And the industry standard is to weigh the cigars after the production. Usually, they weigh the whole thing after the production is completed. It's a whole bundle of cigars and there's a tolerance, obviously, depending on the size and stuff. What's the advantage of weighing individual cigars versus a finished wheel?

[HV]: Every blend is different, whether it's a lighter or heavier tobacco. Sometimes, you need to make sure that they're the same size, maybe two grams lower. If you use a thicker tobacco, then normally they are more heavy and you can use maybe one gram, one and a half grams more. And you are still going to have a good draw. We still weigh the cigar after it is done.

[SI]: So, you're saying basically you're weighing more than one time?

[HV]: Yeah, when they put the blend together and the binder, they roll the bunch in. They have more control and more consistency with the bunch. They can correct themselves easier that way. That way, they can say, "This is too heavy. Let me take a little piece out, you know, and put it back."

[SI]: Obviously, you can't do that when the cigar has been in the mold for hours or if it already has the wrapper on it.

[HV]: No, even the wrapper can add another gram into the cigar, but you know by the bunching already what you can control. And that's very consistent. Every cigar here can be one gram lower and higher; there's a small margin that can change. After you make the cigar, you do the supervisor's check by hand to ensure the perfect weight distribution. It's rare to find a cigar that has a draw issue here with the way that we work. Maybe in the whole time that we've been set up in the factory, I can recall one single cigar that was a little too tight.

[SI]: Really?

[HV]: And it was by mistake. It was a Corona and it needed to be between 12 to 13 grams, which isn't a big deal. The draw worked, but it wasn't easy, which is the kind I like. So then we changed the grams to fall between 11 to 12. After that, we made the whole production and all of the cigars. Before the packaging, they were inspected again one by one.

[SI]: Fantastic. You mentioned one other thing to me earlier today that I don't really hear a lot at other factories, and that is that you have a maximum quota for your pairs per day depending on the shape.

[HV]: They cannot make more than 400 cigars, in general, in a day. They make good enough money with 400 cigars, so they don't need to rush the process.

[SI]: This is very important, but that's not so common. You don't see places that are capping the production per day. But the whole point here is that you know the proper amount of time and the proper attention to detail that is going into each cigar.

[HV]: Yeah. For example, with the Lancero, if they make 250 or 300, that's enough for the day. And with the King's Gold, it has a thicker wrapper, which is more difficult to work with, so they make between 250 to 300 cigars per day a pair. It's a more limited batch because it takes longer to make them, making production slower. For the other cigars, 400 is the cap.

Here we made 2,400 cigars a day when we brought in King's Gold, and sometimes that amount can go down to 1,700 a day, you know? And that's how we work.

A Culture of Quality, Blended for ADVentura Smokers

[SI]: Yeah. So, basically what you're saying is that it's not important how many cigars you're making a day but more that the consistency and the quality is there.

What other ways would you say that using the same approach at this factory, are you elevating the quality along those lines?

[HV]: I would say that we are creating a culture of quality. The rollers, they smoke cigars, everybody here smokes cigars. I hold a blended seminar for everybody. I sit down with my people and smoke their cigars. Sometimes they tell me the cigar is good, but we are blending cigars to taste good in the way that we're looking for. I strive to make them understand that it's not just about creating a good cigar, it's about creating an experience. For example, we have the Queen's Pearl, which gives you one experience. The King's Gold, in contrast, provides a whole different experience.

[SI]: Of course.

[HV]: There's people that tell me that Barbarroja's trash. But the people here love the Barbarroja, as do I. We're creating a different experience that some smokers might not be used to. While blending Blue Eyed Jack, a new cigar coming out this month, I was looking to have a more mellow, medium body, with more sweetness on the mouth feeling and also in the retrohale. In the beginning, I was playing with different blends, and the blends people loved most ended up different from where we started because the best blend that we created for that cigar was too similar to another cigar that we already had.

Every time that we create a blend, we want to create a whole different experience. And for Mina del Rey, what makes the difference is our love for cigars. We want to do everything right. We don't want to be the biggest. We don't care about the competition. If we just made 2,400 cigars a day, I don't mind doing a thousand. But the quality should be there. We're competing for quality, not for quantity. And that's it.

[SI]: I love that philosophy.

[HV]: Yeah, I like to hang out here.

[SI]: Yeah. I will say that out of all the places I've visited or been fortunate enough to visit, the vibe here at this factory is very different.

[HV]: It is less industrial.

[SI]: Yeah. And that's nice.

Employee Involvement at Mina del Rey

[SI]: What I'm hearing from you also is that it doesn't seem common in this industry that, for example, all the employees on the factory floor, the rollers, and the bunchers, they're involved to the level that you're saying they're involved. When you're talking about product development and blending, I think putting your mission in their heads is something you don't really see in a lot of other factories.

[HV]: This is a handmade product and it's a very artistic way to create a product. It's impossible to create a premium cigar if you don't have the knowledge. So we smoke cigars and they tell me what they feel, what they taste, and the experience they're having. They feel proud to work here. We have a cool vibe while working here. They play music. It's very loud here during the day.

[SI]: It's like a party.

[HV]: Yeah. They play music, they're singing, they're rolling, they're talking to each other and having competitions: "No, I'm the best here." We want everyone to have that pride in their work.

[SI]: Absolutely. It sounds like instead of having just a bunch of pairs of rollers and bunchers, you have a bunch of people who are almost trained nearly like a blender to really understand the differences and why it's important to adhere to the recipes and the quality.

Ventura Family in the Industry

[SI]: Obviously, you have a lot of experience in this industry. Your family's been in this industry for a very long time. When you yourself, for ADVentura, are working on a new product, and you're looking for a new component. What exactly are you looking for? What gets you excited? And maybe also, what are you doing right now?

[HV]: There are two different ways we create products. Looking into the portfolio and seeing what we're lacking or getting an idea and trying to make the best of it. And sometimes they become really big, like the Chancellor last year. That was a limited edition that we released this year. The whole idea with that cigar was that there was an experiment made in Pennsylvania in Lancaster. They grew some Piloto Memorado, which is a high receiver, offering six different kinds of hybrid tobacco. But the base of that tobacco is Piloto Cubano, like 60%.

They did the experiment and they have like 1,800 pounds of tobacco that they don't know what to do with. They call me up, and they say, "Henderson, we have that tobacco, are you interested in that?" And I'm like, "Yeah, why not? Let me check." I smoke this tobacco. "Well, yeah, why not? I'll take it." And then I started to ferment the tobacco for a whole year and let the tobacco rest for another two years. And then we started to taste it. We created the Chancellor out of that tobacco. The tobacco was very sharp. It was good. It tastes like a Piloto Cubano, but way stronger, and way more sharp. That's why we used Toscano on that blend: because it's the Italian fire cured to balance out the cigar.

Sometimes the blend ideas come from a unique tobacco that we try and we need to make it work, figuring out the behavior of the tobacco, how to blend it, and getting into the game of playing with the blend. Most of the time, for example, I have that tobacco, Aromatico. I have been growing that tobacco for three years. I have two blends, but I never produced a single cigar for regular production. It's just tasting, tasting, tasting. When I feel it's at a perfect age, I want to make a cigar, and it will probably be a limited edition. I have a two-prototype blend that I did with that tobacco. But I've got to keep working on that. It's also beautiful to be in the factory. I take my time to create a blend, aged very well. I take my time before making a production and introducing a new cigar.

Henderson's & The Workers' Favorites

[SI]: Is there a cigar in the ADVentura portfolio that you find yourself smoking most often for personal enjoyment?

[HV]: My favorite changes all the time.

[SI]: What is it right now?

[HV]: Right now, I'm smoking a lot of La Llorona in the Corona size. But it changes all the time. Like, sometimes I'm smoking mostly King's Gold, and sometimes mostly Queen's Pearl. My go-to is The Conqueror because I like the Habano. But my favorite tobacco is Broadleaf. So I do enjoy smoking King's Gold as a treat for myself while I'm home having dinner with a nice glass of wine because it's a rich experience I want to fully enjoy. I smoke a lot of La Llorona and most of the time during the day here at work, I'm always trying the current production to follow up on the quality, to experience the blends, and all of that.

[SI]: Would you say that there's something that is the most popular for all of the workers here?

[HV]: It is a competition between the Barbarroja and the Queen's Pearl. The supervisor smokes Queen's Pearl, basically the whole stock. That's his personal favorite.

Old-School Practices

[SI]: One of the things I noticed here that's unique is that in most factories, you see the old-school wooden molds. And you are using mostly something that, by comparison, seems really high-tech and modern. What is the advantage of using these molds that are basically made of the composite material?

[HV]: It brings more consistency to the shape of the cigar. And it has a more round head shape. On the wood mold, it can be slightly different.

[SI]: So, the precision you can get using this material versus wood is basically to a tighter tolerance.

[HV]: Yeah. But it is a thing of taste, most of the time. Also, plastic lasts longer. The wood one you need to be changing the mold every four years maybe.

[SI]: Oh, really?

[HV]: Yeah. To keep the high quality in the cigar. But the wood mold has a lot of advantages in front of the plastic one because the wood one gets pressed faster. And also, if the binder is humid, you know, they don't stick to the mold.

[SI]: Ah, okay. So, it sort of depends on the blend as well.

[HV]: Yeah, and also it depends on the factory. Everyone makes their own decision on what's used in their factory.

[SI]: What else would you say is different about your approach here compared to a bigger, more industrial factory?

[HV]: We blend the cigars here. We pick the tobacco, we have our own farms, and we control our own fermentation of the tobacco. We're a small factory, but we have a lot of power to control our quality. That's the main thing for us: to control the quality of the cigar, for the seed to the soil and everything that goes into creating the final product of our cigars. The only tobacco that we don't control is the tobacco that is imported.

[SI]: Of course.

[HV]: I mean, for example, we do the fermentation of Ecuadorian wrapper leaves here.

[SI]: Oh, okay. Additional fermentation.

[HV]: Yeah, additional fermentation. But then you have a second dress and all the tobacco for other countries, that is what it is. Most of the base of the blends that we make, we use Dominican tobacco and we grow that tobacco.

[SI]: How much of an impact would you say something like doing your own additional fermentation works versus just blending? How much of an impact does additional fermentation have on the final product, in your opinion?

[HV]: There are no questions, by the end of the day, with the quality of the cigar considering the combustion, the taste, and the age. I know what I have, and I want the best quality, so when it comes to all the small details, we take care of that here. I'll consume my own cigars and want them to be the best. I like to keep it classic, such as the cedar wood aging room. There's a bunch of styles, including the accordion style, in the Dominican way. That's the way that I learned from my dad. Everything else is the same; he was all about the love that he put in the product and into everything else in his life.

[SI]: Yeah, definitely. Speaking about the aging room, tell us a little bit about what that looks like. What are your targets for aging? I know it varies by blend and sometimes you have to just feel that the cigar is ready when you're sampling it. But in general, what is your approach to aging after production?

[HV]: I mean, one thing that people really enjoy when they're smoking a cigar and even the people beside you who aren't smoking is the aroma of aged tobacco. When you take a cigar out of the cellophane that is very old and the cellophane looks like gold, the smell is great. It's much sweeter due to the age. We normally use between three- to five-year-old tobacco pre-production. There's some tobacco that we'll age for 6 or 7 years but in very small quantities. And then, we age the cigar for a minimum of three months.

So, when you have aged tobacco and additional age on the cigar, you get a nice flavor and aroma. We always want to create the complete experience, from the look of the wrapper to the taste and smell. That's what we're trying to accomplish.

[SI]: Yeah, and sometimes that requires more age.

[HV]: Yeah. Sometimes, for example, I have cigars like the King's Gold that I like to age for two months and then ship because, considering the humidity, that tobacco could taste way more rich. And then you have cigars like the Queen's Pearl that we aged for a whole year. It becomes more mellow, and more balanced, the aroma is better, the experience is better, and there's less spice.

[SI]: The latter is far beyond the industry standard for sure.

ADVentura's Brand Story & Blue Eyed Jack Revenge

[SI]: We talked a lot about the quality of the cigars and the factory. Tell us a little bit about the ADVentura branding and the story you're trying to tell with that branding.

[HV]: ADVentura branding is very simple. That was an idea from our partner, Marcel Noble. He came from Europe. And that's how the cigar industry was born. The Europeans started traveling. They explored and navigated the new world, the American continent, into the Dominican Republic and Cuba. They found gold and tobacco, and they started to bring those goods back to the old continent. And that's why we named the brand the way we did. ADVentura Explorer, ADVentura The Navigator, and ADVentura The Conqueror. And then you have ADVentura The Royal Return, which comes with two blends. The Queen's Pearl is a gift for the Queen. And the King's Gold is a gift for the king. That was the end of the first chapter of ADVentura.

Then, the second chapter comes with more characters, such as in the Caribbean when pirates navigate the ocean. We have Barbarroja Invasion, and now, on July 24th, we are releasing the Blue Eyed Jack Revenge.

[SI]: Interesting. Tell us a little bit about the Blue Eyed Jack Revenge, please.

[HV]: The Barbarroja Invasion is way more aggressive and sharp. It is the first cigar that we're using Habano leaf from my farm for binders.

[SI]: Oh, really?

[HV]: That blend was developed in Tabacalera William Ventura. The Revenge is sweeter. It's a more mellow cigar with a lot of character. It has power, but it's very subtle and sweet. I will say it is the first blend that I ever tried in my life that you can feel some sweetness in the retrohale and in the mouth feeling of your palate. It's enjoyable, has nice combustion, a medium body, and a nice flavor. That's the Blue Eyed Jack.

[SI]: Can you tell us a little bit about the components of the Blue Eyed Jack?

[HV]: Second dress Colorado wrapper, Dominican binder, and Dominican filler.

[SI]: Nice. Is this regular production or a limited edition?

[HV]: Regular production.

[SI]: Fantastic. So, for smokers out there who are not familiar with your line, where would you recommend they begin exploring the ADVentura selection?

[HV]: I would recommend starting with The Navigator. It's the middle point, a straight, medium-body cigar, smooth, easy to smoke, very complex, and well-balanced. Then, after you try The Navigator, if you want something fuller from ADVentura, you can go up to the Barbarroja and the King's Gold. And if you want to go more mild, you can go with the Queen's Pearl.

[SI]: Perfect. Is there anything else you want to say to the consumers and to the smokers out there about the ADVentura brand or about this factory?

[HV]: If you are looking for a premium cigar, give ADVentura a shot. We strive to offer a consistently high-quality, premium experience. First, we make a premium cigar with good, well-aged tobacco. We prioritize the complexity of the blend, the balance of the blend, and the age of the cigar. And we're trying to cover all of those components. We're working on the excellence level in the manufacturing and the construction of that cigar, aiming to create perfection. It won't be perfect, but we hope to get as close as possible.

[SI]: As close as a human can get.

[HV]: You aren't wasting your money when you buy an ADVentura cigar. I will say we are one of the youngest manufacturers in the industry. We've been working in this industry for about 20 years now. So, if you are my age, in your 30s, I'm a manufacturer that can understand what you're looking for better and also can educate you on the experience and expectations we meet in our premium cigars.

[SI]: Thank you everybody for watching. If you're unfamiliar with the brand, start with The Navigator up or down from there. If you're already a fan, like myself, look forward to Blue Eyed Jack's Revenge later this month.

[HV]: Yes, thank you.