EXCLUSIVE: Fuentes To Rejoin ProCigar
The Fuentes are coming back to ProCigar.
Tabacalera
A. Fuente y Cia., the makers of Arturo Fuente, Fuente Fuente OpusX,
Ashton and many other prominent cigar brands, is rejoining ProCigar, the
association of cigarmakers in the Dominican Republic. Fuente left the
organization in 1995 after a labor dispute with other companies in the
organization.
Carlos
Fuente Jr., president of Fuente, met with ProCigar president Hendrik
“Henke” Kelner (the maker of Davidoffs) on Friday night at a charity
cigar event in Santo Domingo. At that event, Fuente told Kelner his
company would return to ProCigar.
“We
have to have a fresh start to unite the industry,” Fuente said in an
interview with Cigar Aficionado. “I’d like for the new generation not to
make the same mistakes the old guard did,” he said.
“I
am very happy with this news,” said Kelner to Cigar Aficionado. When
Fuente told him he was coming back to ProCigar, Kelner responded by
saying “Carlito, you were one of the founders—you are a member of
ProCigar.”
Kelner
said he would meet with the rest of the members of ProCigar on Tuesday.
When asked if there needed to be a vote or meeting to formalize
Fuente’s return to the organization, Kelner said no.
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Fuente
was a founding member of ProCigar, which was created in the early 1990s
during the beginnings of the cigar boom. The association was meant to
create a unified force among Dominican cigar producers, as at the time
the Dominican Republic was struggling to produce enough cigars to meet
the demand of the booming U.S. market.
The
other members of ProCigar are: General Cigar Dominicana (Macanudo, La
Gloria Cubana); Tabacalera de Garcia Ltd. (Montecristo, Romeo y
Julieta); MATASA (Fonseca, Quesada); La Aurora S.A. (Guillermo León,
Leon Jimenes); Tabadom Holding (Davidoff, Avo); Tabaquisa S.A. (Juan
Clemente) and Corporacion Cigar Export (Augusto Reyes, Fittipaldi).
ProCigar
throws an annual cigar festival, and the next festival takes place in
February. Fuente said he was uncertain if he would be able to attend,
given previous commitments.
