The CCT Challenge - 2019 (UPDATED)

While our Certified Consumer Tobacconist (CCT) program continues to grow at a record pace, we would like to stimulate a little fun and competition.  Our goal is to reach 500 CCT by the end of 2019.  If we reach that goal by year end we are going to give our 500 CCT a very extraordinary, but TOP SECRET gift.  While we cannot tell you what the prize will be, we can tell you that it has been in development for over a decade, it will be extremely exclusive, valuable, and revolutionary.  In addition, other consumers will have to pay for the product after it is released, and our 500 CCT will be making history.  We suggest you hurry up and get your CCT Degree, and encourage your friends to do so as well.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you will not regret!

Become a Certified Consumer Tobacconist Now


UPDATE  8.30.2019  
The TOP SECRET gift for our CCT 
is FREE access to our Certified Cigar Reviews platform.  We will notify all CCT via email when the site is ready.

The Certified Consumer Tobacconist Evolution

Any tobacconist worth their salt can tell you about innumerable atrocities committed by ignorant consumers: these include lighting cigars backwards, lighting the cedar sleeve (sometimes including the silk ribbon at the foot), using a torch lighter on a briar pipe, complaining about stems in premium cigar filler, licking an entire cigar then using a shop cutter, sticking a cigar in their nose then returning it to a display box, and many many more!

Furthermore, few people truly understand what priming is, the importance of air curing, the magic of fermentation, the extraordinary skill it takes to blend and roll a cigar, much less the thousands of artisanal steps between seed and ash.   

But the real shame is the lack of activism and pro-activity of luxury cigar and pipe smokers.  After all, luxury tobacco can be a selfish pursuit, in that we enjoy it solely for ourselves.  It can be easy to forget that our beloved products, lifestyle and freedoms are constantly being demonized and  eroded by over-regulation and over-taxation.  No other profession suffers more punishment and threats from local, state, and federal governments.  And of course countless "health" groups, with hundreds of millions of dollars in their budgets, drive their mission to erase us from existence.  

Ultimately, the only way to combat these forces is through education and activism.  That activism can be as simple as sharing your passions with those who don't know any better, educating your peers, and of course supporting Cigar Rights of America so they can provide a political voice in Washington DC and at the state and local level.  

If you really love these products, then you must take a stand and be proactive.  Any loud mouth can pontificate about what they think they know, but only a Tobacconist University (TU) Certified Tobacconist has proven their fundamental knowledge.  The new TU Certified Consumer Tobacconist (CCT) degree is a historic and revolutionary way to prove your knowledge and join the fight for our freedoms at the same time.  The new CCT program can be purchased in the GET CERTIFIED section of the TU website for $100 and comes with a free one year membership to Cigar Rights of America (CRA).  If you are smart enough to pass the test, you will be a Certified Consumer Tobacconist and a member of the CRA.  There is no better representative of this industry than a CCT/CRA member and we encourage you to join our ranks and help us preserve luxury tobacco for generations to come!

THE CCT PROCESS

1. Accept The Consumer Code of Ethics & Standards & Apply for Apprenticeship

- After your $100 payment your apprentice listing will appear on the TU website and the CRA will initiate your annual membership

2. Study the TU Academic Curriculum at your own pace

3. Take the Final Exam* on the TU website

- if you pass you will be awarded your CCT degree and your website listing will be certified

- if you fail, you will be removed from the TU website, but your CRA membership will continue

* The TU Final Exam for CCT is 50 questions, multiple-choice and True/False.  It is the same length and difficulty as the original professional test for certified tobacconists which was used from 1996-2005.

The 2015 Media Challenge

Starting in April of 2015, all Certified Retail Tobacconists (CRT) will be able to certify consumers as CCT.  This means, any consumer can be certified by a CRT, thereby proving their knowledge and strengthening the bond between retail tobacconists and their customers.  This historic program has the potential to elevate the credibility and prestige of the entire industry!

At TU, we often say that becoming certified will not make you a great tobacconist, but at least we are establishing fundamentals that we can agree on as professionals and consumers.  But, no matter how educated consumers and tobacconists are, it would be counter productive to continue to have under educated writers on the internet, magazines, and other media.  Bad information and uninformed opinions snowball and hurts the entire industry.  

While facts, truth, and knowledge may not matter to many marketers, it does matter to retailers and consumers.  Through certification we can establish a strong foundation of knowledge which bonds consumers, media, and retailers, thereby helping to build credibility and culture for the luxury tobacco industry.  

A lack of truth and transparency undermines our industry.  

So, to that end, we are inviting any and all media members in the premium tobacco industry to become certified, for free, as CCT with their local Certified Retail Tobacconists.  That's right, we said "FOR FREE"!  During the month of April we are extending an open invitation to any and all industry media to sign up and become certified.  As long as you sign up in April, you can take the test at your convenience during 2015 with your CRT Sponsor.  

Click here to learn about the CCT Process.

Email TU if you have any questions.