Education, Storytelling & Engagement

 

The Experience That Defines the Tobacconist

Education, storytelling and engagement are what tobacconists do best and above all. That is the experience that drives customers into our stores instead of into an algorithm, a discount website or a cigar of the month club.

In the world of luxury tobacco, products alone do not build culture. Knowledge does. Meaning does. Story does.

Tobacconists stand before customers every day, getting feedback, listening, absorbing and thoughtfully distilling information on an individual basis. There are no shortcuts when providing face to face service. There is no hiding behind screens or advertisements. There is only authenticity, accountability and consistency.

That is where our culture lives.

Education Is the Foundation

Consumers today are extraordinarily well informed. In fact, one of the greatest challenges facing retail tobacconists is also one of the most exciting facets of our industry: the depth of passion and knowledge among luxury tobacco enthusiasts.

It is hard to imagine another consumer base that studies, debates and dissects products with the same intensity as pipe and cigar lovers.

But information alone is not education.

The internet is saturated with opinion, bias and hyperbole. Brands naturally promote themselves. Forums amplify personal preference. Inaccuracies circulate easily. Many consumers absorb flawed information without realizing it.

This is where professional tobacconists become indispensable.

Education is the foundation of credibility. It allows the tobacconist to distinguish between fact and opinion, substance and marketing, tradition and myth. It transforms scattered information into structured understanding.

A great tobacconist does not simply repeat what they have read. They interpret. They contextualize. They guide.

Storytelling Gives Education Meaning

Education without storytelling becomes sterile data. Storytelling without education becomes marketing fluff.

The balance is where engagement is created.

When a tobacconist explains the migration of Cuban seed to Nicaragua, the difference between Sumatra and Broadleaf, or why a particular vitola performs differently, the product becomes more than tobacco wrapped in leaf. It becomes a profound narrative grounded in knowledge.

Customers are not just purchasing a cigar. They are participating in an experience. They are broadening their palate. They are refining their understanding.

And they return because that experience cannot be replicated online.

Engagement Is Earned

Engagement is not forced. It is earned through professionalism, consistency and genuine care.

Tobacconists must be accountable to their customers every single day. We stand behind our recommendations. We adjust when feedback demands it. We grow alongside our clientele.

It sounds simple, but it requires discipline and commitment.

At Tobacconist University, we believe tobacconists are the keystone of our industry. We strive to support and defend them because when the professional tobacconist thrives, the culture thrives.

Our certifications are not decorative credentials. They contribute to your credibility. They become part of your story when serving customers. They reinforce that you are committed to substance over hype and knowledge over noise. GET CERTIFIED!

Great tobacconists understand the difference between information and education. Through storytelling and engagement, they help customers navigate between the good and the bad, always striving to broaden experience and enhance enjoyment.

Always be educating, and you will flourish as a tobacconist.         

     

The Art of The Final Exam

What is a final exam?  At the very least, it is a comprehensive wrap-up at the end of a course, designed to test your knowledge and retention - not just the last chapter or a small section, like a quiz.  A final exam must cover and test the most important points of the curriculum, ensuring the graduate's knowledge is thorough and truly merits final certification.  It must be specific, comprehensive and thoughtfully crafted to ensure credibility in both the education and educated.  

Even when all of these requirements for a final exam are met, an important question remains: how many questions can a student get wrong and still pass?  What constitutes a passing grade even when the student gets things wrong?  Tobacconist University (TU) has always maintained a 90% standard for all exams, but even that high bar leaves room for improvement and imperfection.  

While we now count our certifications in the thousands, TU administered its first 400+ paper exams in face-to-face settings, where every question was discussed, challenged, and refined in real time.  We gathered direct feedback on the language of each question, observing how students interpreted specific words, phrasing and emphasis.

This process allowed us to see how meaning was perceived, misunderstood, or clarified.  We learned how to structure language more precisely, which words required emphasis, and how subtle wording changes affected comprehension.  That feedback enabled us to re-engineer and carefully craft our exams to serve the broadest possible spectrum of students and English speakers - no small task in a curriculum that necessarily includes many Spanish terms.  

That same level of care also applies to the answer choices themselves - both correct and incorrect - for every question on the final exam.  The incorrect answers are just as important as the correct ones, believe it or not!  You don't want to trick people nor do you want to make things too easy.  Typically, a well-designed multiple-choice question includes one clearly implausible "throwaway" option to help orient the test -taker.  The real challenge lies in crafting the remaining incorrect answers so they are plausible, educational and constructive - often referencing material the student already knows, guiding them toward the correct answer, or reinforcing knowledge that may apply elsewhere in the exam.

It is a complicated, intricate, and imperfect process.  And in many ways, a little artistic as well.  We go through all of this to ensure that graduates are given a fair opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the fundamentals and facts required to earn their certification.  While no exam can be perfect, the effort behind it must be extraordinary to ensure the certificate itself carries genuine merit and credibility.  

Rest assured, there is no equal to the time and effort we have invested in our curriculum and final exams.  The Tobacconist University Certification is unparalleled in both quality and content.  For those who are serious about education and professionalism, there is no other option.

FUN FACTS

- 50% of TU students pass their final exam on the first attempt.

- 90% pass by the second attempt.  

- The remaining 10% receive additional, personalized support, which may include a final exam review curriculum or the opportunity to take the test with a Certified Tobacconist online and available to help.  

- TU Final Exams have been 100% online since 2018. 

- Each Final Exam Question Database contains 20% more questions than appear on any individual exam, allowing for rotation so that no two exams are exactly alike.  

- There are certain fundamental questions which must be answered correctly from each of our Colleges, FAQs, and Glossary entries, and they must be distributed proportionally and aligned with our educational objectives.  For example, the Certified Retail Tobacconist (CRT) degree includes approximately 15% of its final exam questions on non-cigar tobaccos and pipes*, while the Certified Cigar Sommelier Tobacconist (CCST) degree has none.

* Approximately 95% of the luxury tobacco industry is cigar-focused, whether measured by revenue or shelf space. As a result, many of our Certified Retail Tobacconists (CRT) tell us we include too much pipe and non-cigar related exam questions and content, while pipe specialists tell us we don't have enough.  It is a struggle to balance it all, but we believe that a deep and working knowledge about pipe tobaccos broadens perspective and deepens appreciation - even for cigar specialists. 

- Over the years we have seen many imitators, posers, and influencers attempt to produce so-called "educational" content.  Without exception, every "masterclass", "school", or "academy" we have evaluated delivered, at best, mediocre assessments - often featuring questions that bear little or no relationship to the material being taught.  This level of negligence in educational design is not merely disappointing; it is professionally indefensible and reprehensible.

- Creating comprehensive and substantive Final Exam Questions is one of the hardest challenges faced by Tobacconist University.

- Certified Consumer Tobacconist (CCT) and Certified Cigar Sommelier Tobacconist (CCST) final exams are 50 True/False and Multiple-Choice Questions - all other degrees are 100 questions.

In our thirty years of service, only a handful of students have every abandoned the certification process.  The single greatest obstacle to passing the final exam is not a lack of intelligence or effort - it is not knowing what one does not know.  Many people arrive with erroneous beliefs or incorrect knowledge ingrained in them, often acquired from the internet or a well-meaning but misinformed friend, and they don't reconcile or transcend that when studying.

And that is precisely why we exist: to teach proper fundamentals and transform information into professional-grade knowledge - from the first pages of our academic curriculum to the last question on the final exam.    

    

TU: The Unredacted Story

The PCA Interview: Looking Back At 29 Years Of Tobacconist Education

When was your organization founded/launched?

Tobacconist University (TU) was founded in 1996 as a proprietary educational program for a two-store chain of luxury, full-service retail tobacconists in ivy league and tourist towns.  It also provided educational seminars for consumer events and certifications.  In the 1990s, the release of Cigar Aficionado magazine facilitated a cigar boom which elevated consumer knowledge and sophistication, creating a need and opportunity for highly trained professionals.  By the early 2000s it was clear that the emerging internet was also providing a huge amount of information, both good and bad, so TU evolved into a publicly available educational resource.  By 2008 the professional Certified Retail Tobacconist (CRT) program was available online at www.tobacconistuniversity.org and TU became the official educational curriculum of the RTDA-IPCPR-PCA, providing free education and low-cost certification to brick and mortar retail tobacconists, as well as consumers.

Tell us about your educational program. What can people get from going through it?

The majority of our academic curriculum is available for free, online in the TU CAMPUS.  It includes Tobacco, Accoutrements, Taste and Service Colleges, as well as a Tobacconist FAQs and the largest online and multi-media/hyper-linked glossary of tobacco/tobacconist related terms anywhere in the world.   We start with the definition that a Tobacconist is an expert in tobacco and all the related accoutrements and provide all of the history, science, agricultural, manufacturing, business-specific and practical knowledge that is necessary to achieve that minimal goal. 

An equally important fundamental premise in the TU Academic Curriculum is that “Taste” is subjective, so there is no objective right or wrong with regard to human preferences, likes or dislikes.  This perspective allows us to remain brand neutral and focused on un-biased education.  Above all, we focus on teaching strong fundamentals when science and facts apply and empowering individuals to develop their own perspective and opinions when artistry and taste is required.

What makes your organization’s approach to education different from its competitors?

Firstly, TU is the first and only organization to educate and certify tobacconists.  Recent years have seen 'influencers' attempting to sell education but we don't consider that competition.  

The TU Academic Curriculum was thoroughly researched and documented for more than a decade (1996-2008) before being released as a freely available public resource.  It is not hidden behind a paywall, but rather on display for all to learn, scrutinize and contribute to.  We are committed to triple sourcing our facts rather than parroting marketing jargon, subjective or editorialized opinion and biased or inaccurate information.  We start with the premise that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ and refuse to repeat information just because someone of repute ‘says so’.  Our RESOURCES section is available for public scrutiny on our website and it includes more than one hundred books (both current and out-of-print), scientific studies and professional interviews on every topic we cover.  In addition, all of our colleges, with a particular emphasis on Service College, have contributions from industry leading tobacconists as well as agricultural, pre-industrial and cigar making experts.    

Our Academic Curriculum includes hundreds of videos, photographs and graphics that are proprietary to TU, gathered through countless self-funded educational expeditions to factories and farms in Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica, the USA and the Dominican Republic.  All of this effort is made to avoid bias, misinformation and to not be beholden to corporate or marketer influences.  Furthermore, it is necessary to create a substantive educational curriculum that dispels and corrects the erroneous information that is so commonly available and disseminated on the internet, in print and through marketing channels. 

How did you go about designing your educational program to be easy to navigate and consume?

Structuring an educational curriculum for an industry and products that are so diverse and profound was one of the most challenging aspects of creating and organizing TU, especially since no other organization has ever existed to educate and certify tobacconists.   In addition, our industry battles social stigmatization, extreme regulation and excessive taxation like no other.  Consequently, our educational curriculum must also serve as an ambassador of credibility and substance to the greater culture: the curriculum must be rooted in integrity.  The TU motto is Puro Integritas, a play on words and language that guides every facet of our vision and mission.

The layout and sequencing of the online curriculum must also be logical and linear.  For example, Tobacco College starts with ancient history as well as cultural, business and political context.  Then we define and study what is Nicotiana Tabacum.  Only after this foundation can we start to learn about Geography, Climate, Cigar Regions, Seeds & Plants, Growing, Nurturing, Harvesting, Curing, Fermentation, Cigar Rolling, Packaging, Aging, Shipping, Cigar Shapes & Sizes and the Marketing of Cigars.  Tobacco College rounds out the journey with Pipe Tobaccos and Cigarette education: providing a comprehensive perspective on the entire world of tobacco.  All of our Colleges are structured in a linear way, so that you hit the ”Next” button to ‘turn the page’ and continue studying:  it’s like reading a giant multi-media book, at your own pace and empowering you to come and go and revisit topics at your own discretion.

At the heart of the curriculum is substance, science and an extreme belief that words matter.  Words must be properly defined and used.  Therefore, our Glossary and curriculum webpages are hot-linked together: if you are studying inside a college and come across an important word, it will be linked to our Glossary or another curriculum webpage with expanded information.  The TU Glossary also hot-links words back into the curriculum for an enhanced learning experience.   This is an educational matrix designed for profound learning.  We believe our industry is plagued with the misuse and misunderstanding of simple terms and words that are bastardized every day by most people.  Words like “strength”, “taste”, “body”, “curing” and more, are misused by advertisers, so-called “experts” and online “educators” in print and on the internet every day.  But, if you are a Certified Tobacconist or passionate consumer who uses our Glossary and website, you should know exactly what those words mean in the proper context.  

You will find that our custom designed academic curriculum is very different from the Learning Management Systems (LMS) commonly found on the internet.  These contemporary websites/programs are used to teach things like food sanitation, boat safety  any consumer level course (e.g. Learn how to juggle, buy real estate, day trade, etc… ), and a plethora of for-profit educational enterprises for people and organizations who want to sell ‘courses’.  You can learn almost anything through today’s LMS products, but we found them restrictive to our goals and needs.  In many ways, LMS products are designed to guide you through a ‘module’ of content and quiz you at the end of that section: they are essentially teaching you how to pass the quiz.  It is important to note here that we do offer our CIGARS 101 course through an LMS and it provides an excellent, efficient and cost-effective fundamental learning experience for consumers.   

The TU Academic Curriculum is designed as a vast digital and multi-media library that is an easily accessible resource and library for lovers of luxury tobacco.  And we expect you to know everything necessary to pass our online exams.  Those who get certified by TU are expected to pass a 50 or 100 question multiple choice exam when they are ready to earn their consumer or professional certification.  And we expect you to retain and own the knowledge you seek. 

Our Vision is to build and project the credibility of the luxury tobacco industry in order to support cultural acceptance around the world – preserving luxury tobacco for generations to come.   Our Mission is to research, learn and teach in order to educate, certify and promote the most knowledgeable and honorable tobacconists and consumers.  In that process we provide resources for tobacconists to leverage for their customers and businesses - build credibility, culture and community for tobacconists and consumers - are the epicenter of cigar, pipe and tobacco education.  In short, we educate with a broad, serious and strategic purpose.

Why should people take the time to complete your educational program?

TU has developed the following certifications to meet the needs of consumers and professional tobacconists over the last 29 years - each serves a distinct need and purpose.  All current 3000+ TU Certified Tobacconists and apprentices are listed on the TU website under their company and/or individual name.  Every TU Certified Tobacconist must accept their specific Code of Ethics & Standards and pass the final exam with a 90% or better.  We encourage you to visit the GET CERTIFIED section of our website to see which certification will suit your goals and needs.  All of our programs are self-study at your own pace, include online final exams, website listings and the ability to print your diploma when you graduate.

CCT – Certified Consumer Tobacconist: a non-professional certification designed for avid consumer enthusiasts who are not employed within the luxury tobacco industry.  This is indubitably the most challenging and comprehensive curriculum for any consumer enthusiast.  The curriculum in our CAMPUS is the same that CRT and CST study for their professional certifications.  The final exam is 50 questions derived from the professional exams.  

CCST – Certified Cigar Sommelier Tobacconist: our first and most important fundamental professional degree for those working with premium cigars.  The CCST degree is designed to serve cigar retailers, fine dining establishments, lounges, bars, event promoters, influencers and anyone seeking strong fundamentals and professional credentials around the world.  It is both time and cost efficient by concentrating the cigar curriculum into videos and succinct lessons that focus on Retail School, Cigar Fundamentals and Pairing School.  Our CCST Schools can be structured for individuals, stand alone or multi-location retailers, salesforces and/or any other organizational types. The final exam is 50 questions which includes specialized questions on “tasting” and “pairing”.    

CRT – Certified Retail Tobacconist: our most comprehensive and profound professional degree for full-service brick and mortar tobacconists.  This degree tests on Tobacco, Accoutrements, Taste and Service College as well as our Tobacconist FAQ and the TU Glossary.  The unparallelled education creates the world’s most prestigious and highly credentialled professional tobacconists.  Apprentices must work for an existing retail tobacconist for at least six months before taking the final exam – ensuring enough experience to earn the CRT designation.  When CRT leave a retail store/company their listing can be ‘moved’ to another retail store or they will be re-listed as a CCT if they do not return to the industry. 

CST – Certified Salesforce Tobacconist:  the counterpart to our CRT degree.  The CST degree is for employees of cigar distributors/brands/companies or other non-retail organizations. 

CCST Maestro – Certified Cigar Sommelier Tobacconist Maestro: any CRT or CST who also has a CCST degree is eligible to curate and run their own CCST School and certify others under their own brand - which makes them a CCST Maestro.  A CCST Maestro can purchase ‘wholesale’ CCST certifications and use them as they please: they can be used for employees, sold for profit, to create brand ambassadors, given away as promotions and/or any combination thereof.   CCST Maestros can also upload their own content into their schools and use the course materials if they want to teach and certify through live events.

CMT – Certified Master Tobacconist: the highest professional level one can achieve as a TU Certified Tobacconist.  Only CRT and CST are eligible for this advanced degree.  Candidates must apprentice and prove hundreds of apprenticeship hours with cigar/pipe makers and TU Certified Retailers as well as making a substantive educational contribution to the TU Academic Curriculum.

Certification FAQ

Everyday we get emails and phone calls with questions about our certification programs.  Here is a helpful table to help you compare, contrast and understand the differences between our programs.  You can always email or call if you have any other questions.

You can also visit the GET CERTIFIED section of our website to get all the details.

Certifying Consumers - CCT!

1/1/2016 UPDATE:  The CCT Process has been changed since the publishing of this article.  Visit our Get Certified webpage for more info.

There's a difference between opinions and facts.  There's a difference between information and education.  And there's a difference between those who know and those who don't.  If you read about cigars and pipes on the internet, or advertising laden magazines, you will be misled, you will believe things that aren't true and/or biased, and you will fail to appreciate the true natural artistry and wonder of the luxury tobacco industry.  

TU Certification is about teaching fundamentals and facts.  We do not tell you what is good or bad, but simply try to make sure you have all of the tools and knowledge to make educated decisions and enhance your appreciation: that is why we certify tobacconists and consumers.

TU CERTIFICATION:  CRT, CST, & CCT
There are two main professional TU Certifications: Certified Retail Tobacconist (CRT) and Certified Salesforce Tobacconist (CST).  These professional degrees require passing a 100 question test.  The Certified Consumer Tobacconist (CCT) degree requires passing a 50 question final exam, with a 90% or better score.  All certifications are based on the TU Academic Curriculum found in our Campus.

The CCT Process

1.  Ask any CRT to be your CRT Sponsor
2.  Sign up as a CCT Apprentice on the TU website.  This means you accept the TU Code of Ethics & Standards, submit your personal information for your CCT listing, and tell us who your CRT Sponsor is.
3.  Schedule your final exam with your CRT Sponsor anytime after you become an apprentice.  The final exam will be accessed by your CRT Sponsor through a password protected secure website and the consumer will take the test on the web, with the CRT 
Sponsor present.
4.  Once you pass the exam you will receive your CCT credentials and be entitled to special products, certified accoutrements, and privileges with TU and at your Certified Retail Tobacconist's store*.   
*Benefits will vary by retailers.


Currently, any consumer can become certified through any Certified Retail Tobacconist (CRT).  TU started certifying consumers in 1996, culminating in 2014, for a fee of $500.  Starting in 2015, we turned that business over to our CRT, which empowers them to certify at will and charge significantly less for the service.  Now consumer certification prices are determined by CRT.