| Industry | Tobacco |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Cullman Brothers |
| Founded | 1906 in Evansville, Indiana, USA |
| Headquarters | Richmond, Virginia |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Regis Broersma (President) |
| Products | Premium Cigar and Pipe Tobacco |
| Parent | Scandinavian Tobacco Group |
General Cigar Company is the largest manufacturer of premium cigars in the world. It is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group with North American headquarters located in Richmond, Virginia.
In 1961 General Cigar, which was profitably selling about $30 million worth of cigars annually, was purchased for approximately $25 million by a group of investors headed by Edgar M. Cullman (brother of then Philip Morris Company CEO Joseph Cullman), a fourth generation American in the tobacco industry. [1]
Later in the 1960s, Culbro[ clarification needed ] and General Cigar acquired Gradiaz Annis, maker of Gold Label cigars and the Temple Hall factory that owned the Macanudo brand name, ushering in a turn towards hand-rolled premium cigars. [1] Macanudo, a small label made in limited quantities for the market in the United Kingdom, was seen as the principal vehicle for growth in the premium cigar category. A careful effort was made to reblend the product for the large American marketplace (then and now subject to a ban on Cuban tobacco, the industry's gold standard) using select binder and filler from the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Mexico and Connecticut shade-grown wrapper. [1] Mass advertising was conducted in support of the brand, which by the early 1990s had grown into the best selling premium cigar label in the United States. [1]
In 1978 General registered a U.S. trademark on the brand name "Cohiba", thereby obtaining the right to use the name of that premium Cuban cigar in the American market without any connection to or content provided by its Cuban maker. Protracted legal wrangling followed, resolved when the U. S. Supreme Court denied the petition of the Cuban tobacco marketing agency, Cubatabaco, in 2006. [2] General Cigar's Cohiba cigars bear a disclaimer stating that they are not affiliated in any way with the Cuban Cohiba brand.
From 1978 General Cigar has also produced the Cuban tobacco free Partagas and Bolivar cigar brands for the American market in competition with Cuban brands of the same name. Initial production of Partagas was conducted in Jamaica, but the following year production moved to a modern 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. [3]
A similar trade dress to the Cuban product has been used by General Cigar for its competing version of the Partagás brand, employing a red-and-gold band scheme, save with the word "Habana" replaced by the date "1845" on the packaging. [3]
In 1997, General Cigar acquired Villazon, a company marketing non-Cuban versions of the leading Cuban cigar brands Punch and Hoyo de Monterrey. [4]
In 2005, Swedish Match acquired General Cigar. [5] In 2010, Swedish Match merged its premium cigars into Scandinavian Tobacco Group. [6]
In 2016, Swedish Match sold its shares of General Cigar back to STG.
In January 2021, Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S (STG), the company behind General Cigar and Cigars International, announced the formation of a new company, The Forged Cigar Company, an independent national cigar distribution network. The cigar brands under General Cigar were split up between General and Forged with the latter focusing more on Brick and Mortar business.
The first brands that were moved to The Forged Cigar Company were Partagas, La Gloria Cubana, Bolivar Cofradia, Diesel and Chillin’ Moose. Brands that remained with General included CAO, Cohiba, Hoyo de Monterrey, Macanudo, and Punch. Later the El Rey Del Mundo brand was added to Forged's portfolio. [7]
General Cigar Company | |
 Southern side of the building | |
   | |
| Location | 223 NW 2nd St., Evansville, Indiana |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°57′51″N87°34′30″W / 37.96417°N 87.57500°W |
| Area | Less than 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1902 |
| Built by | Harry Boyle and Company; Alfred E. Neucks |
| Architectural style | Arts and Crafts |
| NRHP reference No. | 00000212 [8] |
| Added to NRHP | March 15, 2000 |
The General Cigar Company building at Evansville, Indiana was built in 1902, and expanded in 1929. It is a three-story, L-shaped red brick building with Arts and Crafts style design elements. [9] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. [8]
Swedish Match AB is a Swedish multinational tobacco company headquartered in Stockholm. The company manufactures snus, nicotine pouches, moist snuff, tobacco- and nicotine-free pouch products, chewing tobacco, chew bags, tobacco bits, cigars, matches, lighters, and other fire products with operations in Sweden, Denmark, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. The company's origins can be traced back to 1868, and Ivar Kreuger. Swedish Match has played an important part in Sweden's industrial development.
Cuban cigars are cigars manufactured in Cuba from tobacco grown within that island nation. Historically regarded as among the world's “finest”, they are synonymous with the island's culture and contribute over one quarter of the value of all exports from the country.
Cohiba is a brand for two kinds of premium cigar, one produced in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic for US-based General Cigar Company.
Bolívar is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco for General Cigar Company, which is today a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Both are named for the South American revolutionary, Simón Bolívar.
H. Upmann is a Cuban brand of premium cigars established by banker Hermann Dietrich Upmann. The brand is currently owned by a British corporation, Imperial Brands. The cigars are manufactured by Habanos S.A., the state-owned tobacco company in Cuba, and Altadis in La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Trinidad is a Cuban brand of cigars, named after the city of Trinidad, Cuba. The production plants are located in Cuba, managed by the Cuban manufacturing company Habanos S.A., and in the Dominican Republic, by the Spanish manufacturing company Altadis, a subsidiary of the British tobacco company Imperial Brands.
Partagás is a brand name of cigars that are made by two independent & competing entities, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company; the other, containing no Cuban tobacco, produced in the Dominican Republic for General Cigar Company, a division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group of Denmark.
Habanos S.A. is a Cuban manufacturing company of tobacco that controls the promotion, distribution, and export of premium cigars and other tobacco products for Cuba worldwide. It was established in 1994.
Hoyo de Monterrey is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company and the other produced in Honduras by General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match.
Ramón Allones is the name of two premium cigar brands. The first one is produced on Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company. The other is produced in Honduras for General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match.
La Gloria Cubana is the name of two premium cigar brands, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic by El Credito Cigar Company for General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match. La Gloria Cubana was sold to General Cigar Company by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo in 1999 for an undisclosed sales price.
Por Larrañaga is the name of a cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, as well as a non-Cuban line of cigars produced in the Dominican Republic and Honduras for Altadis, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands. Por Larrañaga cigars have been in continuous production in Cuba since 1834.
Don José "Pepin" Garcia is the CEO of El Rey de los Habanos, Inc, a cigar company in Miami, also known as My Father Cigars. He is a noted cigar maker living in Miami, Florida. Born in Cuba, he is a master cigar roller and blender, and the creator and maker of numerous popular cigar brands.
Macanudo is a brand of cigar produced by the General Cigar Company in the Dominican Republic. It is noted for its mild flavor and light café Connecticut shade wrapper, but is also available in a darker maduro wrapper, catering to a range of preferences among cigar aficionados.
La Real Fabrica de Tabacos Partagás, also known as The Royal Partagás Cigar Factory, is a cigar factory museum in Havana, Cuba. The world-famous habanos cigars are produced in this factory. Across the street from the massive Capitol building in Havana, it was one of Cuba's oldest cigar factories.
Scandinavian Tobacco Group is a manufacturer of cigars and traditional pipe tobacco. The city company is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is a publicly listed Company on Nasdaq Copenhagen.
Alejandro Robaina was a Cuban tobacco grower, the namesake of the Vegas Robaina cigar brand.
Frank Anthony Llaneza was a tobacco blender and former executive of Villazon & Co. who is regarded as a pioneer in the resurgence of the premium cigar industry at the end of the 20th Century. Llaneza is best known for the creation and manufacture of a number of popular cigar brands in the years after the 1962 Cuban Embargo, including Hoyo de Monterrey, Punch, Bolivar, and Siglo.
Boutique Blends Cigars, formerly the Habana Cuba Cigar Company, is an American manufacturer of premium hand-rolled cigars based in Miami, Florida. The company was established in 1996 during the American cigar boom as the non-Cuban manufacturer of the historic Cuban "Oliveros" brand. The company was sold in 2002 to a new ownership group consisting of the Cuban-born Rafael Nodal, his wife Alina Cordoves Nodal, and Hank Bischoff.
Edgar M. Cullman was an American businessman who served as President and CEO of General Cigar Company and is credited with transforming the image of cigars.
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