Pleasure, friendship and sharing...
These Cigars Are So Fashion: Ferruh Karakaşlı
JANUARY 2019
I had the first conversation of the new year with Ferruh Karakaşlı, who, due to his busy schedule, had the opportunity to get together with Ferruh Karakaşlı, who had the opportunity to learn a lot about both smoking and cigars.
Ferruh Karakaşlı… many of us know him for his success in the clothing industry. At first, it was an Austrian adventure with the White store, then the Edward store, which was a joint venture with Rahmi Koç, then his own custom sewing brand and finally his entry into the ready-to-wear sector.
However, the conversation I had with Mr. Ferruh was not only about the clothing industry, but also about Mr. Ferruh's entrepreneurial spirit and his orientation to different sectors. Ferruh Bey, after the ILP - Leadership and Performance Training, which he recently graduated in London, adopted the famous Otaku philosophy and set sail to different seas without braking himself. One of them is Dine and Pay Mobile Restaurant application, which is partnered with Cüneyt Ortan and Enver Eren. It is an application where users can make reservations at national and international restaurants and also make their payments via their phones. They also linked a loyalty program with points under the name of PINS to the application, in which you can spend your points at national and international member merchants.
Of course, all of these are nice, but what was the reason Ferruh Bey crossed paths with El Lector? Another new initiative of Ferruh Bey that interests us closely is the cigar industry, which he has been in for only a year. He introduced a cigar to the market, under the name of Ferruh Karakaşlı, as in clothing, in a joint effort with Germany's famous Dalay Cigars. The cigars, which are on sale in 3 vitola, Vienna (4 x 42), London (4 x 60) and Istanbul (6 x 60), are produced in the Dominican Republic. The wrapping leaf of the cigar is San Andres in Mexico, the vineyard leaf is Indonesian Sumatra, and the filling leaves are Nicaraguan and Brazilian tobaccos.
Ferruh Bey met with the cigar at the restaurant he visited in Austria 20 years ago. The owner of the restaurant says that someone who understands and enjoys what he eats and drinks so much can enjoy cigars, and Ferruh Bey inspects Punch Double Corona, which is his first cigar and his taste is still on his palate, and Ferruh Bey falls in love with blue smoke. Later, he developed his own palate, tried different cigars at different opportunities, created his own rituals, and after a while decided to create his own cigar. He shares this decision with Salih Dalay, with whom he started cigars, and they embark on this adventure together. They are launching their Ferruh Karakaşlı cigars to the market in July 2017.
Ferruh emphasizes that 30-35% of those who smoke cigars are women due to the brand's relationship with fashion. He adds that they have already reached a sales figure of 50 thousand units and their approximate target for 2019 is 100 thousand.
Although sales from Germany, also been made to the different European countries, yet that plans to enter the market, but we learn from him that Turkey takes the cigar by cigar lovers bulabildik of going from Germany to Turkey. Saying that he uses his own smoked cigars especially for brands and vitolas other than mainstream brands, Ferruh Bey adds that while creating his brand, they took care to create a sophisticated but still delightful cigar. It has highlighted the purple and orange colors, which it frequently uses in its packaging and clothes.
While our conversation is slow and slow, Mr. Ferruh mentions that what he wants to accomplish on the cigar industry is not limited to cigars, but that they are currently working on an accessory series they are working on, as well as different clothing designs for cigars.
Although I do not want this pleasant conversation to end, I thank Mr. Ferruh very much for the time he has allocated for me and I am leaving with a contract to smoke it together in a short time.
For those who want to follow Mr. Ferruh and his innovations, they can reach his Instagram address again from his name.
Enjoyable smoking.