Tobacco Business

to great lengths to develop a resealable package that maintains the flavor and quality of the cigars it contains. Frontier Brands takes pride in the quality of its tobacco. For example, Frontier Cheroots and XL are both machine made, and its cigarillos are made only by hand. Frontier Cheroots are the company’s flagship product and its bestseller. While Louis chalks this up to it being in the market the longest, he also attributes Frontier Cheroots’ success to the quality of the leaf, its draw and price point. Frontier Cigarillos and XL, while being among the company’s newer offerings, are also gaining traction as more retailers begin to carry them. A Better Experience Like any tobacco business, Frontier Brands must deal with the increasing intrusion of the government in the cigar industry. In particular, Frontier Brands finds itself dealing with the growing scrutiny over flavors in tobacco products, an issue Louis is particularly passionate about. “I find it rather disingenuous when politicians and bureaucrats want to ban flavors because they maintain it is a ‘gateway’ for youth to be introduced to the ‘perils of cigars,’” he says. “It is a legal product designed for adult consumption. Let adults choose for themselves! Yet these same government types sit silent as other adult products, in particular alcoholic beverages, openly advertise on TV their hard ciders, flavored seltzers and fruity spirits. Talk about an openly inviting ‘gateway’ process. The ultimate hypocrisy is that I do not recall someone smoking a cigar, getting in a car impaired and ending up killing someone.” While he continues to monitor as the situation unfolds, Louis isn’t letting the uncertain regulatory future of cigars put a damper on his company’s passion: cigars. “We strive every day to put a product out in the marketplace that will be well received. We feel fortunate to be able to do so. Our philosophy is to make a great product and treat people with respect, and everything else will fall into place.” Because Frontier Brands controls its entire manufacturing process, its products are in stock and haven’t been impacted by the supply chain issues that have plagued the industry for the past year due to COVID-19. Instead of trying to shotgun the entire marketplace, Frontier Brands has focused its efforts on expanding its distribution. Currently, Frontier has been able to maintain a significant and growing inventory of all of its products to allow it to continue to grow despite the growing supply chain issues being experienced around the world. Retailers in need of product can expect delivery within two to five business days of placing an order. Being able to get product to retailers in a timely manner is just one way Frontier Brands has been able to build beneficial relationships. Frontier also offers generous distributor and retail store incentives and rebate programs in addition to making its products affordable for all cigars smokers. Louis and his team have aimed to make Frontier’s products a win-win situation for every level of the supply chain and to deliver an end product that will be viewed favorably by consumers while also offered at a great price. Better leaf, better flavor, better draw and better price—those are the four factors Frontier strives for in its products. “We work very aggressively with the wholesalers, distributors and retailers to create incentives so that everybody can make money because if we all don’t make money along the way, then it’s all for nothing,” Louis states. “I care about this industry, I care about the products that we put out, and I’m proud of what we do.” TB The recently launched Frontier XL is an all-natural Corona-died cigar consisting of premium Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco fillers wrapped in an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper. [ 62 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ JANUARY / FEBRUARY | 22 ]