business scope
Retail Tobacconist, Nat Sherman
Lindsay Heller was born to work with cigars. The only female tobacconist in New York City, Heller was raised in a family where most of the men were cigar and pipe smokers and it had a profound influence on her. “I always wanted to emulate my grandfather, he’s a cigar smoker. So when I turned 18, I said I want to be like Papa, so I’m going to smoke cigars,” she says with a laugh.
Heller was intrigued with cigars and delved deeper into the particulars of becoming a cigar aficionado. “If I’m curious about something, I dive in headfirst and try to learn all there is to know about it. The more I learned, the more interesting experiences I had with tobacco,” she says.
Heller is a retail tobacconist for Nat Sherman, and takes pride in her ability to transmit knowledge to customers looking to learn more about cigars. She explains that one particular misconception about cigars leads people to make poor choices. “Some people [believe] ‘the bigger the cigar, the stronger the cigar, [so] the more manly I am.’ [But] every time they’re smoking, they’re ill, and that’s because they’re smoking the wrong type of cigar for their palate,” she says.
As a tobacconist, Heller isn’t just a cigar expert — she also works with high-end tobacco accessories and cigarettes. “My international work comes from the fact that I speak more languages than I really need to know — I’m learning my eighth,” says Heller, who also provides tobacco products for Nat Sherman’s international and celebrity clientele.
But regardless of the customer, Heller loves to share her expertise. “[Clients] are equipped with more knowledge … to make informed decisions on their own so that they’re always having this pleasant experience.” –todd williams
