I’m Nicole Knobel, welcome back to the treasure hunt, where the map is forged after we’ve arrived and the treasure is banded by the ADV shield.
Today’s episode, titled “Roots and Rituals,” we break down the Swiss Precision portion of our Swiss Precision and Dominican Passion tag line. So, grab your favorite blend, get comfy, and join me as we uncover the roots and rituals of ADV.
Maybe not every one knows this, but ADVentura was born here in Switzerland in the tiny quaint town of Altendorf, which translates to “old town.” We’re about 20 minutes outside of the city of Zurich. I’m excited to spill the tea on how Swiss Precision is a real thing and what role it played in the accidental birth of ADVentura.
Before ADV, Marcel was and still a retailer. His focus was on a specific region and style of cigars that were popular here and he specialised in some difficult to find blends as well. But after a few years, he was ready to widen his periphery to learn what else the world of cigars had to offer, and he became the fuel of every entrepreneurs business, curious. What other blending styles are there and tobacco combinations. Who are the players, how can I have a hand in the process to not just offer a wider variety, but further reach and teach my guests what they are smoking and why.
Marcel is a student for life and has always been fascinated with simplicity but also complexity that goes into the artisanship of the most sought after hand made products. So along with tobacco, Marcel also studied wine and winemaking, and happens to be a sommelier. So is very familiar with terroir and how the land in where the vines are planted lend to the flavour profile, grape varieties, and the fermentation process shapes the character and the age of course differentiates from one producer to the next, so to take next step after taking the time learn, taste, and test, was so go down and see where and how it happens, and that’s where the idea for a “house blend” came into mind.
No before we go any further in the story, let’s un pack the “Swissness” a little.
Never have I visited or now lived in a more “smoker friendly culture” and I’m not just talking cigarettes. Cigars are a prevalent way of life here, and many restaurants have dedicated lounges to join after dinner for a cigar and a drink. It is pretty incredible. And if you aren’t able to smoke inside, you most definitely can smoke at the tables outside. In fact, Marcel just did an event with one of our biggest supporters here, (shout out to Portman, (Wir danken Ihnen für Ihre Unterstützung.) and they rented the entire restaurant and did a tasting with 3 cigars paired with the meal, and they were able to smoke inside the restaurant. I’m sure there are places like this that exist in the US, but I can’t think of any that will close down to the general public and let a group of smokers come to have a catered evening with a producer.
The population of Switzerland is approximately the same population as New York City.
Yep, an entire country where all the residents could fit into the largest American city. Pretty crazy to think about… Now get this, With a population of about 8.8 million people, Switzerland imports over 12 million premium cigars a year.
Switzerland has 4 national languages, Swiss German, Italian, French, and Romansch which sounds like a mash up of Italian and German.
We live in the German speaking part of Switzerland. Now Swiss German mind you is absolutely NOT German, the base of the language is German, but it is not proper High German. It also doesn’t even happen to be a written language, so if you want to learn it, it’s more of a baptism by fire thing, or learn to swim by being pushed into the deep end. I find comfort in knowing that even the Germans say they have a hard time when first being here to understand Swiss German. And almost every region has a specific dialect. So imagine if Boston, New York, Chicago, and Alabama were only 20 minutes apart. You go one way and hear a southern drawl is thick as molasses, go the opposite direction and you’re not sure is someone is asking where are your “car keys”, or where are your “khakis” Bananas for me to think about.
But what I learned from studying high German, is that the German language has grammar, and the English language has words. Meaning in German, and again this is simply an opinion formulated off of my personal experience, but in German, you can only explain exactly what you mean. In English we have so many ways to describe degrees and variations of the same thing. Sarcasm is WAY easier to throw around in English than German.
PS if you DM us on Facebook, I’m sorry about the automatic reply you receive in German. I have no idea how to turn that off, and Marcel somehow did that when we first launched.
The cool thing about moving to another country is you get to observe as an outsider, but with an inside position. I moved to Switzerland 5 years ago. It wasn’t until I moved to here and realised you don’t just pop over to home depot and youtube your way through a bathroom renovation because your husband is gone for a long weekend. Nope. that was a painful and expensive lesson learned. But the craftsmanship is pretty incredible here. Like it’s not really a crapshoot when you hire someone to do tile work, here, there is the Swiss way and then there’s the wrong way.
No but really, everything is made out of concrete, and tiles don’t just pop off the wall like I had hoped. Like, what do you guys have against dry wall? My idea of safety wear for this kind of “light job” was to find the biggest sunglasses I own and wear long sleeves and covered toe shoes. Guys please understand, I just wanted to pop off a few decorative tiles and replace them with different ones, but when the chisel wasn’t cutting it, I went for the tile saw. I thought if I cut x’s in the tile, they would somehow pop off easier, and the amount of dust, my hair… oh, my god.. this was bad guys…you couldn’t even imagine.
I then moved to full ‘avoid dust’ at all costs, and if you’re watching this, you will see here my level of preparedness. If you’re listening, you will just have to imagine haz mat suit. Yep, the Swiss build things a little differently here. I feel like their motto is build once, and it will last a lifetime or 2. Like even if you want to hang a picture on the wall, you better have a drill and a bit that goes through concrete. In a way, I guess its good because they guarantee you always have to call a professional, but really stifles my impulse to change designs in the house. Swiss Precision at it’s finest.
So back to the “house blend” once the decision was made, Marcel set off to the land of milk and honey. Without having the intention in creating an actual brand, Marcel knew that the Dominican Republic stood as a cornerstone in the global cigar industry. What originated as an intention of gaining more insight, and hands on approach for something he could sell from and speak to from personal experience, would birth something that we could have never have dreamed of.
Imagine how hard it must be to go to a country where both parties have to speak a learned language, to discuss, convey, and eventually agree upon something in exchange for dollars and services, but this is the beauty of cigars isn’t it, they speak a universal language and reveal common ground. And for Marcel, not just a great cigar provided that common ground, experiencing a certain familiarity by having a well organised operation, polite staff, and extremely clean factory, made Marcel felt very “at home” when he first visited Tabacalera William Ventura, but was also sprinkled with this very languid, no rush, the day is long and we have time mentality. And in a seemingly rigid culture, that’s a pretty welcomed pace to follow.
After explaining to Henderson what could be a popular profile for the Swiss market, Henderson, said” I’ll be right back” and handed over a new blend he had been working on and thought could be interesting start to their business relationship.
Now, when I say handed over, this wasn’t just a “here try this” This is was a ritual of sitting in those well known rocking chairs, seeing the galera, having coffee served to you with just the right amount of sugar, and feeling that warm hospitality of every hand that took part in all 152 steps to create a single cigar for a single experience that allows you to either pass the time, remember a time, or stop it in it’s tracks, that is something worth sharing. That blend was The Explorer.
While testing vitolas for the Swiss market, Henderson asked, why don’t you do a box press? It’s creates a different taste and variation of the blend, and could be cool for your customers. Marcel immediately said, “ no box press,” but box presses do very well in other markets, why are you against it? Weird, for such a strong market, to show almost no interest in that style of cigar. Marcel aptly responded, the Swiss in particular are not fans of box pressed cigars because it reminds them of a sausage we have here called landjäger, which translates into ‘country hunter.’…. Don’t ask me why the hell a sausage or wurst as we call it got that name or is box pressed, but this lends to my points the first episode discussing the importance of having an insider in strong markets AND that Marcel was equipped with the ability to understand, appeal to, and connect to a wider range of perspectives, simply by being Swiss.
Marcel took the short 12 hour journey back to (as my nephew calls it, Swiss land) and shared with his importer, the new new “house blend.” The response, he got, this is pretty damn good, don’t you want to share this with all of Switzerland? At first thought was how am I supposed to do that when I have to run the store here, I don’t have time to go knocking on doors, but our Swiss importer did have time and a team. And that single question got Marcel thinking, maybe I should also put my marketing degree to good use and design a brand. And from a humidor no bigger than the size of an American walk in pantry, ADV was born.
From a 5,000 Explorer order, sans the box press of course. ADVentura The Explorer was released into Switzerland, and from there, Germany called, then Serbia, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the following year Marcel returned to the Dominican Republic with a new idea and full brand plan, and so did Henderson.
ADV is a really reflection of how it all started. Not just a fun story of 1492 Christopher Columbus, pirates and past times, but the origin or tobacco from the old world to the new and the Swiss guy coming from the old world to the new. I’ll wait until I have Marcel as a featured guest to dive into those fun details, but when you find yourself lost in a story without words there is something to be said about recognition of artisanship no matter what language you speak. The more we develop, expand, and sharpen our skills, the more fluent we become anyways. This is the power of translation with a cigar as the medium. These moments, and experiences are what make this industry so interesting.
So, as we wrap up today’s episode of Puffery: A Fresh Perspective on Why Adventura, I hope you’ve gained some insight into the roots and rituals from one side of the equation. Cigars have a unique way of transcending boundaries, bringing together people from all walks of life and corners of the globe. They create a shared experience—a moment of pause and connection—where the focus shifts from differences to the appreciation of craftsmanship, flavor, and the stories behind each blend. In a world that often feels divided, a cigar becomes a universal language, fostering camaraderie and sparking conversations that bridge cultures and perspectives.
Next time, we’ll take our time untying the Dominican Passion side of the equation, and how it gives just the right about of balance and nuance to the brand and experience.
Thank you for joining me on the start of this treasure hunt. Until next time, may your cigars be smooth, your moments intentional, and your perspective ever fresh.
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