Few words evoke as much prestige and emotion in the luxury business as "sommelier". The wine industry has done a great job of projecting their professionalism through trained professionals who are experts in serving their customers. While there are many sommelier organizations, anybody can pretend to be one, so credentials matter greatly when people throw around titles! There are even people around the world calling themselves "cigar sommeliers", but until now that has been a self-given title with no substantiation other than ego. Just because you call yourself an expert, doesn't mean you are one! To a large extent, that need for substantive credibility is where Tobacconist University started in 1996, aiming to give credibility and substance to luxury tobacconists. To that end, we are now enhancing our certification programs to include bonafide cigar sommeliers.
After years of development, we are proud to introduce the Certified Cigar Sommelier Tobacconist (CCST) degree: ushering in a new era of professionalism, customer service, and credibility.
Our Cigar Sommelier degree is designed to serve the hospitality industry, including cocktail lounges, restaurants, golf/country clubs, and liquor stores. Our specially tailored curriculum includes Retail School, Cigar Fundamentals, and a Pairing School. Click here to see a demo. The Tobacconist University Cigar Sommelier school is a password protected, customized curriculum for participating companies with an online final exam, so students can sign up, study, and take the final exam all inside of the TU website. The degree itself focuses on cigars, retail processes, and service. The curriculum is not as extensive as the Certified Retail Tobacconist (CRT) degree, but it does include specialized content for those people who are not full-service tobacconists.
It is ultimately our goal to make sure that great service and knowledge is present wherever premium cigars are sold: this focus is good for our businesses and customers.
