One of the exciting products we’ve reviewed here at TSRs is something called the CigarMinder®. This product is a game changer for cigar smokers who like to smoke on the go. We were fortunate enough to have Mr. Harold Heydt, the inventor of the CigarMinder, give us an interview to discuss his product. Below is a transcript of our conversation, cleaned up a bit for clarity of course, and we hope you’ll enjoy it. At the end of the text, we’ve embedded a video of our conversation if you’d prefer to sit back and watch Heydt discuss his revolutionary product.
The Square Reviews interviews Harold Heydt
TSRs: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Harold Heydt: My story is a real simple one. I walked away from actively working in 1990 due to a minor heart issue, semi-retired to Florida looking for things to do, and just was enjoying my golf. Until one day in 1997 when I had a Cohiba fall off the cart and land in a puddle. And literally I said to myself, “That’s not going to happen again.”
TSRs: So then what happened after that fateful day with the cigar accident?
Harold Heydt: It was the same day, literally 20 minutes after I got home, as I was walking into my house, I walked past my daughter, and she had a hair clip in her hair and I grabbed it out of her hair and said, “Gimme me that. I have an idea.” I took that hair clip and trimmed the sides and I fastened one end of the clip to the end of a metal paper binder, and I had a prototype for Cigarminder.
Fortunately for me, I had been playing golf with [someone who’s a] manufacturer in China. I picked up the phone, I called him. I said, “Bernie, I have an idea, will you work on it with me?” He listened to the idea. He said, “That’s a great idea. Let’s do it together.” And candidly, we shook hands on a deal in 1997 and haven’t changed that deal in 25 years.
TSRs: All on a handshake?
Harold Heydt: It took seven months to bring to market. The idea came up in February. The first one was sold in November.
TSRs: I think this is a wonderful product. You have some exciting news? You’re coming out of semi-retirement to talk to me today. Right? Because you’re busy.
Harold Heydt: That is correct. After running the company for 21 years, and reaching the tender age of almost 78, I decided it’s time to let somebody else do the work. So my children are running the business and they have come out with a new product. And that new product is a red, white, and blue CigarMinder.
TSRs: Okay, and I have seen the red, white, and blue CigarMinder on your website.
Harold Heydt: Our business model, because I was retired or semi-retired when we started this, our business model is to price our product accordingly so that distributors are comfortable selling it and can make a good markup on it. We could do better by selling on Amazon ourselves. However, we really don’t have the distribution capabilities to handle that and I made the choice years ago to let other people benefit as well. And just as I say, pass it along. We’re fortunate enough to make our margin on every piece that is sold. But there’s enough room in there for our distributors to do their job. And people still enjoy the product at a reasonable price.
TSRs: So we’re talking about distribution. I mean, how many units are we really talking about? How many people are minding their cigars out there in the United States, in the world? How many units have you sold so far?
Harold Heydt: We have sold 1.25 million pieces since 1997. Volume does grow each year.
TSRs: I think this is remarkable. You’ve got 1.25 million of these clips out there in the wild and this is something that you would clip to your golf cart. You would clip it to a camp table. You would clip this wherever you might be tailgating. I’m sure you hear fan stories…you must. What is the most interesting CigarMinder story that you have to share?
Harold Heydt: Well, I have a friend who was a fly fisherman, and he would put on his waders, walk into the water, find himself a position, light his cigar and clip his cigar to his rod with his CigarMinder, and just peacefully take it off, take a puff.
But honestly, the funniest story I can tell you about CigarMinder concerns myself. I was playing golf one day with people I did not know. And by coincidence, one of the people I was playing with had a CigarMinder. He watched as I clipped my cigar to my CigarMinder, to the post of the cart. And then I would take it off and smoke the cigar while it was in the clip. He turned around, he said, “You’re using that wrong.” I said, “Oh really? Did you invent it?”
It’s just a very versatile product.
TSRs: I think that’s very funny and it is a versatile product. You were talking about not pricing people out…What are these MSRPing right now if I wanted to buy one?
Harold Heydt: Current MSRP on CigarMinder is $9.95. However, that does not prevent our distributors from offering discounts for multiple purchases. I like that it’s a comfortable way of doing things.
TSRs: I have to agree, and that $9.95 price point is not crazy. It’s not Star Wars.
When I went shopping for a solution to holding a cigar on the go many many years ago, I bought two different apparatus and CigarMinder was one. I can’t tell you about the other one because I don’t remember, it was not interesting. It did not fit my needs. It didn’t work. I only bought one of these and honestly I need to go out and buy a few more because this is something that you want to keep in your vehicle or you want to keep in whatever bag of gear that you’re going to have where you might have a cigar. If you’re a camper, you might want to make this as part of your camping essentials next to a rain poncho and a pocket knife.
Harold Heydt: We were concerned with the design, as to whether or not the clip would successfully hold on to a golf cart while the golf cart was moving. So when I received the first prototype CigarMinder, I clipped the cigar on it. I clipped it to the roof rack of my car and I drove 90 miles an hour. CigarMinder did not move. I knew that the product was going to meet its goals.
TSRs: And the clip, it’s aggressive enough to hold on to just about everything that I’ve clipped it to. And it’s not so aggressive that it’s going to mar things. I wouldn’t exactly clip this to my dining room table – and by all means, if you want to do that you can – but the point being is this hasn’t damaged anything. Nor have I had this fly off of whatever I’ve clipped it to.
And I thank you for your time here today to talk to me about CigarMinder. Is there anything else that you want to pitch or talk about with your product or going forward? What’s new after red, white, and blue? Or is this it?
Harold Heydt: We added colors after 15 years. And seven years after adding colors, we’re now adding red, white, and blue. Just it’s hard to conceive of CigarMinder being a collector’s item, but at the same time, it would be nice to think that people want to own each of the five colors. And we do feel that red, white, and blue is going to do nicely.
TSRs: No, I think so too. And correct me if I’m wrong, you are a Vietnam veteran, correct?
Harold Heydt: Yes, I am a Vietnam veteran.
TSRs: And I just want to say, “welcome home.” And, “thank you for what you do.”
Harold Heydt: When you say that John…I just participated in something called an Honor Flight, where veterans are taken to Washington DC for the day. In the case of Vietnam veterans like myself, they received the homecoming we never had. And, oddly enough for me, my honor flight was 56 years to the day that I returned from Vietnam and got out of the army. So it was really emotional for me. And I was fortunate enough to have my daughter join me on it.
TSRs: Well, Harold, welcome home. And thank you for what you do.
I did get to catch an Honor Flight once coming in, in Boston…for returning veterans, and it’s a very impressive, warm homecoming. So I’m glad that you got to participate in that, even if it was 56 years too late.
Harold Heydt: Well, thank you again. I must say, we switched the subject, but it is gratifying to have people saying thank you for your service after all these years.
TSRs: Absolutely. And thank you again for the wonderful product and for your time out of your schedule.
Where can people find you and your company, so that we can plug everything and people can get their hands on their own CigarMinder?
Harold Heydt: www.cigarminder.com
Editor’s Note: We’d like take this opportunity to thank Mr. Harold Heydt for giving us his time to participate in this interview. If you have not had a chance to read our full review of the CigarMinder, please be sure to! To purchase your own CigarMinder, head over to their homepage or get yours over at Amazon today. You can view the video of our conversation in the embed below.
