如果你们公司出品的雪茄被评为年度最佳雪茄，你会怎么样？为了找到答案，《雪茄爱好者》总编辑格雷戈里·莫托拉（ Gregory Mottola）特地采访了三位私交不错的雪茄制造商：多米尼加之花的力图·戈麦斯（Litto Gomez ）、陈化屋的拉斐尔·诺达尔（Rafael Nodal）、奥利瓦雪茄的科里·巴伯特（Cory Bappert）。

在回顾曾经获奖的事迹前，力图·戈麦斯表达了对大烟熏活动再次举办的喜悦之情。他点了一支辣味的雪茄，在台上笑着说，再次见到雪茄爱好者们，和他们交谈，听取他们的意见，十分令人振奋。他对台下的听众说，整个活动里，在座各位才是最重要的那个部分。

研讨会开始的时候格雷戈里·莫托拉询问三位嘉宾，当他们发现自己出品的雪茄被评为年度第一名的经历，因为在新闻公布前，雪茄制造商不会被告知得奖信息的。

当时戈麦斯在多米尼加的雪茄厂里，他的妻子艾格尼丝（Ines）给他打电话告诉这个好消息，多米尼加的安德烈斯公牛被评为2016年度的第一名雪茄。戈麦斯马上去了卷制车间和大家分享这个好消息。他们开始欢呼庆祝，敲响了查韦塔。随后戈麦斯和质量控制团队坐下来开会，戈麦斯要求他们生产不要出现变化。需求会增长起来的。如果没有合适的烟叶，我们就不生产，一定要保证品质。

然后他回到自己的办公室，关上门，开始哭泣，这是为取得的成就感到高兴的眼泪。那是我一生中永远不会忘记的时刻。他说。

拉斐尔·诺达尔也没有想到会被评为年度第一，他一度认为他们公司的雪茄被淘汰了。那天早上，他关掉了电话去看医生，这个医生恰巧是普拉森西亚家族的，这个家族是中美洲大名鼎鼎的雪茄世家。上午十点，当《雪茄爱好者》杂志在网站发布陈化屋的夸特罗尼加拉瓜大师获得年度第一名雪茄新闻时，诺达尔当时正在检查身体，无法接听电话。这时候医生的电话响了，医生将这个好消息告诉诺达尔，并让他穿上裤子，结束检查。诺达尔的这个看病经历让现场观众开怀大笑。

当奥利瓦公司的V系列米拉尼奥鱼雷被评为2014年度第一名雪茄时，奥利瓦雪茄公司的科里·巴伯特正在牙科诊所洗牙，这时他的电话响起来了。牙医停下来让他去接电话。当他看到新闻时，开心的连牙齿的治疗都还没有处理完就着急走了，他的手机收到很多短信，有祝贺他获奖的，也有雪茄订单的业务。巴伯特说，获得年度第一名几乎就像在大师赛上赢得绿夹克一样，意义非凡。

被《雪茄爱好者》杂志评为年度第一名是雪茄行业的最高荣誉，也会导致对获奖雪茄的订单激增。对于戈麦斯来说，订单激增会很艰难，当时工厂里只有一个团队在卷制安德烈斯公牛，他不得不购买更多的雪茄模具和雪茄包装盒。戈麦斯说，我当时给包装盒制造商打电话，说我需要2万个包装盒，对方很惊讶，问“你说什么”，半年后，我又订了2万个包装盒。那段时间，雪茄订单的电话一直在响。

巴伯特现在是奥利瓦雪茄公司的首席执行官，获奖那年还是公司的分管销售的副总裁，他说，你在分配雪茄的时候必须很小心，有一些零售商会觉得心里不踏实，你每个零售商都要分配一些货。奥利瓦那年获奖的雪茄是每盒10支包装，而不是行业传统的25支一盒的标准，所以奥利瓦公司能提供更多的盒数给零售商。尽管如此，奥利瓦公司还是花了三年时间加大生产才满足客户的订单需求。

将这三个曾经获得过年度第一名雪茄荣誉的制造商聚集同台的一个因素是他们一直致力于保持获奖雪茄的质量。

最后，诺达尔总结说，你应该向消费者提供他们所期待的东西。研讨会结束时，主席台上的四个人一起站起来，和大厅里将近600名的热情听众合影。

附参考原文：

What happens when your cigar is named Cigar of the Year? To find out, managing editor Gregory Mottola interviewed three people who know personally: Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana, Rafael Nodal of Aging Room and Cory Bappert of Oliva Cigar Co.

Before he talked about winning, Gomez, the maker of La Flor Dominicana cigars, spoke about how happy he was to be back at a Big Smoke. “It is so energizing to see cigar smokers again, talk to them and hear their opinions,” he said with a smile from the stage, puffing away on one of his spicy cigars. “Thank you for being here,” he told the capacity crowd. “You are the most important part of this whole thing.”

Mottola began the seminar by asking each panelist about their experience when they found out they were named No. 1, as cigarmakers are not alerted to the news before it’s made public. Gomez was at his factory in the Dominican Republic when his wife Ines called him to let him know their La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull had been named Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year for 2016. He went to the rolling room to share the news with everyone. “They started banging the chavettas in celebration,” said Gomez. He then sat down with his quality control team, telling them not to change. “Demand is going to grow,” he told them. “Nothing changes in this company. If we don’t have the right tobaccos we don’t make [the cigars.] That was my message that day.”

Then he went into his office, shut the door and began crying, overcome with the joy of the achievement. “It was just a time I will never forget in my life,” he said.

Rafael Nodal was also not expecting to be named No. 1. “I thought I am out of the game,” he said. That morning, he shut off his phone and went to the doctor, who happens to be a Plasencia, the well-known tobacco and cigarmaking family of Central America. Nodal was in a compromising position around 10 am, when Cigar Aficionado launched its top cigars on its website. He was in no position to touch his phone, but the doctor’s mobile starting lighting up. “He started getting calls,” Nodal said of his doctor, who got Nodal to put his pants back on and learn the happy news that his Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro had taken the top spot on the countdown for 2019. Nodal’s story of his compromising position had the audience laughing heartily.

Oliva’s Cory Bappert was also indisposed when news broke that the Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado had been named Cigar of the Year for 2014. He was in the middle of a dental cleaning when his phone blew up with messages, causing the dentist to pause and tell him to check to see what was going on. When he saw the news, he left, even though the work on his mouth was incomplete. “I have to go,” he said. His phone was overwhelmed with congratulatory texts and requests for the cigars.

Said Bappert: “It’s almost like winning the green jacket at The Masters.”

Being named Cigar of the Year by Cigar Aficionado is the industry’s highest accolade, and causes unprecedented demand for a smoke. For Gomez, it was particularly tough as only one team made the Bull at the time. He had to order more cigar molds, train more rollers, even get more boxes. “I called the box manufacturer and said I need 20,000 boxes. He said ‘what?’” Six months later, he ordered another 20,000. “And meanwhile,” Gomez said, “the telephone is ringing off the hook.”

Bappert, now Oliva’s chief executive officer, but then the company’s vice president of sales, said “You have to be careful with allocation. Some retailers get upset. You have to give some to everyone.” He noted that the fact that his cigars came in boxes of 10, rather than the more common industry standard of 25, meant Oliva could better spread things around. 

Still, the cigar was hard to get for years. “It took us a good three years to meet customer demand,” he said. 

The one thing that unified the three men on stage, along with winning No. 1, was their dedication to maintaining the quality of their award-winning cigars.

“You owe it to the consumers to give them what they expect,” said Nodal. When the seminar ended, he stood up with Gomez, Bappert and Mottola, and took a selfie of the four of them with the enthusiastic crowd—nearly 600 strong in the room—behind them.