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OTP PIPES RYO
IT ISN’T EASY BEING A SMALL TOBACCO com-
pany in an industry dominated by giants—so when you
see a relatively small company operating out of Wilson,
North Carolina thriving in today’s turbulent marketplace,
you know
that
they’re doing something right. Such is the
case for East Carolina RYO, founded in the heart of U.S.
tobacco country in 2006.
After cigarette prices skyrocketed in the aftermath of
the Masters Settlement Agreement, a handful of tobac-
co company and retail veterans came together to give
smokers a reasonably priced alternative, recounts Andy
Shango, one of the company’s founders. “We decided to
turn history back and see if people would go back to mak-
ing their own cigarettes if it meant getting a much lower
price,” he explains. “That was the whole concept.”
The company’s original product, Kentucky Smooth,
was a hit with smokers, who quickly embraced the roll-
your-own trend and appreciated East Carolina RYO’s
commitment to quality and
its
ability to deliver value.
“
We were able to draw on the industry experience of our
founders to put out one of the best products on the mar-
ket on every level, from the smoking sensation to the qual-
ity of the tobacco we were buying,”
Shango says
. “And
because we were a small company we were able to have a
very reasonable price.”
East
Carolina
RYO:
Committed
toQuality
Drawing on extensive experience
in tobacco growing, blending and
cutting, this local producer has
forged a national presence.
BY JENNIFER GELFAND
Kentucky Select Pipe Tobacco
features U.S. flue-cured
and burley tobaccos.
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TOBACCO BUSINESS
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