Puff, Sip Chat with Black Starline Cigars! Check out founder Aric Bey as he talks Black Starline Cigars and his journey into the culture of the Cigar Lifestyle!
Check out the full transcript of the conversation below!
INTERVIEW WITH THE BLACK STARLINE CIGARS
Reggie: Hey! It’s StickMan, #1, still at Robusto’s Tobacco House in Lithonia, Georgia. And I am excited, let me tell you. I have a very special guest, well, two special guests here. I have a gentleman from Black Starline cigars in the house. They agree to be with me, thank you fellas.
Eric: Of course.
Sheldon: Thanks.
Reggie: So, let me introduce you, to my left here? I have Eric Bay, and I have Sheldon, brother your last name, I’m so sorry?
Sheldon: Sheldon Fletcher.
Reggie: Sheldon Fletcher.
Sheldon: Yes.
Reggie: So, tell me what you guys do. So, what are you guys roles at Black Starline Cigars?
Eric: I’m the owner.
Reggie: You’re the owner. Okay?
Eric: Yes.
Sheldon: And I’m support.
Reggie: You’re a support. Okay. So, at Black Starline Cigars, when did it launch?.
Eric: A little bit over a year. August of 2019. When we had sticks in hand.
Reggie: Sticks in hand, alright. So, one thing I don’t… and I’m sure you guys know this on preaching to the choir. I’m very active on social media with Stickman and you guys have built up quite a little presence and following and chatter, you know with some of your sticks on Instagram, and its really caught my attention, it got a lot of people’s attention, and you got some interested names too. And one that jumps out at me is the War-witch, and people said War-witch, what’s War-witch?
Eric: Yeah, I had people that have asked me that a lot of time. War-witch is actually a movie, it was filmed in the Congo, it’s about a young lady that has spiritual powers to be able to see her ancestors.
Reggie: Okay.
Eric: So, the local Army kidnapped her and took her along with them. So, what will happen when the Army will get ready to get attacked, the ancestor will show up and they’ll say, hey y’all are about to get attacked, something is ready to happen. So, she won general and that’s how they’ll either run away from the conflict, or they will win the war, because they were ready for it.
Reggie: Wow. Okay.
Eric: I like the movie a lot. So that’s why—
Reggie: And that’s why you got the name. Well, it’s a catchy name and it’s a fantastic say God.
Eric: Thank you.
Reggie: So, I’m gonna back up a little bit. You started Black Starline Cigars, what gave you the… what was the motivation behind that?
Eric: Black Starline cigars is Marcus Garvey shipping company. So yes, I named it after him. He was originally intending on shipping products and people from here back to Africa, to Ghana, and on the western coast of Africa. Unfortunately, some of his ships that he was buying were dilapidated, so, they couldn’t make that long trip. So, he did do some trading along in the island, Bahamas and some other islands around there. That’s how I got it from.
Reggie: And of all the businesses that you could have started, you started Cigar, tell me about your journey and cigars. Have you been smoking a long time?
Eric: Not a long time, maybe about six years.
Reggie: Okay. That means you’re relatively a newbie.
Eric: Yeah.
Reggie: I have been into Cigar for Fifteen years, and I still consider myself a newbie compare to some of the whole… Sheldon, what about you, how long have you been smoking cigar?
Sheldon: So, as a focus cigar smoker? I’m younger than both of you, probably two years that I’ve been in very solidly. On and off maybe about 20 years, you know, and by on and off, I mean one or two a month, something like that. When I was still in college, I would get off, I’d get out of classes just to relax, go to one of the local lounges—
Reggie: Meet some people?
Sheldon: Meet some people, talk a little bit, and just try to learn, you know, it wasn’t that big of a focus, but honestly, the more Eric got into it, the more I get into it, and the more I learned from him, the more he got me excited. So, I started to dig in a little deeper and deeper, so—
Reggie: And as addicted, and I mean not the cigar addicted. It’s the lifestyle, it’s the people you meet, the conversations that you have. It’s the relationships that you build in this lifestyle.
Sheldon: There’s so much to learn, there’s so much to see, and every time you talk to somebody, someone’s got some more information for you.
Reggie: That’s right. You never stop learning. So, before you started this business, what were you doing?
Eric: I’m currently as Chicago firefighter.
Reggie: Excellent.
Eric: I’ve been a firefighter for six and a half years.
Reggie: Okay, so firefighter, fire with the stick. I see the connection a little bit there. I see the connection.
Eric: We smoke at the firehouses on town.
Reggie: Oh, I can imagine.
Eric: Chiefs all the way down to just firefighters.
Reggie: And now I imagine they only smoke your cigar, right?
Eric: Yeah, a lot of them.
Reggie: So, I was looking at your website, I was checking things out, and I also notice you have some other Cigar, one is called the…
Eric: El Milagro.
Reggie: El Milagro-the miracle, tell me about that.
Eric: Those are actually my first cigar, from “El Titan De Bronze,” or “El Titan De Bronze” as some people say it in English or in America, but it’s “El Titan De Bronze” in Spanish. They’re based on Kyoto in Miami. So, same role as a Brickell Smoke in Miami, they rolled out cigars.
Reggie: Okay.
Eric: La Palina comes out of there, War Witch comes out of there, Cornelius and Anthony used to come out of there.
Reggie: Excellent.
Eric: So, it’s a well-known Factory here in the states. So yeah, I chased that factory for a year.
Reggie: I read that you had to bug them a little bit. You had to send flowers and everything. I bet they are best friends with you now though.
Eric: Oh, yeah, she is like another mother to me, so, she looks out for us, anything we need, advice, or you know, anything we need, seriously, she will try to help us out. Okay. Yes, she, you know, really took care of us because she really didn’t have to, it’s a small Factory, so they don’t do blends for a lot of people or just anybody. So, you know, we worked our way in there and you know, the rest is history.
Reggie: That’s good, so, you had to kind of prove yourself, let people know that you’re serious. So, it’s interesting. I started Stickman. This is year one for us. We launched on New Year’s Day which incidentally just happens to be my birthday, say I had the concept a couple of years, but I started on New Year’s Day. There are some chat sessions just like this right here in Atlanta, starting to build a little Ground as well as having fun with it, and meeting people like you, the entrepreneur that is behind the scene is really what it’s all about. So, you in year one, I’m in year one, I love it. And you’ve been off to a fast start, so, congratulations. So, what’s next, where do you see this going?
Eric: I do have a new state coming off presently.
Reggie: Does anybody else know about it, can we break it right here. Are you ready? You mention a few things?
Eric: I can tell you a little bit about it, but I still won’t fully say it. I’m doing it for retired NBA players.
Reggie: Oh, excellent. Okay.
Eric: It’s a 6×6 T, it’s not in [inaudible 06:42]. I can’t remember the other components off the top of my head right now.
Reggie: That’s okay.
Eric: But yeah, we smoke this.
Reggie: Well, I’m looking forward to it. You have to keep me posted, will be in touch, so you can keep me posted on that.
Eric: I’ve just been thinking about it, as you see me smiling—
Reggie: I see a smile on your face. So, you heard it as well?
Sheldon: I have not.
Reggie: Okay, but it’s gonna be good, I can tell ya, so, that’s coming up next. We’re going to be on the lookout for that.
Eric: Because I’ll be here to another Market because I don’t have a big ring gauge cigar right now.
Reggie: Okay.
Eric: All my cigars either Robusto or Corner box press and the biggest one that I have was a Toro. So, that one is out of stock right now, but you know, I know a lot of people like the bigger ring gauges, me personally, I don’t, but there are a lot of people that they do, and it’s some nice long flavorful cigar.
Reggie: Okay. Excellent.
Eric: I think I smoked it for like 2 hours and 30 minutes or something.
Reggie: So, of all the cigars that you have so far, is that one going to be your favorite or what’s your favorite right now?
Eric: I’m always gonna gravitate back to my alma mater, The Mexican San Andres.
Reggie: It’s your baby right, because they kind of help to get it started.
Eric: Wheel woods is close behind. All of them are like really neck and neck. It just depends on really what you like. But…
Reggie: It’s like choosing one of your children. You can’t use of your children.
Eric: I’m in love with Mexican San Andres wrappers though. So, you know, that’s why I gravitate towards the Mexican San Andres El Milagro, and it coincidentally also is the highest rate of cigar that I have out of the [inaudible 08:12].
Reggie: That’s right.
Eric: Yeah, it’s rated the 90 too. This one’s rated the 90.
Reggie: That’s what you call the hit ground running.
Eric: Oh, yes. San Gran Havana is rated the 90 as well.
Reggie: Excellent. So, what was the secret for you getting it out there so quickly in the marketplace and getting adoption that you had. What’s been the secret to getting that, making that happen so quickly?
Eric: Before we had the cigars. I spend a lot of time networking with other, like, successfully cigar owners. [inaudible] Shawn Williams, who else?
Sheldon: Jonathan Drew?
Eric: Yeah, Jonathan Drew. JD, he’s given us a lot of information. I’ve spoken—
Reggie: Would you consider him kind of a mentor?
Eric: Yes, he’s the one that pointed us in the direction of El Titan De Bronze.
Reggie: That’s right. It’s nice to know people.
Eric: So, yeah, you know, we went and talked to a lot of people because we want to hear, you know, what they had to say, what kind of advice they have for me, you know, and I ran with it, you know, and then as far as like social media and that kind of things, that I’m constantly on lives.
Reggie: You manage it yourself?
Eric: Yeah.
Reggie: Me too, I got to be Hands-On with that stuff. So, that’s how you connect with people?
Eric: Yeah, people DM me and they’re talking to me. So, you know, I answer everybody.
Reggie: Me too. You got to.
Eric: Yeah, man, you know, we spend a lot of time on social media, looking and making sure the pictures are nice, had The Branding and all that stuff, because you know, we have closed—
Reggie: I saw that. You have a nice… The glasses.
Eric: Round glasses, glean clearing glasses, leather-wrapped last. So yeah, it’s some of the stuff. All of his branded was real good.
Reggie: Okay, that’s all right, then. I got to get me a shirt. We got to do a shirt exchange really like the NBA players and hold up our shirt, the stick man shirt, getting your Black Starline Cigar shirt. We hold them up like that. Okay, sounds good. Well, hey, if someone wants to buy your cigars, obviously go to your website.
Eric: Yeah.
Reggie: And it’s like BlackStarlinecigars.com. Tell us what the website is.
Eric: www.bslcigars.net.
Reggie: www.bslcigars.net. Okay, and where are you Distributing from retail standpoint? What parts of the country can someone find your cigars?
Eric: We’re here in Atlanta, several spots in Atlanta, Illinois, we’re five places there, Connecticut, Memphis, Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fort Worth, st. Charles, Louisiana.
Reggie: You started to spread out a little bit.
Eric: Yeah. Online retailers. You’re looking at cigar Federation carriers, what it sold out right now, but I just spoke with them anything about bringing us back in a cigar and a month thing that they’re doing. So, we’re negotiating that right now, and I’m working on small…
Reggie: Excellent. Excellent. All right, I love it. So, one of the things we always like to wrap up every conversation we have here stickmen. Our tagline is Puff Sip Chat Repeat. That’s what it, this industry, this lifestyle is all about. So, I want to hear from both of you, what’s your favorite puff? What’s your favorite sip? What you like to talk about when you kicking back with the fellas and having a stick and drinking.
Eric: You go.
Sheldon: Okay. So, as far as my favorite smoke other than Black Starline, myself, I love the Sun grown Habano.
Reggie: Okay.
Sheldon: You know, I mean, like Eric said, they’re all pretty much neck to neck, and I enjoy all three, but I get a lot of flavor out of the Sun grown Habano. In terms of others, I like my father, I definitely love Tabernacle, you know, I’m of Jamaican Heritage. So, when I see the band with [inaudible 11:57], it says something to me, it speaks to me. And very first time I had it, it was a very full body, and very powerful smoke. I mean, it left an impression. So, that’s something that I really kind of held onto.
Reggie: What was it that you were sipping on, because you had the cigar and the sip.
Sheldon: Actually, I had a cigar on itself. I normally pair, and that’s something that I like to bring to Black Starline is, you know, advice and pair. I’ve been drinking single malt scotch almost exclusively for about 25 years. I’ve gone through about two Hundred Bottles or more and I’m open—
Reggie: My hero, my hero.
Sheldon: I’m opening myself up a little bit more to Bourbons a little bit because, you know, they’re different profiles, but if you find the right one, it can work.
Reggie: That’s right. But nothing beats a good single malt.
Sheldon: Absolutely. Like I’ve recently become a big fan of Uncle nearest. You know, the drink itself, not to mention the story, it’s amazing.
Reggie: The story, you got to support, you have to support, that’s how I feel, anyway.
Sheldon: If I’m talking about my favorite top three, I’m going to go to different regions. Okay, because there are six regions. I love aisle, in terms of the smoke, pairs wonderfully. So you’ll have a Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte tin or a PC 10, very PD and it pairs so well with our Maduro stick, you know, it turns such a PD drink into virtually fruit juice, okay. The Spring bank and the [inaudible] region, the 15, that’s always been awesome, and I got to go back to space side, the down more is great. In the region, you also have long more, which is very hard to come by, but I can name all—
Reggie: I sense a bottle and our future .
Sheldon: Absolutely.
Reggie: You know, when you’re talking to people, what are you talking about, what’s your favorite type of the conversation? When you chat, what it’s about.
Sheldon: We’re from Chicago. So, I always like to bring up the Bears, I always like to bring up the White Sox. I’m also a huge—
Reggie: Sports fan.
Sheldon: Absolutely. I’m also a huge hip-hop. Okay, so, you know we get into the base, Eric and I will be talking for hours as to this artist versus that artist, you know, from the 90s era. So, we talked a lot about music, a lot about—
Reggie: I think I’m gonna hang with you guys, you know. I think I’m gonna stick around, I can get with that—
Sheldon: And it goes on, but the thing I’ve known Eric for 25 years, one of my closest friends, and we talk about anything and everything.
Reggie: I love it.
Sheldon: And we can always bring other people into the conversation.
Reggie: Well invite me and I’m there. Eric, Puff, Sip, Chat, Repeat, what you do man?
Eric: First puffing. A lot of people ask me that do I smoke my own cigars a lot of time. I don’t. That would be so boring if I did.
Reggie: I understand that, you got to mix it up a little bit.
Eric: Yeah, it’s hard for me to narrow them down because I smoked a bunch of stuff all the time. I tried not to smoke the same thing because I have a lot of cigars at home. So, a lot of time, I’ll smoke three times a day, as I had so many, so, I won’t smoke the same brand in like two weeks. But I could tell you recently, one of my favorite ones that I smoke recently was the HBC [inaudible] hacket. I thought that was very good. So, there’s agenor surprise. But yeah, other companies that I like, [inaudible], I love their stuff. Early on I was a big Jewish State fan. I still smoke with sometimes [inaudible 15:37].
Reggie: You got to give them some love.
Eric: Yeah. It’s too already on favorite of mine. So, I always revert back to that in some form of…
Reggie: Okay. And I hear you’re a single malt guy?
Eric: Yeah, that’s pretty much all I drink, I used to drink a lot of beer, but I don’t drink a lot of beer anymore. It makes me running to the bathroom.
Reggie: That’s right. You only rent there. (Laughs)
Eric: So, favorite is Scotch. It really does smoke better. Before—
Reggie: I didn’t always like the smoke, I didn’t have a good appreciation for it, but now, the lack of [inaudible 16:10].
Sheldon: Absolutely.
Reggie: I’m falling in love with it.
Eric: Yeah, it’s a good drink. Yeah, I had like eight, nine, twelve…
Sheldon: Eleven.
Eric: Yeah, sixteen.
Reggie: It can’t really go wrong.
Eric: Yeah, the nick [inaudible] is probably the better one to many, next to the 16.
Reggie: Next to the 16.
Eric: So, yeah, the Smoke are better, [inaudible 16:31].
Reggie: Smoke, scotch with… you know smoking stick, I love it. Are you a sport guy too?
Eric: I’m a sport era guy, like I don’t watch, like I was glancing at the TV while Sheldon was talking and I don’t recognize anybody on the TV. I think there was, I think they showed—
Reggie: But you should guys. I know you I know it’s all about the Bulls for you guys. Well, he’s the least used to be. You hated the bulls.
Eric: I’m a Magic Johnson fan.
Reggie: Okay.
Eric: But I got to say when I see the dolphins on TV. Even when I see the dolphins, I think a damn Marino. So, all the players I grew up looking at, really idolized those guys and when they retired, I retire with them. So, you know, Barry Sanders—
Reggie: It’s what you grew up watching that you fell in love with. Those memories man, sitting around with my dad. Just kicking and watching games. You can’t, they’re special.
Sheldon: And when you grow, you pretend you’re those players.
Eric: The 85 beers, I mean, I was literally on the edge of my seat like it was the first time I’m seeing the football, and I was more excited to watch the reruns of that stuff, then the actual lives.
Reggie: And some of those stuffs, even if you aren’t a badge fan, you had the logo.
Sheldon: You have to.
Reggie: And I love the teams back in the 80s, I was in high school, if feels like, man, that was crazy, you know, just watching the Fridge and the rest of the Bears
Reggie: Anyway, hey brother, I’m so glad to finally chop it up with you guys. I’m looking forward to kicking. I’m going to hang out here with you guys here with both sales tonight. Sheldon, Eric, Black Starline Cigars…. StickMenBlog. Check us out on our YouTube channel, follow us on Instagram, follow us on Twitter. Go to StickMenBlog on Facebook. Check us out and please support these brothers. We’re out. #Peace.
