Cigar Industry

Crowned Heads To Distribute ACE Prime Cigars

Apr 2, 2020 | By Thomas Pappalardo
Crowned Heads To Distribute ACE Prime Cigars

Crowned Heads LLC and ACE Prime Cigars have formed a strategic alliance that will have Crowned Heads handle all the distribution of ACE Prime’s products.

Crowned Heads, which has been in business since 2011, distributes and markets such brands as Headley Grange, Four Kicks and others, all of them made under contract by other companies. ACE Prime Cigars is a new company, launched last year, and it made its public debut at the PCA trade show in Las Vegas.

The trio behind Ace Prime is blender and entrepreneur Luciano Meirelles; Eradio Pichardo, the founder of the Tabacalera Pichardo cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua; and Tiago Splitter, an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets and a former NBA player, who won a championship with the San Antonio Spurs. The company’s products include the Pichardo cigar lines, the limited-edition Luciano (The Traveler) and the M.X.S. signature cigars of former NBA stars including Dominique Wilkins and Splitter.

“We are delighted in the announcement of our strategic partnership with Crowned Heads,” said Meirelles. “This is the fruit of years of authentic relationship and brings together our common DNA, to build something distinctive and long-lasting.”

This is not the first time the two companies have worked together. Prior to the launch of its own brands of cigars, Tabacalera Pichardo (which was founded in 2005) made cigars under contract for other companies. In 2016, Crowned Heads came to Tabacalera Pichardo to produce its Juarez cigar line for online retailer Thompson. The brand is now available to all retailers.

“We've had the privilege of knowing and working with Luciano and Pichardo for the past three years,” said Jon Huber of Crowned Heads. “Our relationship has grown organically over that time, and I'm looking forward to taking our business to the next level via this strategic alliance."

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