Welcome to the Evil 3mpire Cigar 5ociety
So, outside of my “cigar life” with Cigar World, believe it or not, I do things outside of the cigar space. LOL. Well, I was at a tattoo convention in Milwaukee called Tattoo Fest (which is a really great festival run by an amazing group of brothers out of Fort Wayne, Indiana), and I met this dude whom I ended up chatting with for a decent amount of time. Come to find out that his uncle had this online cigar channel or something, so I did what I always do, and told him that I needed to meet him. And, this is how I met Joe Fiatoa.
Joe is great. He is friendly, easy to talk to and well spoken. I was able to connect with him via video chat, and learn more about this “online cigar channel,” he had. Let’s go back to COVID times in 2020…
Evil 3mpire Cigar 5ociety's Interview with Cigar World
Jean: Joe, what a small world! Your nephew was so nice. I’m glad he was able to introduce us.
Joe: Absolutely! It’s always fun meeting people in the cigar community, outside of the cigar community.
Jean: So, I know that like many cigar consumers, you dove deeper into your cigar interest during the COVID era, where we were spending so much more time at home. Tell us a bit about how this whole Evil 3mpire Cigar 5ociety started.
Joe: Well, it didn’t start out as what it is today. We actually just got a group of about 7 guys together to play poker every Thursday night at the local cigar lounge. It wasn’t specifically for the cigars, but it was a nice little add-on for us while we played poker and drank some bourbon. I have a background in B2B sales and thought it might be cool to see if a cigar company might want to help put together a prize package of sorts for a poker tournament we put on at the lounge. Lo and behold, a couple of very big-name brands actually sent us a whole box of stuff, including a nice humidor for the 1st place winner. As it relates to what things look like today, I had reached out to a few different brands about doing a live on Instagram together, and they obliged. Even sent a couple of cigars to smoke while we chatted. One thing led to another, and to this point, we have over 100 interviews and hangouts on our Instagram page.
Jean: You live in Wi, right? What part?
Joe: I’m in a mid-sized city about 30 minutes south of Green Bay called Appleton.
Jean: I have to ask then, so we can give your retailer a shout out, what is your favorite tobacconist to buy your sticks from?
Joe: From the beginning, we have always been about helping small businesses. So if we can buy from a local BnM, Appleton Cigar Co. in downtown Appleton is our go to.
Jean: Ok, and back to your story, there was something about the Dominican right? You went there and really fell in love with the craft of cigar rolling and such. You even went back to the DR for your wedding?
Joe: Yes! My girlfriend at the time (now wife), some family, and some family friends all took a vacation to the DR at an all-inclusive resort just because it sounded like a fun place to go. We absolutely fell in love with the culture, the people, and the whole atmosphere. When we first got there, though, we were greeted by some people in the lobby area, and they gave me a cigar. They had me hooked. We even got to tour a small rolling factory, which helped grow my fascination for cigars. My best friend ended up having a destination wedding a little bit later which made my wife and I consider one as well. We both instantly knew if we were going to do it, without a doubt, it was going to be in the DR.
Jean: So it all started with some photos on Instagram?
Joe: Yes, I already had an Instagram at the time, but never really used it. Out of boredom, I had started taking some pictures here and there of cigars I was smoking and posted them for fun. All of a sudden, they started getting more and more likes, and people started commenting. It was very interesting to me, and I started having more fun doing it.
Jean: And why the name Evil 3mpire Cigar 5ociety?
Joe: We liked Evil Empire, but we didn’t want to be just another “club,” so we chose Society instead to give it a little more bravado. The numbers in place of letters we just thought looked cooler.
Jean: Okay, then I know you said something about reaching out to different cigar brands like JC Newman. Why don’t you tell us about how this went?
Joe: Yeah, so they were actually the ones who helped us with our poker tournament, along with a couple of other brands like Nova Cigars. It was a complete shock when I got a response back saying they would be sending prizes for us to put in as packages for the tournament. Keep in mind, this is before knowing anyone or anything about the cigar industry or community.
Jean: Since that initial experience with JC Newman, you have had the pleasure of speaking with, interviewing, and working with different people in the cigar industry. Who are some of your favorites? I mean, other than me, obviously. LOL.
Joe: The entire Newman family are the epitome of what the cigar industry and community strive for. They are a part of that Rushmore of the cigar world for sure. But it would be impossible to say someone’s a favorite because I value every relationship I’ve made with every person I’ve come in contact with from this journey. Some people we’ve had on the show aren’t even in the industry. They’re just a part of the community which is another amazing aspect of all of this. We’ve made friends that turned into people I would now consider family. Some of them even came to our wedding in the DR and it was the first time we ever got to meet in person.
Jean: Do you have anyone who is on your bucket list to be on Evil 3mpire?
Joe: I would love to have Charles Woodson on. He’s a former Green Bay Packer player, so that alone would be fun for me, but he is actually also very into cigars and has his own bourbon line.
Jean: And is Evil 3mpire on any social media platforms other than IG?
Joe: IG is our only active platform we are on currently.
Jean: And you come from an IT background, right? Did that kind of help you with running your IG page?
Joe: Yes, I’ve worked in the IT space for over 10 years on the business to business sales side. IG has really done a lot to make the user experience pretty friendly, so there wasn’t a very big learning curve. Where it didn’t have a bit of a challenge was learning how to edit reels. That was more of a practice makes perfect thing.
Jean: What is your favorite cigar right now?
Joe: My go-to safe place when I don’t know what I want is anything Tatuaje. Pete has to this day, never steered me wrong. But recently I’ve been on a very big Crowned Heads kick. Shout out to Jon as well!
Jean: Do you have any rituals for your smoking experience? A particular drink you have when you smoke, music you listen to, time of day you smoke, etc?
Joe: Any time I have available to devote to enjoying a cigar is the ritual itself to me. For me, it’s the same type of therapy riding my motorcycle is. It gives me a few minutes to turn the world off and reflect on things. I do very much enjoy a good glass of bourbon with a cigar, though. If it’s not an alcoholic drink, I’ll go with Dr Pepper. Nick, who runs the Hard Ash Cigar Society, was the one who turned me on to it.
Jean: So what is next? What are you planning to do next with this venture?
Joe: For me I think I want to just make new friends and relationships. I’d love to go back to PCA again as well.
Jean: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me!
Joe: Of course, thank you for having me, it’s been fun!
Now that you have heard Joe’s story, make sure you follow his IG channel @evil3mpirecigar5ociety so that you can keep up with everything Joe has going on.
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