Tobacco Focus: General Cigar Company Acquires All Toraño Brands

Introduction: It is reported that General Cigar Company has acquired all Toraño brands. According to General Cigar Company, the existing product lineup of Toraño cigars, such as Exodus, Casa Toraño, Vault, and Master Collection, will remain unchanged. General Cigar Company now assumes full ownership of the Toraño brand and the distribution of each Toraño brand. The financial terms of this acquisition

have not been disclosed.

According to Chinese e-cigarette news, General Cigar Company has acquired all Toraño family cigar brands. General Cigar Company stated that the existing product lineup of Toraño cigars, such as Exodus, Casa Toraño, Vault, and Master Collection, will remain unchanged. General Cigar Company now assumes full ownership of the Toraño brand and the distribution of each Toraño brand. The financial terms of this acquisition have not been disclosed.

“They have purchased all the brands and are gradually getting into the swing of things,” former brand owner and Toraño Company President Charlie Toraño told Cigar Aficionado. “General is a mature distribution company. The Toraño family cigar company was in a downward spiral. We are ready to distribute the Toraño cigars that were produced for us. Now General owns this brand, and the Toraño family cigar company is no longer involved.”

General has acquired the entire brand portfolio of Toraño, rather than the now-defunct “Toraño Family Cigar Company.”

General Cigar Company's President Dan Carr stated: “Acquiring the Toraño cigar brand represents a strategic opportunity for us to expand our brand portfolio. Our two companies have been connected for over 50 years, and I look forward to working with Charlie.”

The collaboration began in the 1950s when Toraño's grandfather sold Cuban tobacco to Edgar Cullman, who was then in charge of General Cigar Company. After the trade embargo against Cuba, Toraño continued to grow tobacco in Connecticut and later in the Dominican Republic, maintaining a cooperative relationship with General Cigar Company.

“We once had two factories, the Honduras Latin Cigar Factory and the Nicaragua Latin Cigar Factory,” Toraño said. “There we produced brands like CAO, Toraño, and Dunhill. When Scandinavian Tobacco Company acquired CAO, we sold those two factories to them. Then in 2010, Scandinavian Tobacco Company (STG) merged with Swedish Match Company, the parent company of General Cigar Company. After the merger, General Cigar Company began producing Exodus lines, Casa Toraño, Cameroon 1916, and The Brick in the two factories we sold.”

The Toraño brands such as Vault and Master Collection, produced by the privately-owned American Caribbean Cigar Factory in Nicaragua, continue to be produced there. Currently, General Cigar Company has no plans to move these brands to another factory.

Toraño told Cigar Aficionado that this means unemployment for the employees of the Toraño family cigar company, but he is optimistic that the Toraño brand will be well managed by General and will help usher in a turnaround. “I will consult with General for a while, but I am not an employee of General, nor does the company pay my salary.”