Cigar Weekly Interview with Michael Dunne
1998 -- It started out
taking a break from a project, enjoying a smooth premium Dominican cigar. An idea
began to form. What if a group of investors established a company to create private
label premium cigars? Build a reputation as a cigar company and then establish cigar
lounges across the nation, a place where the aficionado could sit back and enjoy a cigar
like they do in their own backyard. Could it be done? Chuck Norris,
international film and television icon, thought it could. It was his backyard.
In July 1996 Lone Wolf International was formed and the journey began. The first
course of action was to approach James Belushi and a group of investors
who had recently opened a chain of retail cigar lounges in California. Both Mr.
Norris and Mr. Belushi had a mutual respect for one another in the entertainment industry
and were excited to learn they also shared a passion for cigars. It was a natural
pairing. In January 1997 operations merged and Lone Wolf became a retail
tobacconist.
We spoke with Michael Dunne, Lone Wolf VP of Operations about his company and cigars.
Cigar Weekly:
Michael, are you in charge of the cigar manufacturing or the retail side of the business?
Michael Dunne: Retail, manufacturing, the whole company, basically. We
recently opened a restaurant in Dallas. We had separate investors go in, but I was in
charge of designing the building and getting it up and running and then a separate
management team took over.
CW: How much of your business is the manufacture of cigars versus the
lounges and restaurants?
MD: We have a cigar store with a lounge in Santa Monica (1200 sq. foot
store, 800 sq. ft. lounge) We don't serve cocktails because of the zoning regulation when
we built the place. The restaurant in Dallas is a full scale club. It's 7,000 sq. ft. with
a full menu, dance floor, full bar service, and we have a smoking lounge with 3 private
meeting rooms. It's a full-scale facility. Santa Monica is a scaled down version.
CW: What are your plans for expansion? Are you planning to opening a
chain of lounges?
MD: What we're looking at right now is to solidify the concepts. The
reason I'm in Santa Monica is we're looking at putting in full coffee service, espresso
machine, soft drinks, juices and high-end teas. Not to say the cigar revenue isn't good
for us, but we're looking at other avenues to expand the concept, that being Lone Wolf.
CW: Is the Lone Wolf concept cigars or lifestyle?
MD: Obviously, we want to create a concept of lifestyle. We started
out with the cigars and we wanted to put a quality product forth and I think we've done
that. We have to get our distribution end down and then we'll look at more lounges and
stores. The smoking lounges will help expand the name brand recognition. Once we do that
then we can start adding things on. I look at Davidoff and what they have done. It's
fantastic. The cigars is how it all started and their cologne "Cool Winter" was
the #1 cologne for 2 years running. They've taken a concept: name brand recognition,
quality, lifestyle, etc. and now when you think of Davidoff, you think of quality. We are
really in our infancy as far as the concept is concerned.
CW: I know that some cigar smokers are cautious when it comes to
celebrity cigars. Has having celebrity owners helped you or hurt you in that respect?
MD: I feel it has definitely helped us. Chuck Norris and Jim Belushi
are regular guys and I think the regular person on the street can associate with them.
Their celebrity status has really help us in the cigar industry. Plus, we've priced them
correctly -- the cigars range from $4.90 to $8.00. It's not an over-priced celebrity
cigar. We're not a 10-15 dollar cigar. We didn't go to any cigar manufacturers. We found
three very strong and reputable manufacturers. We feel we're putting out a good product
and for a good price. I think we have a good package that we're offering.
CW: All of your cigars are manufactured on the Dominican Republic,
with each brand made by a different manufacturer. Can you tell us more about that?
MD: Yes. Lobo Rojo is made in the La Aurora factory. The Signature
Select is made in the MATASA factory, where they make Fonseca and Romeo y Julieta. Our
Vintage Series are made by the Palmarejo factory. This is the smallest factory we went to,
but we're very happy with the quality and consistency that was put forth in their product.
They have been solid since day 1. In our ratings, between Smoke, and Cigar Aficionado,
they have really held up. We picked a different wrapper leaf for each brand. The filler
and binders are Cuban Piloto and Dominican Olor. But each factory ages them differently,
and they grow the tobacco in different fields. We have three definitely separate and
distinct cigars.
CW: When you first came out with Lone Wolf cigars, weren't there 5
different brands?
MD: We originally started with 5 lines and that didn't work out. We
let two factories go after I was there two months.
CW: The 2 cigar brands you dropped we're the Sun Grown and the
Classic, right?
MD: Correct. Those cigars are no longer available. We do have some
left, but we weren't getting a consistent product. And with the Classic, we just were not
happy with the overall quality of the tobacco.
CW: Were you involved in picking the tobacco blends?
MD: The blends were decided before I started with the company. When
the first shipment came in we weren't thrilled with what we got. So Michael Dougherty,
Lone Wolf's director of purchasing and I went down to work with each factory. Rather than
change the blends, we changed the production methods. One factory was rolling our cigars 2
days a month with all their rollers. So we honed it down to 10 cigar rollers rolling every
day. Now we get more consistent product. We've noticed a tremendous difference. Especially
being associated with Chuck and Jim. They're both quality minded individuals. So we
changed some things and we're very happy with the results.
CW: Are you aging the cigars more now?
MD: We are aging them 3 months. The tobacco we use is also aged. If
you go to the La Aurora and MATASA factories, they have years' worth of tobacco that is
constantly fermenting. I think the cigars will start to be aged longer because the demand
has caught up. Throughout the industry they were shipping as soon as they rolled them. You
saw the quality difference on the shelves.
CW: How many retailers sell Lone Wolf?
MD: At my last report we had 560+ accounts throughout the U.S. We just
signed our first distributor in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We're looking to go
into Canada by July of this year. Our goal is 2,000 dealers in the U.S. We've been
distributing ourselves since Sept. 97. The reorders are coming in consistently, which
we're real happy with.
CW: Do you sell your product directly to customers through your web
site?
MD: It's not actually our web page. We work with a company called
I-Mall. They have an exclusive web page for our product. They put the whole thing together
about 5 months ago. They approached us and we felt it was good for us. As long as they
sell at retail prices, we had no problem with that.
CW: Are you announcing any new products for RTDA in August?
MD: We're trying very hard to release the Lobito, a mini cigar similar
in size to the Macanudo miniatures or the Fino's by Leon Jimenes. It sells in a 5 pack
with a retail price of $5.95. The packaging on the Lobito is world class. They're 4"
x 30 ring gauge. It's a quality product at an affordable price and something that anyone
can take with them.
CW: Are they machine made?
MD: Yes. But we picked the blends and we're going to hold the standard
just as we did with our present cigars. This is a new venture for us but we feel we're
doing something a little different that the rest of the market and this is a product we
feel we can get out to the masses.
CW: Thanks to Michael Dunne for answering our questions.
Find out more: Lone Wolf International Website
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