On the eve of the Procigar 2025 Festival, I had a chance to sit down and interview Oettinger Davidoff CEO Beat Hauenstein. At that time, Davidoff had officially inaugurated its expanded production facilities at Tabadom, and Mr. Hauenstein graciously took some time to meet with me. While many in the Americas know that Davidoff has a new leader, Mr. Hauenstein oversees Davidoff from a global perspective.
I found Mr. Hauenstein to be a very engaging personality with a clear vision for Davidoff in the marketplace. Our conversation covered a range of topics, including expanded production, innovation, Camacho, Zino, and PCA. Additionally, we had the opportunity to learn more about Mr. Hauenstein on a personal level.
Cigar Coop: Okay. Beat, how are you doing today?
Beat Hauenstein: Very, very well. I’m so happy that only two years after inaugurating the Learning Center for the children of our employees in the Dominican Republic, we are now inaugurating the next big milestone for our company, say our next investment here in the country. With today’s extension of our production site, we will be able to double our annual production capacity here in the beautiful Dominican Republic.
CC: That’s great. You guys seem like you made a lot of good use of the space that you had. You were very efficient in terms of basically using what you had and retrofitting it. Is that accurate?
BH: We refitted the space in the production halls, however, we built a completely new Blending Center of 1700 m2 and we also expanded our tobacco processing site located in Jicomé. I guess you can say that we were efficient. This must lie in the DNA of our company, which brings together Swiss precision and Caribbean passion as well as craftsmanship. Overall, the efficient set-up and the process flow allows us to continue focusing on delivering on our customer promise: guaranteeing our renowned highest quality and consistency of our fine cigars.
CC: The demand that you’ve seen, it obviously made the need to do this. So you obviously have seen a lot of demand.
BH: Absolutely. We do not just do an expansion of our manufacturing site because we like to do that. Of course, we like it, but it’s the rising demand for our cigars that made us do this investment. In particular for the Davidoff brand, which enjoyed a substantial demand increase since 2019. This investment was needed to be fit for the future and to continue gaining market share in the 130 markets we are active. Another important point next to the production efficiency, is also compliant market access. This is one of the key capabilities that we have built over the 150 years that we are active, and we will continue to drive this forward.
CC: And you guys have really continued innovation. I saw you when you were walking around the factory, you were smoking a Year of the Snake. So obviously, this is going to help you guys in terms of maintaining that innovation going forward.
BH: Yes, of course, driving innovation is key for our success. It actually was one of my top priorities when I took over as CEO almost eight years ago. I set-up a Master Blender Competence Center and also an Agricultural Competence Center with experts from HQ and the teams here in production, to make sure that we jointly drive our innovation agenda. Innovation is key to stay ahead, but one needs to make sure that innovation is aligned with the needs and expectations of the consumers. It is important that we listen to our consumers!
CC: What are the consumers you see are looking for lately?
BH: This varies from market to market. There are some markets where the consumer is more price sensitive and, while in some other, consumers are focused on the high-end premium segment and on new and innovative blends.
CC: How long have you been with Davidoff?
BH: I have been with Oettinger Davidoff for 22 years. I started in the company in 2003 as Chief Information Officer. In 2008 I took over the responsibility for our supply chain and the entire global operations and became Chief Operations Officer in 2016. One year later, in fall 2017, I was appointed CEO. As you can see, it is a great company – family-owned still today – where you can grow. But at the end, what counts and drives me personally, is the passion for what we are doing – for our fine brands and for our fine cigars.
CC: And then, obviously, you guys are a big part of Procigar, as this is Procigar Week. You guys have been a part of Pro Cigar for a very long time.
BH: Yes. Tabadom was one of the founding members, and Hamlet Espinal, our General Manager of Tabadom Holding, Inc. and VP Head of Global Operations at Oettinger Davidoff since 2015, and his team look forward to welcoming the Procigar groups to visit the expanded manufacturing site and the fields.
CC: And then, you also have a lot of operations over in Honduras as well.
BH: Yes. In Honduras, we opened a manufacturing site in 2017 and there it is where we produce our fine Camacho and Zino cigars.
CC: How are you looking at Camacho right now?
BH: We want to further push Camacho to become a global brand. As to the US market, besides Davidoff, we consider Camacho, AVO, and Zino the most important brands in our brand portfolio.
CC: And you guys also have a big announcement: you’re returning to our PCA trade show.
BH: Yes. We are indeed very excited to be back at PCA this year.
CC: Yeah, we’ll see you in New Orleans. Good to have you guys back. You guys were missed.
BH: Thank you. We are very happy to be back, and we look forward to being closer to our customers, our retailers, brick-and-mortar shops, and our consumers by offering them the different propositions we have for different cigar aficionados.
CC: I grew up in New York City and one of the first cigar stores I went to was Madison Avenue. So, and I just saw that there’s a big renovation going on at the store.
BH: Yes, indeed. We are renovating the existing store, and the lounge will be redesigned to create a suitable, spacious environment to further enhance the cigar enjoyment experience. The renovation will also introduce a secondary lounge, including more lounge seating, private lockers, and other amenities similar to the lounge on the ground level. I am convinced that our consumers in New York City will appreciate our investment.
CC: And then personally, I know they’re all like your kids, but what is the Davidoff cigar that you go to?
BH: So, this is very much depending on the occasion, on the situation. So, mainly my day-to-day cigar is a Davidoff Short Perfecto. It is a small cigar, but I like how it develops along the smoking enjoyment. When I have more time, I go for one for the Davidoff Limited Editions.
CC: Yeah, that’s awesome. I mean, I’d still go back to the Davidoff Signature line. It’s such a classic.
BH: It’s very comfortable to enjoy. 80% of the business is concentrating on our classic lines and the limited editions are for the high-end cigar aficionado who want to enjoy new taste experiences.
CC: You guys, ten years ago, were starting to do things like Davidoff Nicaragua, Escuro, and Yamasa. Anything, maybe, that you guys are going to look at exploring some other types of tobacco down the road?
BH: One of our key competencies with Davidoff certainly is the art of blending by using tobaccos from all corners of the world. Within our brand portfolio anchored around Davidoff – we have Zino, Camacho, Avo, Griffin’s Cusano, Private Stock, and Zino Platinum. As you see, we have a wide proposition for every type of consumer and for every occasion.
CC: So, Zino, I wanted to ask you about that. The new Zino brand with the Nicaraguan taste profile is the most read review on my website over the last year. It got a good review, but people keep reading. When I see people, I see you get a lot of traffic. And that’s just telling me that people are obviously seeking out information on that cigar. It’s been a huge hit for you guys. I’m reading that right, yeah.
BH: As said, the Zino Brand was successfully relaunched in 2021 with the Nicaragua line and a completely new campaign, as well as a modern, colorful design. It is indeed a great cigar at a good price. At times, I think it may be too good for that price. In addition, the cigars are available in practical fresh packs, which keep the cigars fresh for several weeks and allow them to be stored without a humidor.
CC: Thank you very much for your time.
BH: Thank you for joining our inauguration event!
