Pravda’s Cigar Club is truly a rags-to-riches story.
Brian Desind is the idea guy behind the club. Brian’s story really begins when he dropped out of college, where he was majoring in finance, to start his own investment firm. That firm grew by leaps and bounds until the feds came knocking.
“I dropped out of college before I learned that a Ponzi scheme was illegal. I was in class and thought to myself, holy crap, why isn’t everyone doing this? It’s so easy. At that time, I felt I had nothing left to learn, so I left.” It turns out the next day was when he would have learned the fate of Mr. Ponzi if he had shown up.
Finding himself unemployed, he started looking for a new way to make a living. “As it turns out, running a Ponzi Scheme is not illegal in the cigar industry. I started buying cigars that companies couldn’t sell. Blends so bad that even Gurkha refused to accept them. Slap a Limited Edition label on them and release them to the public.” Desind elaborated.
“That’s it. I am not lying to anyone. Most cigars I release are so bad that the factory has destroyed the blend documents. Now that’s what I call limited!”
During the interview, we did notice a paraphrased quote from auto parts manufacturer Tommy Callahan of Callahan Auto hanging in Desend’s office. “I can take a dump in a box and put a guarantee on the side, and all you will have is a guaranteed piece of shit.” Seems like another missed educational opportunity to us here at CNT.