In 2018, Joya de Nicaragua will celebrate 50 years in business. While the company was has not announced specific plans around how they will commemorate that milestone, this year Joya still showcased a new product, a new packaging design, and a new sampler. Joya de Nicaraguan’s signature release was the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva. Keep […]
White Hat Cigars is a distribution company headed up by industry veteran Spencer Drake. The company handles the distribution of the HR line of cigars. When Hiroshi Robaina and the La Corona factory parted way with Cubanacan Cigars, both Robaina and La Corona needed a distribution arm to keep the HR brand going. Drake had built a relationship with […]
Whether it’s a classic motion picture or music album, many will say the follow-up or sequel has a tough act to follow after the original. However, when it comes to the follow-up to the follow-up (or sequel to the sequel), it is even a bigger hurdle to top the previous two installments. Not the case at Steve Saka’s Dunbarton Tobacco […]
Since last year’s IPCPR Trade Show, Grenada Nicaragua-based Mombacho Cigars SA has continued to make moves to strengthen itself in the market. This has included hiring Rob Rasmussen as its brand manager and naming Mo Maali, National Sales Manager. Maali is doing double-duty as he also serves as brand owner of Patina Cigars, who happens to produce […]
2017 has been a busy year for Santana Diaz at Pure Aroma Cigars, maker of the D’Crossier brand. Earlier this year, Diaz switched his distribution from Espinosa to handling it himself. He also has launched a series of new products, including shifting some of D’Crossier’s production from Costa Rica to the ABAM factory in the Dominican Republic. One of […]
As it has for the past seven trade shows, Camacho was a part of the Davidoff IPCPR booth. Camacho has been one of the big success stories under the Davidoff over the past four years. It’s a brand that has not only prided itself on the monikers “the bold standard” and “live loud”, but has also been one of innovation. 2017 […]
Ventura Cigar Company is the premium cigar division of Kretak International. Kretak has a huge distribution arm with its Phillips and King subsidiary, and has even made a statement in the cigar media landscape with its Tobacco Business publication. While it’s one piece in a larger puzzle, Ventura has done an excellent job bringing high-quality […]
It seems like yesterday that Christian Eiroa returned to the cigar business with the launch of C.L.E. Cigar Company, but this year Eiroa and C.L.E. celebrated five years in business. There was plenty of activity to showcase that milestone. At the same time, C.L.E. showed it is a company that is building on its strengths. Five years ago, Eiroa […]
Visiting RoMa Craft Tobac’s IPCPR Booth was perhaps the most interesting stop I made at the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show. While the company has continued to see growth, it’s still a relatively small company on the cigar landscape. For many small companies, the formula has been to introduce a new cigar line or some cigar line extensions at […]
The 2017 IPCPR Trade Show saw Steven Bailey’s Cornelius & Anthony brand release two new products, but more importantly, take some pivotal steps in becoming a force in the premium cigar industry. Bailey is best known as the owner of the Virginia-based S &M Brands tobacco company. Bailey comes from a tobacco lineage, as his family has spent […]
