PCA Magazine Show Issue 2021

22 PCA The Magazine | SHOW 2021 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG convenience store sector, earning a comfortable living and cultivating a taste for fine cigars. And despite not coming from a cigar background, today he owns and operates one of the fastest-growing boutique labels in the cigar world. What made this kind of story possible? Distinctive to Kashouty’s narrative, and to the story of Hiram& Solomon, is the fraternal organization of Freemasonry. Kashouty has been aMason for 25 HE STORY of Fouad “Eddie” Kashouty and his cigar brand Hiram& Solomon Cigars is above all testament that Kashouty is a man who moves with purpose and knows how to get things done. What he has gotten done is at once impressive and surprising. Known for most of its brief history as an excellent boutique brand, Hiram& Solomon has seen steady and astounding growth, producing just 10,000 cigars out of a $50,000 initial investment six years ago, with current plans to surpass a million cigars this year. Already, Hiram& Solomon cigars can be found inmore than 500 retailers in the U.S., as well as store shelves inmany overseas countries. That kind of expansion bespeaks not only a superlative product but also an entrepreneur possessed of a keen business acumen and a knack for dealing with people. Having said that much, it can also be stated that Kashouty, 57, got off to something of a rough start in the States. In 1988 he fled war in his native Lebanon to start a new life here in the U.S., and as he recalls, “The road was not easy at all. I came here to finishmy master’s degree in business but never did because I couldn’t afford to pay for the tuition. So I started as a gas station attendant and built myself up from there. Lots of sweat, pain and tears, but I made it.” He certainly didmake it. Within a few years of his arrival in the U.S., Kashouty was an entrepreneur in the gas station and BY WI LL I AM C . NELSON The Blend T years, and his Masonic connections proved crucial in helping get the word out about his growing company. His former partner, George Dakrat, who retired from Hiram& Solomon in 2019, is a fellowMasonic brother. For years Kashouty and Dakrat discussed cigars and dreamed in the basement of their New JerseyMasonic lodge, always pondering the unaccountable lack of anyMasonic- themed cigar on the market. Both men thought something should be done about it. Their dream seemed straightforward enough in concept, if challenging: to create aMasonic- themed cigar that could represent Freemasons all over the world and exemplify the quality and excellence to which the brethren strive to hold themselves. Says Kashouty, “We did achieve the dream of creating the brand, but the satisfaction is still Hiram & Solomon Cigars — A fast-growing boutique brand draws inspiration from old fraternal traditions Fouad Kashouty and Romy Kashouty