Fabricas Unidas, the umbrella company for the brands owned by Christian Eiroa has announced a buy back program for cigar boxes.  This will allow Fabricas Unidas to re-use cigar boxes on future production.  Information on this program was communicated in a letter by Eiroa that was published in the August 20th, IPCPR newsletter.

According to Eiroa, this initiative falls in line with the company’s BAYER Better Manufacturing Practices and Better Growing Practices initiatives.   These initiatives are intended to lower the company’s impact to the environment.  The BAYER program is nothing new for Eiroa.  Back in 2010 when he still owned Camacho Cigars, Eiroa entered into an agreement with Bayer to comply with practices set forth by Bayer CropScience.   Camacho also became the first tobacco company to be in  compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).  As for Fabricas Unidas, the farms and Aladino Factory are currently going through the certification process.  By doing this, this ensures that cigars made by Fabricas Unidas have been made with tobacco that had zero environmental impact as well as strict hygiene standards. 

A logical extension of the program is to focus on cigar boxes.  According to Eiroa: “As you can imagine, cigar boxes are one of the biggest offenders to our forests and although we use woods that are friendlier and from controlled forests, the impact is undeniable. We are asking for your assistance to reduce our impact by 50%.”

Under the program, cigar boxes can be sold back to Fabricas Unidas for $1.00 per box.  The company requests that boxes be shipped back at a minimum of 20 at a time.  The company will provide a tag to the retailers.  After the boxes are inspected, a box credit will be applied to the account.
Fabricas Unidas was launched last year.  This includes several companies under the umbrella – CLE Cigars, Asylum Cigars, Wynwood Cigars, Edgar Hoill Cigars, and Pura Soul Cigars.