Greetings from NYC

[MikePach]

Hey everybody, I'm new to the boards so I'm saying hi.

I'm a certified tobacconist. Here to share thoughts, give and take advice, hang out and smoke.

[ggiese]

Hey everybody, I'm new to the boards so I'm saying hi.

I'm a certified tobacconist. Here to share thoughts, give and take advice, hang out and smoke.

Welcome!

Not many certified tobacconists on this board, but plenty of folks who have smoked enough cigars to tell you what's good from bad.

BTW - if you love smoking cigars, check out the "Wounded Warrior" event near you:
http://www.cigarsmokers.com/threads/........?p=188742

Charlie (stogieman) always throws a great party!

[ashauler]

Welcome. How does one become a "certified tobacconist"?

[MikePach]

Register as an apprentice at tobacconistuniversity.org. Study your butt off, and they administer an exam, if you pass it you get a certification.

[CptnBlues63]

Hi from Alberta, Canada

[ashauler]

Register as an apprentice at tobacconistuniversity.org. Study your butt off, and they administer an exam, if you pass it you get a certification.

A certification that does what, exactly? Give you the leg up in employment at a cigar shop? Just curious.

I've read some of the stuff on that site before, and was kinda guessing that's what you were referring to. Do you do any practical type "labs"....as in growing tobacco or actually fermenting it, or rolling cigars, or producing pipe tobacco?

[MikePach]

I already work in the industry, me and my colleagues were mandated to enroll and graduate the program. There are a few levels of certification. Consumer; retail; Master. As you go up the ranks the information you learn gets more and more in depth. For instance a master tobacconist must log a certain amount of field and factory hours in order to earn certification. At my level "retail" it serves to give me a more formal schooling in the industry.

As for whether it gives me a "leg up" or bolsters my credibility that's for potential future employers and customers to decide.

I worked in the tobacco industry for a while before taking the classes and I was surprised with how much more information it gave me. The bulk of the work centers around the history of tobacco industry, and the functional process of going from seed to cigar, then it moves on to varietals and so on and so forth. You can read the text book online if you like, the page is a bit clunky but its loaded with information I haven't seen elsewhere.

[CoventryCat86]

I already work in the industry, me and my colleagues were mandated to enroll and graduate the program. There are a few levels of certification. Consumer; retail; Master. As you go up the ranks the information you learn gets more and more in depth. For instance a master tobacconist must log a certain amount of field and factory hours in order to earn certification. At my level "retail" it serves to give me a more formal schooling in the industry.

As for whether it gives me a "leg up" or bolsters my credibility that's for potential future employers and customers to decide.

I worked in the tobacco industry for a while before taking the classes and I was surprised with how much more information it gave me. The bulk of the work centers around the history of tobacco industry, and the functional process of going from seed to cigar, then it moves on to varietals and so on and so forth. You can read the text book online if you like, the page is a bit clunky but its loaded with information I haven't seen elsewhere.

"my colleagues and I"

What shop do you work at?

[MikePach]

Info

[ashauler]

Um, what did I miss? It's interesting, and the site does contain some good information.

[CoventryCat86]

What shop do you work at? I visit NYC on a regular basis.