We recently connected with Gerard And George Rasshard Brown and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gerard and George Rasshard, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I, Gerard Brown have partnered with my brother George Rasshard to launch a Premium Cigar Brand called BrownBoyz Cigars. Our mission is to not only build a legacy for our family, but to create a quality product that cigar smokers can enjoy. BrownBoyz started as just an idea, but has now turned into a full fledge family owned business. All the employees of BrownBoyz are family members as we are debunking the narrative that you should not do business with family.

Gerard and George Rasshard, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

George Rasshard – If I had to describe myself, I would say George prides himself on being able to provide for everyone around him. I guess we were middle class, fortunate enough to have both parents in the house, and my parents were parents of the entire block. Middle son of 3 brothers, hard working, loving, smart, witty, and charismatic. Husband and father of 3, along with 3 grand-daughters, a man of many talents and can do anything. I’ve been smoking cigars for maybe 15 years, and it’s the smell of tobacco that attracted me when selecting a good stick. Just wanting to smoke, my selected senses were a big part that pushed me in the direction of this business. I’m most proud of the fact that I get to work side by side with my brothers, my wife and mother, my sons and friends. When you’re doing something you love with loved ones, work is more like hanging out with the fam.

Gerard – For me, I’ve been an entrepreneur in some capacity since I was age 9, it’s always been in me. At an early age, I knew I was different, I knew I wanted to impact the world in a multitude of ways, and I’ve always gone about it fearlessly. I’m a product of 2 loving parents and the youngest of 3 boys. I’m a loving husband and a father of 2 boys and 1 girl. I grew up in a competitive, yet loving home, surrounded by innovative thinkers. I became a cigar smoker roughly 10 years ago when I was introduced to it by my brother and my business affiliate Law Mcgee and became infatuated with the cigar culture, It became a way of life for me. After many discussions, my brother and I sat down together to formulate a plan as to how we could create our own blend that would impact the cigar culture. I am most proud of being a family-owned business and the positive feedback that we receive from our clients. We want our current and potential clients to know that the quality of our product is the most important aspect of our business.

So far, we have been fortunate enough not to have any major issues. We did have one minor shipping issue from a client in California who stated he was still waiting on his box of BrownBoyz Cigars and the tracking info wasn’t giving him much, so our administrator traced the package. Being that Monday was a holiday, the mail was running two days behind. What do you know? He received his cigars that evening. Love those types of problems, Lol

What sets your brand apart from other brands? Most good cigar companies are family brands. Fuente, Montecristo, Meluha, etc. Like I said earlier, when you deal with family, things are different. The passion pours in. It’s personal, so you’re hands-on. It’s like a being a chef. It’s never over for the day until you see the reaction of that last satisfied client. I guess to make a long story short, we would put in the same passion even if we didn’t make a dollar. This is for the love of the game. We genuinely love what we do. Some entrepreneurs go into business because they saw an opportunity to make money, we went into business because we fell in love with cigars, the cigar culture and the opportunity to work with our family, the money is just a bonus.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy so far has been to trust the process and take everything day to day. Treat every client like they’re the only client. We believe in what we’re doing and that has translated over to our clients. Sticking with our process has been our most effective strategy.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Yes, we do manufacture our own cigars. My brothers college colleague became a cigar vendor, and through him, we met a guy that handrolls cigars. Started out smoking cigars and blending tobacco that we wanted to mix and try for ourselves. We threw my brother a Havana themed party for his 40th birthday. That night produced the iconic photo that is now The Brown Boyz logo. The biggest lesson we’ve learned so far when it comes to manufacturing is that the blend is everything. Not only do cigar smokers want to smoke a good cigar, but they want to know exactly what they’re smoking.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @brownboyzcigars

Image Credits

Stacie Brown – Director of First Impressions

Tyrique Brown – Director of Marketing