I got the opportunity to sit down with Maurice Mears of JM Patriarch Cigars, a relatively new kid on the block of the cigar industry. Starting 3 years ago in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, Maurice brings with him the inspiration of his great grandfather James, an immigrant from the Bahamas, and the passion of enjoying a good smoke. I had a great time talking to him and learning more about JM Patriarch Cigars and I hope you the reader will enjoy Maurice and his cigars as much as I have.

Tyler: So, Maurice Mears of JM Patriarch Cigars, how did JM Patriarch begin its journey in the cigar industry?

Maurice: Wow. So, it began as just a thought, you know? Just thinking, maybe, possibly, I could do it. I wasn’t really into doing it, but other people—friends and family—were saying, “You’re pretty into cigars, how about you start your own company?” And I was like, my own cigar company? Do you know how hard that is? But they kept telling me, “You should do it.” I kept thinking, I’m not going to do that.

What made me open my eyes was the pandemic. During the pandemic, you weren’t able to get cigars and sit down in the shops and lounges, and I had a little more free time. Every time I turned on the news, it was COVID numbers rising and dropping, and a lot of people were lost during that time. I thought, I want to make a mark, if I can make a mark doing something that I’m passionate about. I always had a passion for football, but when I looked into cigars, I loved the people, I loved everything about the industry, and just learning. And I thought, let me just try it out.

So, I went ahead and tried it. I started doing the research on getting your license, how you’re supposed to do this, and what’s the right way to do this. I actually had a mentor, T.K. Kennedy out in Miami. He did Stogie TV and has an event called Black Smoke that he does every February. I was trying to reach out to people, trying to get all the information that I could.

First, I thought, what am I going to call this cigar? Well, my family originated from the Bahamas, so my great-grandfather’s name was James Maurice Moss. He was a huge cigar guy. His favorite vitola was a lancero. The way he carried himself, everything he did, he always had a cigar in his mouth. He always just smoked cigars. And when my family looks at me, they always say I have the same mannerisms as him. It’s like being reminded of the past and of the cigars. So, I looked at it, and he migrated from the Bahamas to Miami, where he worked at an art gallery called Mueller Art Gallery in South Beach. He also did car detailing and rolled cigars too. He did all these things, and I was like, I’m gonna pay homage to him. So, let’s come up with a name. His name is James Maurice, my dad’s name is Maurice, my name is Maurice, and I have a son, and his name is Maurice. So, when we came up with the logo, it has four M’s and a J going through all the M’s, representing James, the patriarch of the family. That’s how I came up with JM Patriarch, in homage to my great-grandfather.

What’s next? Now we got to come up with a whole blend. How are we going do that, right? I got with a couple of factories and tried to get my first blend, a robusto 5×50, and I mean, it was a good thing that I came out with that. Because of the pandemic, we couldn’t go to shops. The thing that helped my business was social media. So, I was posting things about my cigars and the cigar industry. The people embraced it, started ordering my cigars, and people started talking, liking the cigars, and the sales were going up.

When that started happening, I was receiving emails and messages saying, “Hey, I’m in the Nashville area, and someone gifted me your cigar. I liked it a lot, and I want to be able to purchase them. I got some online, but I want to be able to purchase them at a shop.” So, it opened my eyes, and I thought I needed to start going to shops. Now we’re in thirty-three shops. Mostly, all the shops that we are in are from the factory. They tell me which locations and areas to reach out to, and I reach out to them, send them a sample, and go out and speak to the lounge owners. If they like the cigars, we bring them in.  It’s just such a blessing because last week marked only three years that we’ve been in the industry, and I never thought that all this would happen in three years’

I say this all the time: whether you want to make money or not in the cigar club, you got to be into this thing with more than just love and passion. It’s also about meeting the people from all over and enjoying the cigars. Not just because I own a company, but because I just like to smoke cigars. So, this is just the best thing—to be around people from different walks of life, and that’s what really helped jumpstart the business.

 Tyler: You played football with the New Mexico Lobos. You were operating at a very high and professional level.  How would you say your experience playing collegiate football translated into running a cigar brand? Were there any lessons from your time with the Lobos that assist you now?

Maurice: Sports have been great preparation for getting me into the cigar industry. You have to be more organized, better at sectioning your days off, and ready to handle both wins and losses. This is an industry where you have to grind, put your best foot forward, and give it one hundred and ten percent.

The thing I like about the cigar industry is that, just like football, the energy is one of friendly competition, right? You have companies all over trying to gain the trust and value of consumers. You can’t just get out there; you’ve got to have cigars that can perform. It’s just like going to the football field every Saturday and Sunday. You always have to stay ready and maintain the mindset to focus on the common goal. And you’ll get knocked down, but how you respond matters.

I learned a lot of that in football. You’re not gonna win every play, but how will you respond to the next play? I took that same mindset I had in football and brought it to the cigar industry. You’ve got all these great brands doing great things, and you want to make your mark. What are the things you can do that will put you into that circle, while still being original and having your own identity? That’s the challenge you have to face every day. A lot of people don’t want to go through the back and forth, the wins and losses. So, I guess football prepared me in many ways to have the mindset to break through some of the barriers and roadblocks you encounter.

And fun fact: my high school coach loves to smoke cigars. He used to smoke these full-strength cigars while we worked out in the weight room. So, I guess that really prepared me for the cigar world, for real.

Tyler: Looking at your webpage, I saw you’ve posted your philosophy on there.  “The philosophy is to put all our money into tobacco. If we focus on making great cigars, they will sell themselves.” How does JM Patriarch consistently uphold that philosophy?

Maurice: When it comes down to the blending process, well, when I came up with that philosophy, I thought about this: when I first started, I didn’t have nice boxes or nice bands. All I had to push was the cigar. So, I decided to spend all the money I earned on making a better product. Once we do that, everything else is going to fall into place. So, if I find a cigar blend that is excellent and great, I want to roll with it, I want to put money into it, I want to make sure it’s the best quality.

I’ve had cigars before that were in a beautiful box with beautiful bands, but the cigar itself was just okay. I don’t want to do that. I want to give my customers a good cigar and a good experience. When we first came out, we didn’t have the beautiful bands; we just had a matte red band. But it was still a good cigar. A good band is just marketing; we still have to have a great cigar. If we don’t have a great product, we’re doing a disservice to our people in the cigar culture, where we try to come out with the best.

“The philosophy is to put all our money into tobacco. If we focus on making great cigars, they will sell themselves.”

Tyler: And there’s something to be said about simplicity. Roma Craft, for example, doesn’t have any flashy bands, but they have good cigars. That’s what it comes down to—we’re here to smoke cigars. But now you have an eye-catching cigar band. They really are gorgeous and go well with a good stick.

Maurice: I appreciate it. Everything I do, I try to have a meaning behind it. That whole band is built around my grandfather. On the side of the band, you have a triangle that represents the Bahamian flag. My great-grandmother was from Cuba, so the stars are a way to represent her. There are two circles on the top sides, which represent the Bahamian seal. My grandfather loved boxing. He was a huge boxing fan, so we made the band resemble a championship belt.

Tyler: Which factory does JM Patriarch use for its cigars, and what were the key reasons for choosing that particular factory?

Maurice: The factory we use is MGE in Estelí, run by Miguel Pinto. He saw something in me that I didn’t see. When I was first working on my blend, I was with a different factory. And when I came out with that blend, Miguel saw my process and how I was doing things. He asked me what I was doing, thought I was bringing out a good blend, and asked if he could help. I told him I was just learning how to do stuff, and he was impressed that I had come up with all this on my own.

He took me under his wing and showed me a lot about how the industry works. Having that connection with him at the factory, being able to know everything from seed to plant, what goes into the blending, and the proper things to do when it comes down to marketing—it was like getting overall instruction on how to reach all my goals. And he’s giving me the actual opportunity to make all my goals and dreams come true.

I also went with him because I had more say in what went on with my product. Certain factories have a lot of big names, and you’re probably going to be treated the same way as some of those bigger brands. But here, being able to have more input into what I want to do, having a say in production, and being able to control the ideas I want to implement—being a small brand and having that opportunity to do it that way, I just had to go with them.

Tyler: Can you describe the process you use when selecting the tobacco for blending the cigars?

Maurice: Basically, when it comes down to creating a blend for cigars, I try to put myself in a certain emotion or place. Growing up in Miami, I used to walk home from school, and around the community, there were a lot of factories and lounges, and I experienced all the smells and aromas. So, when I’m coming up with blends, it’s like I want to paint a picture of how I felt at that time when it comes to the different kinds of tobacco and how they’re blended. I’m a big flavor guy, so when it comes down to selecting, I like to choose from a region like Nicaragua. I like the earth notes and profiles of sweetness. And I’m no big guru, but I tell them about the idea that I have, we come up with something, and I try to pick it apart and put things back together.

There’s just something about smoking a cigar and being able to come up with different blends. What helps bring it all together is being able to picture myself and ask, “What kind of emotion or experience am I trying to bring to this cigar?” That’s how I’m able to pick my blends that make it. I could have a cigar and it’s good, but maybe add a little something to it or maybe just a little bit of that.
Cause I didn’t know—I always thought, and correct me if I’m wrong, but when I first started, I thought people always had a blend sheet and that was just the blend. But the more I got into it, yeah, that’s the blend, but you have different types of ounces you use when you blend the cigar. People will tell me, “Don’t say what’s in your blend.” But with me, everything that’s in that cigar, you’re gonna know what’s in it. But you won’t know the ounces. I know that they put certain amounts of certain tobacco in there to get that flavor you’re going for, and that’s the beauty of it. But it takes time. When it comes to smoking them too, I like to smoke them in lancero or corona. Cause you get that good flavor, especially from the lancero. And if the Toro has the same kind of flavor as the lancero or corona, then I know I’ve got something special.

Tyler: So, having been immersed in the cigar culture for so long, could you share some of your fondest memories?

Maurice: Oh yeah, I’m gonna tell you about the first time I smoked a cigar. I want to say I was in middle school, sixth grade. We had an early release day. My buddy and I were released early at twelve, and his dad had this big wooden humidor. He asked, “You wanna smoke a cigar?” I thought, “What? I’m not gonna smoke a cigar.” But he said, “Come on, man.” So, I was like, alright, let’s try it. My buddy’s family was originally from Cuba, so nothing but hand-rolled cigars were in the humidor. He probably got in trouble; I know he got caught. So, he opens it up and gives me one, and my buddy gets one too. We didn’t know what we were doing, man. He had watched his dad do it, so my buddy is clipping it and stuff, not knowing that the cigars his dad liked to smoke were full-strength cigars. So, we light it up and smoke it; we’re coughing, and we don’t know what we’re doing. And I’m like, this is not that good. We kept on trying it. We didn’t even finish the thing. I’m so sick, in the bathroom just hurling, thinking, “I’m never gonna smoke a cigar again.” It was a horrible experience. And I thought, this can’t be real—I was sick, and I was a little bit buzzed too. My head was spinning, I’m hurling all over the place. It was not a good thing. But it’s funny now because we still smoke cigars.

Tyler: That’s one heck of an introduction to cigars!  Now that you know what you’re doing with cigars, what are some of your personal favorites to smoke?

Maurice: Oh man! I just had the CAO Mortal Coil. It’s got a black and gold band. That’s pretty good. I’m big on A.J. Fernandez; his stuff is great. He has the New World Dorado. I could smoke that all day. Nick’s stuff from Foundation, his stuff is really good. I have some buddies who get some good old Cuban cigars. I haven’t been to Cuba in a while, but when I go, I always get the Cohiba Siglo VI. I like the Magnums and the H. Upmann Corona. Fun fact about that—I wanna say it was JFK’s favorite cigar. I like some of Plasencia’s cigars too. There are so many good cigars out there, man.

Tyler: Do you have any exciting projects or new releases from JM Patriarch that you’d like to share with us?

Maurice: Right now, we’re working on a lancero. I want to do something, a real tribute to my grandfather. The lancero was his favorite vitola of cigar. We’ve got a good blend, but we’re trying to figure out if I should come out with a different blend. We’re working on that. We’re also thinking about doing a limited edition, something for the holidays. But to be honest, man, the industry is just doing so well, especially with Privada Cigar Club. I love how they do their stuff. Brian is doing an awesome job—just the passion. It’s to the point that everything he’s coming out with is big. Everyone’s looking out for him. The thing about it, and I have the same mindset, is he’s coming out with good stuff, and he’s not killing the customers’ pockets. He’s got a good twist on the market. I hope one day he picks up one of my cigars. Man, I just love what he’s doing, opening it up and having different people come into it. A lot of companies are nervous about it.

Many thanks to Maurice Mears for taking the time for the interview!  Follow JM Patriarch Cigars on Instagram @JMPatriarch, and visit their website for more information jmpatriarch.com

Tyler Steitz

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