Alec Bradley Prensado

About

Alec Bradley may be a household name in the cigar world after the success of their Tempus and Prensado cigars, but their journey to the top was anything but easy. Alan Rubin started his career at his father's company and helped steer the family business to broader success and ultimately to a big payout when they sold the company. But his father wasn't a cigar blender from a Cuban family. No, he was a hardware wholesaler from Florida who specialized in selling screws to cabinet makers: Alan decided to focus on selling hurricane fasteners after Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida, greatly expanding the business. Alan used his proceeds from the sale to open up his own cigar business, having fallen in love with cigars over a decade earlier when he was in his early 20s. He named the company after his two sons, Alec and Bradley, hoping to make them proud. There was just one issue: he started selling cigars in 1996, at the height of the cigar boom and right before the bust. Alan discovered that he had entered a glutted market filled with too many cigars and too few customers. It was difficult for him to even find a supplier to produce his cigars because there was so little room for a new blender in the market. His first cigars were mild-medium budget sticks meant for golfing, called Bogie Stogies. The other issue which quickly became apparent was that people outside Alan's native Florida didn't golf year-round. He found himself sinking into debt with little hope in sight. Then in 2000, Alan's fortunes changed. He brought in Ralph Montero in as his business partner and Ralph helped the business broker a deal with the factory behind Davidoff cigars to produce a new line for Alec Bradley. Alan spent his remaining cash reserves on 500 samples of the new cigars, dubbed Occidental Reserve, which he sent out to retailers around the country. His gamble paid off: 300 of the retailers came back with an order for more cigars. Alec Bradley was finally on the map. Four years later, Ale