The Wachowski siblings (former brothers), Brett Weldele and Ernest Cline could probably not imagine that their fictional worlds would become reality so soon. Although, what exactly do we call reality? What technologies will occupy their niche in the new reality?
The Meta-Universe is absolutely not a trend, we have been striving for such a shell for years and do not even realize that, most likely, we are already part of the Meta-Universe.
We have long been the owners of platforms and games in which we do not just spend time and leisure, but also meet people, buy virtual things for cryptocurrency, go to concerts, museums and even have virtual sex. The Meta-Universe is already here, we have not been given a choice between a blue and a red pill, but simply faced with the fact that a new form of the state of consumers' lives will be available in its ideal version very soon, and now we are faced with the task of understanding what we can offer to this new metaworld and how to make money on it.
Cigar is one of the oldest premium products in the world. Its history dates back to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. There are thousands of cigar manufacturers in the world today. A detailed history of cigars will be described in the book The Smoke Trader, which will be published in summer 2022.
For 4.5 centuries, the cigar has become the epitome of prestige and style, but the WHO's efforts to ban tobacco smoking are leading to the fact that the cigar consumption sector is steadily declining. This is facilitated by tax increases and the reduction of smoking areas. Active involvement of new fans of cigar consumption is impossible, since tobacco advertising is banned today almost all over the world. The real world today does not allow displaying prestigious cigar consumption and rather condemns it.
The authors of the idea of Cigar Coin – Meta Verse of NFT Cigars propose to transfer the consumption of cigars to the virtual world, preserving the opportunity to display the status, teaching the history of cigars, and introducing gamification elements through NFT technologies and forming a new market place.
Cigar Coin (hereinafter referred to as CC) is a virtual cigar in the form of 3D animation, which includes all the attributes of a real cigar (tobacco composition with description and proportion, manufacturer, vitola name and cigar band). Although there may not be an analogue of a virtual cigar in the physical world, the authors suggest that manufacturers will be interested in creating clones of real cigars as a marketing tool.
The process of "smoking" CC is the burning of NFT-token Cigar Coin (hereinafter referred to as NFT). It is the burning of NFT that allows the owner of CC to demonstrate elements of prestige and status.
Who can create CCs?
At the first stage, these are manufacturers of real cigars. The pilot project will be implemented with Total Flame. After the platform allows manufacturers to create CCs on their own (roughly in two clicks) and a financial mechanism for connecting to the platform is created, an offer will be sent to the main cigar manufacturers (now the list includes 100 companies).
At the second stage, the sector of vintage CCs will be created. They are old cigar brands and vitolas of Cuba of the 18th and 19th centuries, which have been lost and are not the subject of a copyright dispute. Recreating vintage CCs will not only introduce Cuban rarities to the Aficionados of the Meta Verse (hereinafter referred to as AMUs), but also create a separate sector including the resale market with the signature of the previous owner. After a while, some cigars from existing manufacturers can become vintage ones (growth in value depending on the storage time).
At the third stage, any AMU will be granted the possibility of creating his/her own CCs. To do this, a bank of tobaccos will be created with a description of their tastes, nicotine contents, and anyone will be able to create his/her own blend and cigar. The platform will also allow creating cigar band designs and 3D models.
It is important that knowing the proportions of tobaccos and their characteristics in CCs, the platform will rate cigars and generate added value. The tobacco bank will be formed by manufacturers and constantly updated (maybe synchronized with the actual tobacco production in Cuba and other countries producing cigar tobacco).
Each CC creator will have to create his/her own avatar. At the first stage, it can be simple and static, gradually updated to sophisticated animated avatars. Manufacturers will be able to create virtual tours to their plantations and real factories to create the effect of reality and teach how to make cigars.
To create cigar bands, it will be possible to connect two flagships of cigar band making – Cigar Rings (Nicaragua, Dominican Republic) and Vrijdag Premium Printing (Netherlands). To generate added value, it is necessary to rate cigars and select the cigar of the year. The creation of cigar clubs and connection of existing ones will expand the audience fast. Connecting Cigar Coin - Meta Verse of NFT Cigars to other meta-universes (concerts, games, etc.).
Thus, Cigar Coin - Meta Verse of NFT Cigars creates a new market for the "consumption" of cigars, meeting the criteria of demand: prestige, training, gamification, income generation, social communication, and a new element of marketing for manufacturers. At the same time, the CC becomes absolutely free from legal restrictions concerning tobacco products.
Maxim Privezentsev.
P.S.
The cigar is a vivid example of how tobacco continues to reinvent itself.