Cigars and Calvinism: A Unique Christian Testimony

Andrew Rappaport's Rapp Report

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December 4, 2024

00:01: Welcome to the rap report with your host Andrew Rapoport where we provide biblical interpretation and application
00:07: This is a ministry of striving for eternity and the Christian podcast Community for more contents or to request a speaker for your church go to striving for eternity org
00:16: All right. So here we are fight laugh feast a lot of a lot of new brothers
00:23: I've gotten to meet one of them has a very Calvinistic name. That's chance
00:30: That was thing so so I walked up to you and I asked you when I asked your name Especially because someone who's seat
00:35: I'm sitting in right now kept calling you chase. That's okay And it kept confusing me. Yeah, but you you made it clear when you said it's it's really not good reform name and chance
00:44: Yeah So chances with 1689 cigars So let's talk about first you before you get to your business, but you know, how do you come to Christ?
00:56: So grew up in a pagan family and so long story short I hated
01:01: God like prior to my conversion. I would go out and flip off the sky and curse
01:06: God and I was a hard kid fought all my life. Most of my teeth are fake because of that and Super angry never had a dad like Wilson did his talk on a bastard nation.
01:18: I'm a product of the sin of America Never had a father figure and so really upset my mom just married
01:26: I think it was her fourth or fifth husband that she married in with and she married into a Christian family and that nobody knew and this this is my conversion is is odd because I went to a like a free will
01:38: Baptist Church after that and They were like you you chose your you ascended up to God But I was about to blow my brains out and the pastor from the
01:49: Family came over and he shared the gospel with me. Like I literally had my note written out put it on there
01:55: I was about to take a shower and that's it's where I was gonna do it so my mom wouldn't have to clean up clean up a huge mess and Christ came and sought me and saved me and then my journey from the the free will
02:06: Baptist world and to the reformed community it came by taking up and reading and so as I read
02:13: I didn't even know what Calvinism was and Later on I'll get to that but some people are still trying to figure it out, but they know they hate it.
02:20: Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I was not a provisionalist And and so so I started my journey and then
02:29: I'm going to independent fundamental Baptist Church very all all no gospel and So I'm learning all these things
02:37: I'm learning all these standards and I in my head, you know I think Durbin says this by what standard and so I would say show me in the scripture and so they would give me a
02:47: Theological point in the scripture that just was absurd. The hermeneutics were bad and I wasn't well Educated in the
02:53: Christian faith, but I just knew it was bad. And so I would start studying myself Skip on to you know, three or four years after my conversion
03:02: I'm at my small Bible College in Louisville, and we're going through it was either hermeneutics or church ed
03:08: I don't know which one it was but they got to John 6 and they're going through it and and we get to like 642 and you know all these passages and I was like Christ calls a sheep as sheep hear his voice and they come to him and and and like I'm I'm deducting from the passage
03:26: My theology is growing and so my professor gave me an F on my hermeneutics and He said
03:34: I was a Calvinist You're going what's a Calvinist? Yeah, so I instantly looked up What is a
03:41: Calvinist and the first sermon that popped up is ever by John MacArthur every? Calvinist should be a pre -millennialist and so I cut my teeth on John MacArthur and RC and then you go down the rabbit hole
03:53: And you're like, oh, then you find like truly reformed people And and I love
03:58: MacArthur and I love RC RC would be truly reformed. But Well, well actually
04:04: RC is a Baptist today. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I agree And so so I start going down these these rabbit holes and My faith is strengthened.
04:16: But as my faith is strengthened, I'm causing issues in my church, and I don't know why
04:23: Because I'm challenging their positions and it wasn't out of like unteachable it was like Just curious.
04:31: It's just like I'm trying to understand this stuff, but they're thinking well you you do understand your ends against what we've what we believe
04:37: Yeah, you're just going like what? Yeah, and so so I start reforming In my wife and I we get married
04:45: We leave that fundamentalist movement and we we start attending every denomination
04:50: And so I was just like I have to find a church that believes the Bible and so we we started going and it was preached at our independent
04:59: Baptist circles to be Scripture alone and that's what led me to my positions.
05:05: And so so it wasn't just horrible teaching It was just bad application from them
05:11: Yeah And so so they they taught me that and then we went a year and a half just visiting churches
05:17: And you know, we we'd go to the big Eva churches we would go to the I mean we even went to some
05:23: Lutheran services just to figure out like what are we and As we did that More and more
05:30: I even tried, you know, I tried being a Presbyterian. I was like, I just don't see Covenant you know theology in the way they see it and So as I would go through Finally land solidly in the 1689 camp
05:46: Our church About two years ago recognized that I was a gifted brother and then they called me to be an elder at the church and so now
05:54: I'm an elder at a small church plant in Tennessee, Kentucky state line and That's this where I'm at now
06:01: Yeah And so I think most of the folks here know you for your business for the company create 1689 scars
06:07: I first found out about that because I was entered into a contest that dead man walking did
06:13: Yeah, and dead man walking had a contest for podcasters and so it was really kind of funny because it was all the winner was getting a box of cigars and and The I do find funny the winner of it is someone who's known to always have a cigar but never smokes and that's kid
06:28: Walsky, yeah He he plays different characters. So the Presbyterians the guy with the cigar and so it was kind of fun being like hey, you know here's you know, we have the
06:38: I forget how Greg worded it, but it was like the Christian podcast like a cigar smoking
06:46: Chris preachers or something like that and It was like, okay. Well vote for me anyway, even if not cigar smoke
06:54: So so it was kind of I made it through round two to round two and and then died, you know He likes to put me up against James White and you know
07:01: I did I did everything I could to get to pass round two, but you know, he plans it that way
07:07: Yeah, yeah, but but yeah, no, so that's where I first heard about you Yeah, and then I know that some others started, you know talking about your cigars, you know
07:15: There's there's plenty especially in here fight left -feet supporting people that smoke cigars and really enjoy.
07:20: I mean clearly they enjoyed it You sold out like before I went before the day of it. Yeah before the first pre -conference.
07:27: Yeah pre -conference. He almost sold out Yeah, so so I mean for folks who do like cigars You know describe what what is different with with your company with your cigars?
07:37: Well, so with our cigars We launched about six or seven. Well, I would say six months ago when we were really going hard, but the
07:46: The the company's two years old We did our blending process I took about a year and a half to just kind of figure out like what's the best quality?
07:55: And so so when you say it like, you know, I had squirrelly Joe's coffee on Yeah, you know on my podcast a couple weeks ago
08:02: And so when he came on I asked him specific because when you say the blending process the same thing with the coffee
08:08: I didn't know all that. I learned about that. Yes, and I I don't know much about your tobacco how you do it
08:14: So, what do you mean the the blending process what's involved in that? Yeah, so you have like a Connecticut leaf, which would be like a
08:21: Thinner leaf and it's gonna give you more of like people use terms like creamy or silky or smooth smoke
08:28: And so you have a Connecticut wrapper and then your binder and filler it can be Maduro. It can be
08:33: Habano It could be scraps from the factory floor I mean that that's that's the essence of your cigar and when you're saying, you know,
08:42: Habano you're using this what exactly are those? Yeah, so so Habano would be like a Cuban seed origin that's grown in the
08:49: Dominican or that's grown in the Nicaraguan Region. Okay, so that tells you where it's grown. Yeah, and so the soil gives the the tobacco leaf flavor and so Habano would be a
09:01: Two to four year old cigar aged typically Sometimes they're pushed out a little bit
09:08: Sooner and so we like to be in that two to four year aged on our tobacco Then our Maduro's we like to be in the five to six year age
09:14: Tobacco and then our Connecticut's they could be as as new as 90 days off the floor And so there's there's the the makeup of the cigars and if you think of blending
09:25: This is how I always tell what blendings like it's like a mash build for your bourbon, you know 74 % corn the rest rye or whatever
09:33: Whatever you're doing for your bourbon. So I don't I don't do anything for bourbon. Yeah, I I don't
09:39: I don't really drink too much spirits, but the The the bin the blending process it matters by the grade of tobacco
09:47: So you have B grade and B grade would be like a Swiss or sweet Okay Grade would be like most of your boutique cigar companies are going to be a grade tobacco and then you have a plus -plus
09:57: It's the tobacco that people covet tobacco that people gatekeep and so to get past the gatekeepers we had to we had to go to no -name factories and We had to figure out where the gatekeepers are getting their tobacco from the farms and we did that and then now we offer
10:16: The best cigars that you can get and and and they're super expensive like the gatekeepers do right now.
10:22: No, no, they're affordable And we made it that way because we we wanted to obviously we want to move units we're going to move product but we also wanted to offer a product that's as good as Opus as good as Davidoff and And I would
10:37: I would say our flagship confessional line. We could put it up against any of the top name
10:43: Undercrown Davidoff Drew Estates is Undercrown, but we could put it up against them and it's going to be as good quality
10:50: Good construction good burn good tobacco. So so I'm you know,
10:56: I'm on daily wire, you know I follow daily wire and stuff. So they they keep talking about the you know, the
11:02: Mayflower scars. Yeah, Michael Noll does the scars? Yeah And he talks about similar like you is the idea of having a good quality cigar
11:09: But at a cheaper price because I guess I guess that with the scar industry is it's like you want the real good stuff
11:14: It's really gonna cost you so and he sold out in record time You know, he keeps it seems like he keeps getting them in stock and they're going out of stock.
11:23: Yeah You're talking about the aging process and all how where do you have to go buy the the tobacco from some other someone from like?
11:30: A farm so you are you actually rolling them to yourself for you? Is it all so it's rolled in Nicaragua and rolled in the
11:37: Dominican? Okay And so how the factories work is they keep aged tobacco on hand and then you it's kind of like build -a -bear
11:44: You go in and you pick and choose what you want. Okay? Yeah So so they're rolling it there and you're getting it.
11:50: It's all rolled Yeah, yeah, and then you I guess you're putting your because you you have your own your own bands on Is that all right?
11:57: So which were cool -looking? I mean you got your your John Calvin and yeah and Knox and you know
12:03: Which I thought was kind of neat. Yes, it's really cool. Yeah, so the John Calvin the Knox and the Spurgeon That's this reform cigars.
12:09: So they're a separate company from from us They're actually a nonprofit that all of their proceeds go to church plants in Atlanta and Nicaragua Really?
12:18: Yeah, so and so so you're getting you're getting the bands from then So you're just getting the cigars and putting your own band on.
12:23: Yeah, that's that's what we do So we band all of our own cigars we do it because of quality control So sometimes we'll do a thing called reject cigars where we we have cigars that are cracked or maybe they just they look ugly so we sell them for two bucks and As soon as we post them they're gone you know
12:42: So the Though you're essentially since they're wrapping them there where these top grade cigar companies are doing it
12:49: You're actually getting the same quality You're just charging less So how is it that they just have huge markups and you decided not to do huge markups or correct?
12:59: Okay Yeah, and so everything in the cigar industry is branding that that's that's what it is
13:05: And so you're like you think of like and you decide to brand yours Presbyterian. That's why you did 1689, right?
13:11: branded Baptist Wait, wait, do Baptist smoke cigars, you know, yeah.
13:17: Well, obviously they do in private and nobody knows So, yeah, so so the company's grown we're at like a 10 % or 10 ,000 percent
13:29: Growth rate from January Wow And we've we've done really well We've hit our target audience and we're branching out into the non -target audience world
13:39: And so how how we're we're explicitly Christian, but we're not gimmicky, you know, we're not we're making the best product
13:48: Yeah, you know, that's a really good point because when unfortunately Christians do things.
13:53: Yeah Like when Christians do movies it's like do you really do you have to be that cheesy?
14:00: Yeah. Yeah Oh, cuz that's what Christian movies are. They're cheesy. No, how about we do? Better than what the world does.
14:07: Yeah, right It's it's a thing where I really value people that say look
14:12: I'm gonna do Excellence in whatever whatever God has gifted me. Yeah, I want to do it with excellence
14:18: Yeah, rather than just get by like one of the one of Christians I have about Christian business, you know in the service industry
14:27: Businessmen, you know you get like a Christian, you know plumber or electrician, right?
14:33: They go to work for another Christian to two problems. You got the Christian going Well, I'm gonna hire a brother in Christ because he's gonna give me a great rate
14:41: You you should give me you should charge me less than you do other people Yeah, right and then the guy that's there is like well, you know, this is a brother in Christ So, you know
14:49: I could do bad work shoddy work and it's okay because you know, he's gonna forgive me He's a brother in Christ.
14:54: Yeah, right now the Muslims, you know what they do The Muslim will hire another Muslim because he goes I'm feeding a fellow my brother's family
15:02: I'm feeding a fellow Muslims family So I'm gonna pay you more Yeah than what you'd normally get paid and the other the Muslim who's doing the work says one
15:08: I'm working for a fellow Muslim so I Got to do a better job than I would for someone in the world. Yeah, we in the
15:13: Christian world We don't think that way. Yeah, you know like I had a guy so I do podcasting
15:19: There's a guy who who I work with he's actually a Hall of Fame podcaster Yeah, but he he will consult and I needed some help that I was beyond what
15:26: I could do Yeah, and so, you know, I called him up and said hey, can I schedule some time with you? You know and you know pay your consulting fee and so he gives me his co -consulting fee goes but for you
15:36: You know, I'll do like $50 $100 less. I said absolutely not. Yeah, I said I'll pay full price or more
15:43: Yeah, and so I'll pay you $50 more than your what you what the people in the world are are charging you
15:48: Yeah, you know because I'm helping feed his family Yeah, and so we get a guy like you who wants to produce something with excellence
15:57: Yeah, you know, I think there's value in that for me and people recognize that. Yeah. Yeah, and you can go check out our reviews
16:05: I don't think we have a bad review besides maybe for a challenge point I think that's the only one star review we have on our website and we keep every review up So if somebody comes in and leaves a battery,
16:16: I'm a very bad review just so I can see it. Yeah Yeah, we keep it we keep them every review up and the reason we do that is because we want complete transparency
16:24: Yeah, you know we want we want everybody to see that our products good and that's what we've done we've created a premium cigar line that It'll stand up to any other cigar company.
16:37: Yeah, that's good. Well, I appreciate having you on. Yeah. Thanks Yeah, good to talk to you great to get to know you
16:44: I mean, I really is fun hanging out with you this this week Yeah, and I hope hope we can you know, hang out more may maybe do some more stuff together.
16:51: That'd be good Yeah, maybe up at the war room conference. Oh, that's right. That's not and that's not too far from you, right?
16:56: No, I think it's like an hour and a half maybe yes that is the open -air theology conference that Jeffrey Rice puts on well open -air theology is the
17:04: Podcast and and they put the conference on it's calling war. It's being called war this this year.
17:09: It's gonna be on Sanctification. Okay, and so it's I think it's gonna be a really good conference.
17:15: Hey, they're really good You know this conference here. I like They do a similar thing that what
17:20: Jeffrey does? Yeah, when Jeffrey did the first open -air theology was one hour preaching one hour fellowship one hour preaching one hour fellowship
17:27: Yeah, and so you really got a good fellowship time, which is what this they're doing here They may have two speakers in a row, but I'll put a long period like 40 minutes of a fellowship time
17:37: Yeah, and that's really what people come to the conference for. Yeah, I mean the preaching right now
17:43: You can get all that every message here will probably be online. Yeah, but it's it's probably already online Yeah, it's the fellowship that really bring makes the conference.
17:51: I mean You know, we get to see each other here. We'll go to another conference. It could be like hey now all of a sudden
17:56: We're brothers in Christ. We know each other. It's like family reunion time when we get together Yeah, and that's what people appreciate about a conference.
18:02: Yeah community, man. Yeah. Yeah And you're helping that community by getting everyone smoking cigars afterwards, right?
18:08: Yeah smoke cigars And talk about you know, like last night we were we were at undergrad.
18:16: I don't know Yeah, so we're underground and so over here they're talking they're they're debating theomany and then over here they're debating baptism and then these guys are over here singing a
18:28: Psalm. Yeah, and that's what I love about open -air theology conferences. They end it by five
18:34: So we all go to dinner and I mean the dinner is like a theology throwdown Yeah, well, you know, it's just everyone is debating different theological positions, but we're doing it as brothers in Christ This is what
18:45: I really enjoy about it. And I had the same experience here where a lot of guys here I would disagree with yeah,
18:51: I wouldn't be in line with them theologically But so far all the people we will go out what we'll argue debate, you know
18:57: Even if it gets heated and excited, but then afterwards like hey, let's let's go to Buffalo wings get food Yeah, you know that's how it should be and that's how it should be like let let's we could we could fight it out
19:07: We can we can have some laughs You know and but we're brothers in Christ Yeah And and that's the thing that I appreciate about certain conferences that that have that a lot of conferences just like oh, no
19:18: We have to have everyone that reads the same thing and you can't be speaking against what we say, you know Yeah, I don't want
19:24: I like having the disagreement. You like free speech, right? Is is
19:31: NSA listening Because you know free free speech is is you know, it depends how you define it these days, you know
19:37: I mean my definition of free speech is that we would both have the freedom to say what we think Yeah, and we could disagree with each other.
19:45: You know, the Marxist definition of free speech is you agree with us? You're free. Yeah So it depends how you define it with I'm not a
19:54: Marxist. So yeah, I'm there with you. Well, I appreciate you coming on. Thanks for it And you so guys do check out 1689 cigars was 1689 scores calm.
20:03: Yep. That's what there we go I mean great marketing there. It's really sweet. So check them out if you enjoy cigars and get it get a nice smooth smoke or Yeah, whatever you want.
20:13: We got it So there you go. I got a challenge coin just for the record. I got the challenge coin
20:19: Yeah, although you gave one to Greg. I had to buy mine, but that's There's some extra cigars in your order, yeah
20:29: Thanks, man. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you This podcast is part of the Striving for Eternity ministry for more content or to request a speaker or seminar to your church