12
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
NEWS & TRENDS
HigHligHts
swisher names new President
Peter Ghiloni will replace Tom Ryan, Swisher
International’s president and CEO, who began
hiscareerintheindustryin1967andisslatedto
retire on Dec. 31. In announcing the transition,
Ryan expressed confidence that Ghiloni is
the right choice to “lead Swisher into its next
phase, and build upon our past success. His
leadership and industry experience will help
him to drive the company to even greater
results in the future.”
“
I’m honored by the trust that the board [of
directors] has placed in me, and while no one
can truly replace Tom, I look forward to taking
both my industry experience and what I have
learned fromhimandother dedicatedSwisher
employees to move this company forward,”
said Ghiloni, who is currently Swisher’s
senior vice president of marketing. “While our
industry faces many interesting challenges, I
also see great opportunity and I’m optimistic
aboutwhereour teamcan take this company.”
Swisher International is an international
tobacco brand known for a large variety of
cigars, filtered cigars and smokeless tobacco
products sold under several names including
Swisher Sweets, King Edward, Optimo,
BlackStone, Santa Fe and Chattanooga Chew.
7-20-4
Cigars
appoints rick
ardito
Industry veteran Rick
Ardito, 50, has joined
Londonderry,
New
Hampshire-based 7-20-
4
Cigars as director of marketing/sales.
“
Realizing my ‘one-man band’ wouldn’t
support 7-20-4’s growth, I wanted to invest
in the best,” explained owner Kurt A.
Kendall, whose boutique cigars are made in
Danli, Honduras. “Our 17-year personal and
working friendship drove me to catch him
before someone else inevitably did.”
A former U.S. Marine and graduate of
Miami Dade College, majoring in psychology,
Ardito held a similar position at Drew Estate
from1997 to 2010. “I look forward to revisiting
my old industry friends coast-to-coast, and
introducing them to the unique identity and
quality of 7-20-4 Cigars,” he says.
Menendez Honored
Benji Menendez has been inducted into Cigar
Aficionado’s Hall of fame.
Benjamin “Benji” Menendez, senior
vice president of General Cigar,
was recently inducted into the Cigar
Aficionado Hall of Fame. One of nine
new members in the first induction
since 1997, Menendez joined Carlos
Fuente Jr., Hendrik Kelner, Robert
Levin, José Orlando Padrón, Ernesto
Perez-Carrillo, Nestor Plasencia,
Manuel Quesada and José Seijas
in receiving the honor, which was
bestowed in September at New York
City’s Grand Havana Room.
Menendez comes from a family
with a long and storied history in
cigar lore that has continued on
to spread post-communist Cuba.
Benji Menendez’s father, Alonso
Menendez, was a master of the
tobacco trades in Cuba. His brother
Felix Menendez (currently in Brazil) is
one of the founders of Brazilian cigar
giant Menendez Amerino, which
produces the Dona Flor line.
Benji and Felix Menendez both
learned their craft in Cuba through
involvement with the family business
that created the Montecristo brand
and was majority owner of the H.
Upmann factory in pre-Castro era
Cuba. Post-
Castro, the
brothers left
Cuba
with
father Alonso
and opened
up shop in
Spain, where they sourced Brazilian
tobacco from the Amerino family
and became early fans of the now-
famedMata Fina tobacco. In the early
1970
s, Benji and Felix resettled in
Brazil where they formed Menendez
Amerino with the Amerino family.
There, together with the Amerinos,
the brothers partnered with Arturo
Torano to create the Alonso
Menendez and Dona Flor brands.
After Benji Menendez left Brazil
in the early ’80s, he began working
with General Cigar, where he is
charged with maintaining the
quality of brands like Macanudo
and where he recently created the
award-winning Benjamin Menendez
Partagas Master Series Majestuoso.
We at
TOB
congratulate Menendez
and hope his career—now spanning
60
years—continues for many, many
more.
Montague, Ma
enacts stricter Tobacco rules
E-cigs and cigars are targeted in new list of regulations.
The Montague, Massachusetts
Board of Health rolled out an updated
list of regulations cracking down on
underage tobacco use on October 1.
For the first time, e-cigarettes will be
regulated under the same guidelines
as other tobacco products, including
prohibiting their sale to anyone under
21.
Beginning February 13, 2013,
the city will also enforce tighter
rules on the packaging and pricing
of cigars, reportedly in an effort
to make tobacco products too
expensive for young consumers.
Under the new regulations, single
cigars will have to be priced at
$2.50 or more, and multi-cigar
packages will have to include at
least four.