Interview with Sebastien Decoppet, the story of Cavalier Genève cigars. Determination, sorrow, and dreams.

Sebastien Decoppet

I can say with my hand on my heart that you will have to look for a more down to earth and wholehearted person and family and I have a hard time believing you will find it. I identified with Sebastien’s way of thinking and living far too much for it not to be laughable in retrospect.

The story behind Cavalier of Geneva tells of courage, passion, dreams, dedication, blood, sweat, tears and love that you only see on film. An inspiring story that shows that dreams can come true and true love doesn’t just exist in movies.

When I had the honor of interviewing Sebastien, I was not prepared for where the interview would lead.

Table of Contents

This is the story of Cavalier cigars and the people who inspire.

I’m going to skip ahead a little in history (just a little bit). But it stuck in my heart. Job duties that are rarely shown or highlighted outwardly put Sebastien on a pedestal and elevated the importance of each person as if they were family. All persons have great and equal value. Every work task should be celebrated and appreciated. Parts that I rarely see are displayed externally. This part stuck with me, it goes along with my thinking.

Personally, I think society today is too ego centered and appreciation is too rarely shown in that way to people around you. More on this later.

Cavalier Genève White Series band and golden diamond

Where the interest began. A personal crash that changed Sebastien’s life.

Sebastien, who was born in Geneva, worked at a regular 9-5 job and like most of them at a young age (20-25) he was searching for the meaning of his life and what gives him peace. Already at the age of 17, he moved out from his parents and started working. Studies were not for him. In your early 20s, you are lost in yourself and your surroundings. On several occasions he had passed a cigar shop in the center of town and hesitated to enter.

– At one point i just said – fuck it, I’ll try and see if it’s something for me. That cigar changed my life without me even knowing it at the time. After that – Fuckit day, my evenings after work were filled with a cigar and thoughts about life. I, who find it hard to find interest in reading and get bored quickly, started reading everything I could get my hands on about cigars, I visited various shops to buy cigars from different brands and traders trying to find new lessons but i learned quickly that in Europe knowledge about the cigar makers was very limited at that time. But I had a longing to learn more. (Some would certainly describe his behavior as obsession, I would say it was a strong passion that drove him). During the period, dissatisfaction with my life grew and I crashed a bit in existence. I knew I would never be happy with my life unless I did something drastic.

A desire to follow his passion grew in Sebastien and he did not want to remain in the “squirrel wheel”. (I can probably say with the greatest probability that the squirrel wheel is safe and to some extent comfortable, but I think it prevents people from reaching their dreams because of the fear of what happens outside of it. The courage it took to do what he did next is something many envy and wish they had)

Thoughts grew and one thought that weighed heavily for Sebastien was

– I don’t want to look back on my life and say what if. Life was not at all what I imagined. My passion made me make a drastic move to follow my dream and to see if my passion was as strong as it was. I sold all my assets to get a budget, the car, furniture yes everything I could and headed to the travel agency. My thought was to go to the Dominican Republic or Cuba at first, but he at the travel agency gave me the tip to go to Honduras thanks to the storms that were currently prevailing in the areas. Honduras was one of the places I had intended to visit last on my list.

Sebastien booked a one-way ticket to Honduras without knowing when he would return home or what awaited him in Honduras. The only thing he knew was that he had to see if the passion for cigars was as strong as he felt. He wanted to know if it was such a strong passion that he wants to work and make a living from it or not.

Welcome to Honduras – fuck this, it was a mistake, i will smoke a cigar and go home.

Tegucigalpa

When Sebastien arrived in Honudras, it all began as a nightmare journey.

– I had packed 2 bags with me with my clothes and accessories, when I had landed in Tegucigalpa half of my luggage was gone, one bag had disappeared, explained Sebastien as if the incident had happened yesterday.

To make things better, he asked where the train went to Danli and learned then that there was no such thing only buses and not of the best kind as we know them in Europe. We never went into the 4-hour bus journey in depth, but I understood it as a pure nightmare journey.

– After three days in the hotel trying to sort everything out, I went out to the central park in Danli to have a cigar. I had not smoked a cigar since I had left Switzerland and my thoughts only grew that I had made a big mistake and should go home. It just felt like fuck this. Everything from the planning of my trip had gone wrong, I wasn’t in the country I intended to start with, my belongings at home are sold and my luggage is gone and I don’t know the language explained Sebastien who at that moment in time had doubted his decision.

Sebastien who doesn’t have a Honduran appearance stood out pretty quickly from the crowd and people wondered what he was doing there. Either you tend to be there for cigars at that time or for some sort of religion related work. A silver Toyota pickup stopped by Sebastien and a man came walking towards him. The man started talking to Sebastien and Sebastien explained why he was there and asked for tips. The man Sebastien spoke to was none other than Adin Perez who is related to the Plasencia family and had his own factory at the time. Helping others if you can was explained to me by Sebastien is part of the culture and the people’s thinking. Being used to the European culture where you can’t ask for help without knowing someone, I was a bit shocked when he explained what happened next. Sebastien explained with great passion and joy how the culture and the country work, although many around the world see the country as a dangerous place, there are dangerous places wherever you are in the world. It’s not good to walk around wearing flashy expensive things with the risk of being mugged, but if you avoid the wrong hangouts and areas you’ll be fine. He didn’t speak ill of those who did it either, the explanation I got was that they are acting out of desperation and that they have no other choice to cope. In the heart and culture of the people there is a sense of helpfulness where if you can you will help people who are worse off than yourself or those who really need help.

The luck turned, It was meant to be

Sebastien standing and talking to Adin at the park asked for advice and got an offer he couldn’t refuse. I don’t know if it has to do with the culture or if Adin heard a passion in Sebastien’s quest that made Adin offer Sebastien to accompany him to his factory and then later to the Plasencia factory and take him under his wing. As I understood, Adin was eager to teach Sebastien. Once Sebastien arrived at the factory, there were lots of people there, even Nestor Plasencia himself, and Sebastien was lucky enough to meet him on the first day at the factory. During the coming year, the days were long and hard, Sebastien took every second of his time and worked at the factory from 06:30 to 18:30. Working for free in exchange for learning, Sebastien went from job to job to learn all he could.

– It was a tiring and instructive year, where I got to learn underrated tasks that you don’t usually see and appreciate. To this day, I can’t put 4500 – 5000 bands around a cigar which is the usual production for an employee. Who wants to buy a cigar that doesn’t look good no matter how well rolled it is? Or how do you get a good cigar if you don’t know how to take care of the soil before the seed is planted. I, who could not speak Spanish, learned there over time and my colleagues explained to me time and time again from different points of view how to do the tasks. The Honduran helpfulness was always there and I always got the help I needed.

The first months I lived in a hotel and in the evenings after work I had a few beers. I guess I had to learn the hard way which restaurant to eat at or not. One night by chance I visited a restaurant that was new to me, run by an American called Billy.The restaurant visit further changed Sebastien’s future, bringing him to meet one of his best friends and a cornerstone in Cavalier of Geneva’s history.

– I hadn’t been in Honduras very long before I found the restaurant and was relieved to be able to speak a little English, a language I knew. In Danli, there are not many people who know the language and Billy knew a person who used to come in every now and then who spoke English and was eager to speak the language with someone.

The two guys became good friends and one night he took Sebastien to a bar owned by a for me in Cavaliers history is almost legendary. The person who owned the bar is a central part of Sebastien’s and Cavaliers future from here on out.

The bar visit that changed Sebastien’s life and gave him the foundations for the life he has today.

At the time, tattoos were easily associated with crime, not philosophy, and although Honduras was one of the largest cigar-producing countries, the cigar-smoking culture itself was surprisingly small and smoking was almost unheard of. Inside the bar, Sebastien got to know David Rojas. Sebastien described David as a big, bearded, tattooed, intelligent, kind, philosopher, aesthetically inclined guy with an interest in cigars. On one hand he had Carpe Diem tattooed. A strong contrast to the culture he lived in. Sebastien and David quickly became friends and spent much of Sebastien’s time outside the factory together. David and his girl tried to introduce Sebastien to a mysterious girl and the mysterious girl to Sebastien. You could say that the interest was mutual, Sebastien who had his head in cigars hardly gave it a chance and the girl had no interest in a Swiss guy. Time passed and one day after work Danilo (a cigar roller that had changed carrier) said they would have a beer and cigar after work. When he got to the pub, the mysterious girl from before was sitting there with Danilo, that’s where the story of Sebastien and Eylin began. A magical journey filled with struggle, devotion and dreams. Without Eylin, I don’t think we would have been able to smoke Cavalier cigars today.

Sebastien and Eylin Decoppet

The money ran out and it was time to go home

Sebastien, who had sold all his assets and learned for a year, began to run out of money and had to go home to Switzerland. One night at a New Year’s party, Adin came to Sebastien and said if you want to do something we will help you. It was the beginning of the cigar that we know today as the White Series. Sebastien looked at one of David’s paintings and wanted to buy it to use as a brand on his cigars. It was a Cavalier (in French horse keeper) David wanted to give it to Sebastien for free and said that as long as it is seen all over the world he is satisfied. Not getting paid for his hard work was something Sebastien could not accept, David did not want to accept money and Sebastien did not want to let the hard work go unpaid. You can say that in the early days there was neither a name for the company nor a band around the cigars. The will of both men to help the other clashed. Sebastien, who along with Eylin regretted leaving his girlfriend, heard the words of encouragement from David before he left, – Sell your cigars and come back. With the goal of selling his then unnamed cigars in Europe and getting to go back to his friend and girlfriend, Sebastian set out on a journey home with stronger goals than before. What he didn’t know as he sat on the plane was that one of the toughest periods of his life had just begun.

Grief and Puzzle pieces that fell into place

When we got into this part of Sebastien’s story, I felt how deep the grief was, how you can honor a person who was close to you and changed your life, how a person can give a last push even if they are not there and how love can be deep. With only a few unbranded, nameless cigars, Sebastien landed in Switzerland again with a strong goal. The time in Honduras had confirmed his passion and cigars were something that was close to his heart. – I lived back in Switzerland with family, lived on the coins I had left and bet everything on my dream. I went around to all the old cigar shops I used to visit before with the goal of selling my cigars. Even if I succeeded, unfortunately I could not afford to have quality control in Honduras and what made it even more difficult was that no one remembered my cigars even though they liked them. Instead of searching, many times they went back to their old recognizable cigar brands. The money started to run out for my investment and the customers became dissatisfied. One morning I woke up with lots of text messages from friends in Honduras and my world stopped. David had been in a tragic car accident and had passed away. That day made me think a lot about everything from heaven to earth. I thought of what David had said, sell your cigars and come back, show my painting to the world. Unable to let go of my friend, I decided to use the painting as my logo and named the brand after the image in honor of my friend. Cavalier means horse keeper in French. He wanted the picture to be seen worldwide and today I can proudly say that his picture is seen in more than 40 countries.

Art by David Rojas

Quality control and unconditional love

– My dream was falling apart and my finances forced me to move back in with my parents. For months I never left the house unless it had something to do with the cigars. I couldn’t even afford a coffee along the way. Being so far from my girlfriend didn’t make things any easier. Eylin who was still in Honduras offered to do the quality checks for me. She didn’t want anything from me. She had a full time job as a teacher and after work she made factory visits to ensure my deliveries, she had to walk long distances from the box maker to the factories where the cigars were rolled. Unfortunately my money was not enough for her to take a taxi and her finances did not allow her to do anything but live on. Without her toil, we might not have had the Cavalier of Geneva today. There is no direct translation of what they called her in the factories, the closest I can come is Bitch. She was just picky and wanted to make my dream a reality. Her toil was not for finances, it was out of pure hearted love. Her diligence with quality control and David’s painting allowed us to deliver cigars to customers that they could remember and enjoy. You can say in short, Eylin worked with Cavalier of Geneva in Honduras while I sat and worked in Switzerland.

Eylin Decoppet

An unexpected plane ticket as a gift, dreams that are chased, one last drastic change

Sebastien hadn’t left his parents’ home for several months or even for that matter had a coffee with friends because the money wasn’t enough and Eylin was still in Honduras. – Despite all the quality controls and the brand, it took time to get the Cavalier of Geneve up to speed. The quantity we sold was not the largest. But the dream remained. I hadn’t left the house or seen Eylin for almost 9 months, one day my parents came to me. They knew my situation and told me that they wanted to buy a plane ticket to Eylin so that we would have the chance to meet again. They gave the two of us the chance to finally reunite. Shortly after, Eylin came to me in Switzerland and stayed by my side. We lived with my parents for two years to get on our feet and had a common goal. The money had finally started rolling in from the cigar sales and we decided to buy one of Geneva’s oldest cigar shops. Every income we reinvested in the store. The day came when we could finally move out from my parents and get our own home in Geneva, but the move never took place. Our goal with Cavalier of Geneva was too big. Instead of choosing the safe life with a home in Geneva and the store, we chose to move to the United States. – Gaining momentum in sales in the US is too difficult when you are not there, it was our last drastic change in our life in the pursuit of following the dream. We did our research and got on the plane. A few years later the store was sold after my father’s passing who took ownership of the store after our leave.

In honor of his late father (1956 – 2021) Created Sebastien The Domaine Rouge series. The cigar is part of the inner circle line

We succeeded but it was tough.

– Even though we had a tough time at the beginning, we were able to drive sales more easily when we lived in the US, participate in events to attract potential customers. At first we were close to being bankrupt again thanks to the investment we made, we took every coin we had to invest in trade shows and advertising before we got the sales going but it wasn’t easy. While other brands could take time with their customers for lunch, we couldn’t always afford to eat out with our prospective customers. But I think they respected us considering that we were transparent about it. We had a goal and never gave up on the dream that one day it would be profitable. With every coin we invested and event we participated in, our clientele and sales increased slowly but surely. We are proud of our achievement and to be able to say today that Cavalier of Geneva has cigars in over 40 countries with its own factory in Honduras with over 100 employees.

During our conversation, we repeatedly touched on the weight of all employees in the factory. I noticed the appreciation he had for each individual’s contribution. You noticed that it was not a job, but a passion he has for the whole profession in itself. One thing that I feel is unique is that every time he hires someone, for example a salesperson, one of the requirements is that they work at least a short period at the factory before they start selling. The idea is that he wants the employees to appreciate the importance of each individual and that they are like a family. Without someone to plow the soil and plant seeds, there is no tobacco, without someone to roll the cigars, there is no product, without someone to put the band around the cigar and package, customers will not want to buy the product, without a seller, there is no point in planting the tobacco . It is a circle of cooperation that should be appreciated.

The golden diamond

You become fascinated when you sit with a Cavalier of Geneve cigar in your hand. The golden diamond attached to the cigar not only adorns the cigar when it is unlit, but also gives the ash an extra touch of elegance. On a quest to make the cigars stand out a little extra, Eylin gave Sebastien the idea of the gold leaf. It took a few weeks of thinking before they decided to give it a try. The journey to get the golden diamond on the cigar was a long one and is in itself a craft worth celebrating. The gold is classified to be used for, among other things, food. It is a laborious and detailed job. Imagine a chef sprinkling some gold on food in a five-star restaurant or putting it in a drink. It’s child’s play compared to what they do with the cigar. If you’ve ever held a gold leaf like that, you know how fragile it is and that the tiniest bit can make a tear and destroy the gold. Each diamond is cut by hand without a template, applied slowly and carefully with precision to exactly where it needs to be without creating creases or air bubbles that can ruin the gold. This detail alone, I think, shows the incredible craftsmanship behind Cavalier of Geneve cigars.

The gold diamond on Cavalier Genève black Series

When you make a new blend, what do you think about?

– For me, the most important thing is that it has meaning. The day things stop having meaning, that day is when you should quit. I want to tell a story with my cigars. We can take two cigars as an example. White series started with a dream to sell own cigars and own blends, but also became a way to honor my friend David Rojas, I created the Domain Rouge cigar in honor of my father who passed away. Everything you do in life should have a meaning.

What is Sebastien’s best advice for those who want to follow their dreams?

1. The dream must have a strong meaning for you and be like a goal in life you can’t stop thinking about. Then you know it’s a dream worth following.

2. If the dream is so big that you feel it is worth going through painful periods, then it is a dream worth following.

3. You should never care about what others say and think. Those who are negative and do not support you are those who themselves do not dare. Those who have followed their dreams at some point will support you and give you positive criticism. They know that there will be tough times, but that the reward is much greater when you reach your goal.

I have to say that I have long been fascinated by the exterior appearance of Cavaliers.

When you look on Instagram, you see an abstract painting on a tobacco leaf that makes you think of reggae, while in other pictures the family looks like punk rock and sometimes you see Sebastien in a suit. Sebastien explained it a bit like bipolar, one day they feel like having one style and the next another. That you should dare to be yourself and do what you enjoy at the moment. It doesn’t matter what others think, what you yourself enjoy is what matters. He explains it as almost bipolar, but I would like to say that they are themselves. They stand for being yourself and not someone outwardly that others expect. A lesson I not only think you should keep in mind, but also teach to children. The only one that is important to be happy with is yourself. If others judge you for your exterior, without talking to you, then they should work on their interior.

What was extra interesting was his down-to-earth attitude and manner. When we spoke it was not like an interview, but like a conversation with a close friend. What I mean is that even though we were talking about the Cavalier of Geneva and him, we went into my life and he showed interest. Many people in all industries want to brag and bring out everything positive from themselves, his way of being is to show interest in those around him. A way of caring for others. I think Cavalier of Geneve is a premium brand made for everyone.

I want to thank you Sebastien from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story. It was an incredible honor for me to be a part of it. For me, the story of Cavalier Geneva shows that dreams can come true if you dare to follow them. I hope and believe many will be inspired to follow their dreams.