The purpose of this article is to have a short history on the founder of a company and how it company formed.

The rough, poorly-written story is attached in a word file. You are to re-write it and alter it in the following ways: 1: Change it from first person to third person. 2: Clean up the prose and make e citing and interesting to read. ! would like to feel like ! am reading a"out the #os $%uis guy&most interesting man in the world without "eing comical. ! will award the contest to whoever's ! like the "est, there might "e some changes after you win. !'d pro"a"ly try to keep it "etween ())-*)) words +it is (2, now- "ut there is no hard rule. .ood luck/

0ounder1s 2ame: #arren Cioffi Company: 3rinciple Cigars ! grew up on 4ong !sland. ! developed an interest in history and anti%ues at an early age and started "uying, collecting and dealing in anti%ue clocks and "ooks while a sophomore in high school. ! had an anti%ue store within a year or so and would spend the weekends selling at what was the famous 5nne anti%ue market in 2ew York City. $arly on, my interests moved from three-dimensional anti%ues into historical paper and documents. !t wasn1t long "efore ! discovered my first o"session6 vintage cigar la"el artwork. 5 perfect storm of consumer tastes, economics and other factors in the early part of the 2)th century resulted in the fact that these la"els are hands down, the finest color printing that the world has ever seen. The anti%ue community as a whole hadn1t figured out 7ust how special early to"acco artwork was, "ut ! had, and ! needed to find more of it. 8ince then, ! have "uilt one of the largest anti%ue paper archives in the world. 9y %uest to track down to"acco art and history lead %uickly to my second o"session, e ploration. 5s college and grad school progressed, ! was spending more and more time a"road. ! would often "e hunting around $urope and the Cari""ean for e tended weekends, then race "ack to the $ast Coast for a full course load during the week. ! hit around :) countries during that time and "uilt a special network of close friends around the world that ! wouldn1t trade for anything. Treasure hunting. ;ining and dining eccentric people in "i<arre places. To"acco art. 4ooking "ack, it was impossi"le not to develop my third o"session: Cigars. !1ve never "een one to simply accept what1s availa"le or what !1m told is good. =n top of that, ! am a treasure hunter deep in my "ones, so even in the "eginning ! was searching more than your average cigar smoker might to satisfy my already cultured and demanding palette. ! ac%uired and smoked anything that ! could get my hands on, no matter how

cra<y or difficult to o"tain. 5fter two decades of this, today ! have a li"rary of "i<arre and unusual cigars with origins spanning the world and the century, including multiple e amples dating "ack to the 1*>)s. ! knew early on that there was really only one option for an unsatisfied man used to taking matters into his own hands. !t was not long "efore ! was "lending and producing my own "espoke cigars. ! started sharing with friends and family. 0rom there it e panded to important associates and as time passed it "ecame increasingly difficult to keep the secret. 8till, this was all a la"or of love and it would "e over a decade "efore 3rinciple Cigars was "orn. The pro"lem was, ! wasn1t interested in putting my name on something that wasn1t outstanding and natural limitations do e ist any time someone tries to take something "espoke and "eautiful and produce it in %uantity. 8o for years, ! had to "e content with the way things were. ! 7ust wasn1t willing to make more cigars if meant that ! would have to use to"acco that was not properly fermented, oil my darker wrappers, or take any of the other shortcuts that ! witnessed even %uality "outi%ue "rands practicing. ?ut in 2)1@, Aendrik Belner finally convinced me that it might "e possi"le to stay true to my philosophy and demands, yet still "e a"le to "ring my cigars to more than 7ust my inner circle. !f there was only enough of a key to"acco to produce 1))) cigars of that "lend, then that1s all we would make. 2o pretention, no pretending, no shortcuts, no nonsense. !t has "een a long and unusual road, "ut 3rinciple Cigars is here.