Following the fire that occurred at its tobacco warehouse in the Dominican Republic, Carlos “Carlito” Fuente of Arturo Fuente has issued a statement in regards to the fire.
On May 17th around 5:30 afternoon one of our tobacco warehouses in Villa González, Dominican Republic, was affected by a fire that resulted in the loss of the building and all of the irreplaceable aged tobacco inside.
Yes, sadly, years of hard work and dedication from every member of our Fuente family were lost in the fire, but truly, the only thing that matters in these tragic moments is that, fortunately, no one was injured. We will not be discouraged by this setback.
Fire, trials and tribulations have been a way of life for us. It will only continue to forge our determination to move forward and prevail. We lost a lot, but never, ever our faith and will.
An investigation is still ongoing in regards to the cause of the fire. Initial reports are approximately one million pounds of tobacco were lost in the fire.
We all mourn. The premium cigar business is not easy. I’ll use this, and the recent loss of the Florida Sun grown crop, as motivation for me to weather my own hail storms and storms in my own profession. I often think about the struggles of pioneers in the tobacco industry when I’m going through hard times, myself.