CONNOISSEUR Cigar Club Is Founded

On January 25, 2026 — Russian Students’ Day and the birthday of the FUMELIER Cigar School — a new community was formally established: the CONNOISSEUR Cigar Club.

For a year, graduates and school partners had proposed making their conversations beyond the classroom more regular and organised. The club thus became a natural continuation of the school and the community that had formed around it.

The word connoisseur captures the idea of an aficionado’s journey: deepening knowledge, refining taste, broadening perspective and reaching a more conscious understanding of cigars through conversation with like-minded people.

The club’s declared purpose was to develop cigar culture and its community within a friendly, respectful and intellectually stimulating atmosphere.

Club chairman Dmitry Vladimirovich Gribov described CONNOISSEUR as a space for depth, respect for cigar culture and thoughtful conversation, where both the member’s personal journey and the environment that shapes an intellectual cigar community matter.

The club was created for advanced aficionados — graduates of the FUMELIER school and people who had independently reached a deep understanding of cigar culture. At the time of foundation, admission was expected to involve a personal invitation and confirmation of knowledge; school graduates could join without testing or an entrance fee.

The first announcement promised candidates personal invitations, a meeting programme and detailed terms of participation. Within a few weeks, that intention took shape in the club’s first official open evening.