Manuel Garcia, best known for his tenure as Vice President at Habanos S.A., has joined Villiger Cigars. The company has announced Garcia will join the Villiger International Handmade Cigar division. He will be based in Santo Domingo at the ABAM factory where all Dominican-made Villager products are produced. Garcia spent 15 years as the Commercial […]
On Thursday October 12th, 2017 Swisher International announced that its CEO and President Peter Ghiloni will be retiring at the end of the year. Ghiloni’s retirement caps off a 34-year tenure at Swisher International. Concurrently, the company also announced Ghiloni’s successor will be John Miller, Swisher International’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. To premium cigar […]
José Oliva, best known as CEO of Oliva Cigar Company, has been designated the Speaker of the House for the State of Florida for 2019-2020. This means if Oliva’s party (Republican) holds the majority in the Florida House of Representatives in the 2018 elections, he will become Speaker of the House beginning in 2019. Oliva was first […]
Janelle Rosenfeld, Altadis U.S.A.’s long-time Vice President of marketing, is departing the company. Earlier this morning, Rosenfeld confirmed her departure from Altadis with Cigar Aficionado. Rosenfeld was a mainstay at Altadis. She is the only person to hold the VP of marketing title at Altadis U.S.A. She actually started in the role back in 1996 with […]
Earlier this year Boutique Blends entered into a strategic alliance with Altadis USA. Under that agreement, Altadis USA would handle the distribution for Boutique Blends. Concurrently, Boutique Blends co-owner Rafael Nodal would also join the Altadis USA team focused on product development, quality, and innovation. Now Nodal’s role will be expanding as Altadis USA’s parent […]
Global Premium Cigars, the maker of 1502 Cigars, has announced the next step of its growth in the international market. The company has announced that Peter Gaudenzi will be its new Director of European Development. “Peter’s leadership and enthusiasm in bringing 1502 Cigars to the European market continues an extremely successful and busy year for […]
For Special Edition #12, we look back at the Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard era at Davidoff. Hoejsgaard recently departed Davidoff after seven years as its CEO, but not without making an impact and making history. We also pay homage to the late Frank Vincent and discuss Bear’s recent visit to Houston following last month’s Hurricane. The following are two previous interviews […]
The Mark Pursell era of IPCPR is coming to an end. Today, the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) and Pursell announced they are parting ways effective October 15th, 2017. IPCPR President Ken P. Neumann commented, “On behalf of the Board, we appreciate the opportunity to work with Mark over the next month to ensure […]
La Palina Cigars and the El Titan de Bronze factory announced that acclaimed Cuban roller Maria Sierra is retiring. Sierra was the exclusive roller of the Goldie from its inception in 2012. Lopez “Chino” Perez, who worked as an apprentice to Sierra the past three years will now assume her responsibilities as the exclusive roller for the […]
Danny Vazquez is back. Today Roma Craft Tobac announced that Vazquez will be joining the company this month as its new sales leader. Vazquez is best known for being the founder of Barocoa Cigar Company. In his new role, Vazquez will pursue an inside sales and client relationship role focusing on enhancing the company’s sales channels and […]
