We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Mcclurkan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I’ve worked a lot of different jobs over the years. I have done everything from cowboy to IT to being an executive at a company with hundreds of billions in their portfolio. Out of all the skills I picked up and years of experience I learned one unavoidable truth. We’re all expendable. As soon as the political winds change, you can go from being a “critical asset” to “no longer necessary” in a matter of days.

For years I thought I needed to follow the rules and believed the BS lines they fed us in school. Get your degree, climb the corporate ladder and be a “success.” I gave up on the cattle and wildlife I loved, taught myself everything I needed, and climbed that ladder. The money was good. The perks were nice. I hated every minute of it. I missed too many important moments with my family. I got fat and old. Then, after over 10 helping run a successful business, I got laid off again. They decided to bring in some new executives that wanted their own people to run things. That was the turning point.

That second layoff is when I finally said, “Screw it. It’s time to do something for us.” I still had to have a day job, but in that year I was laid off we started pushing to make our company a reality. I took the retirement that hadn’t been wiped out from various struggles over the years, flew to Honduras, and started working on our first cigar blend. It was, and still is, pretty terrifying. But I had a dream of something I had wanted to do for a long time. Now, it’s turning into something I can not only enjoy and be proud of, but something I can do for and with my family. As scary as that huge risk is, it’s absolutely worth it.

Mark, 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?

My name is Mark McClurkan and I’m the owner of CATI Cigar Company. We’re a Texas based company that makes and distributes boutique cigars. I can sit here all day and talk about how cigars bring people together and the art and science behind cigars and all of it would be true. But the real reason behind the company being here today is that I got sick of doing something I hated just to make other people rich. So, I started doing something I love and that I could share with other people, even if I ended up losing my ass on it.

I had smoked premium cigars for years. I smoked a lot of great cigars and a lot of really bad ones. In that time, I developed a passion for the tobacco, the process involved in making cigars, the community built around that bundle of leaves, and the peace the ritual of smoking cigars brings. It became a huge part of my life. I talked about getting into the industry for years. Finally, we hit a point in our life that my wife basically told me to put up or shut up. There isn’t much you can say to that. So, that’s when we started CATI.

When we decided to finally take that step we knew we wanted two things. First was to make something beautiful. I didn’t want to go in and just buy a blend from a cigar factory and slap a label on it. We wanted to blend something from start to finish that would reach people from every walk of life. The second thing we wanted to do was to honor our family and heritage. To do that we had to not only make an excellent product, but to tell our story through our branding. With that in mind we were very intentional with every decision we made.

Everything from the company name and blend names to the packaging and vitolas we produce is an acknowledgement of our heritage. The name CATI is short for “Come and Take It.” We chose that because we are Texans to the core. Our family fought the Texas Revolution and we have been here ever since. The first flag of the revolution was the Gonzalez Flag which contains the phrase “Come and Take It” with a cannon and star emblazoned on the flag. That’s where our name comes from (CATI – Come And Take IT). Our logo is two C’s for the company name with six stars representing the nations that ruled over Texas with a lone star in the center. We even make a vitola in the shape of the cannon from that flag.

For our blend names you’ll notice they’re a mix of numbers and letters. Each of those represents a family member. Our inaugural blend is the PR-49. That one is named after my dad. Phillip Ray, born in 1949. If you look at the band on the PR-49, you’ll notice a pumpjack representing Burkburnett, TX, the boomtown where he was born. The secondary band on each cigar has a QR code on it that takes you to our blend page where you can learn not just about the cigar, but about the family member the cigar is named after. Our second full blend will be the BB-52 named after my mother. Her band is set to feature the Fort Worth skyline, along with other elements of the city’s history.

Having that direct link in everything we do has made a big difference not just in our mindset, but in our products. We want what we do to honor our family in the best way possible. That’s a pretty hard target to shoot for and it comes through in everything from blends and branding to the care we take in aging, storing, and getting our products to retailers. Plus, if I make something half-assed and named it after my dad, my mom would eat me alive. For the record, I would highly recommend against ticking off a Southern mom.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

When we started this adventure, I thought I knew a fair bit about tobacco, cigars, and the process involved. Honestly, I was completely wrong. Regardless of how many factory tours I had done, people I had talked to, and all of the books I had read and brand owners I had gotten to know, I was and still am pretty clueless. To tell you the truth, the more I learn the more I understand that what I don’t know could fill volumes. No one can learn it all in a lifetime. Cigars and tobacco are just too intricate. That’s why we made sure that we were working with truly excellent people. The fact that I’m usually one of the more clueless people in the room is an absolutely joy, because I get to keep learning about something I love.

Once we got serious about this project, I started reaching out to people I knew that had strong contacts in the industry. Thankfully, a dear friend and owner of Industrial Cigars in Frisco, TX helped me make the right contacts to move in a positive direction. Dave Frakes and I talked about several cigar brand owners and I worked with a couple of them for a while on getting the project going. Then, he made a call to Sebastien Decoppet and things really started falling into place. Sebastien had recently opened his own factory and not only had the capacity to work with us, but was willing to take on a new brand that was going to need help. Today, our cigars are being made at Sebastien’s factory, Fabrica Centroamericana de Tabaco in Honduras. Without the absolutely amazing team at FCT and our friends at Industrial, we wouldn’t be here today.

I say all of that to point out that one of the most important things you can do is to build real, lasting relationships with people that know more than you. It’s the only way to be successful. Having that sounding board and someone to teach you and give you some guardrails is absolutely critical for a new business.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I looked at a lot of different avenues for funding the company. I wrote business plans, talked to banks, researched grants, worked with the SBA, and even looked at some alternative sources for start-up capital. All of that effort resulted in being told that the tobacco industry was high risk and the banks and most grants wouldn’t touch us, just because we dealt with tobacco. The SBA and other sources told me that they had programs for minorities and women, but that I didn’t qualify. Even so-called startup loans were declined because they wanted us to have two years of positive revenue before they would consider lending us money in this industry. In the end, funding the business turned out to be pretty simple. We took what little bit we had saved after life’s random accidents, cashed it in, and risked it all on a small business. Looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The sweat, the tears, the absolute terror, and even the occasional temper tantrum were all worth it. We’re not only still here, but we’re growing and it’s all ours.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.caticigarco.com
• Instagram: @caticigars