Sam Leccia Joins "General"

[kurtdesign1]

Holy Shit.
Obviously this isn't breaking news but I still can't wrap my head around it. The closest thing to sense I can muster here is that Sam got his mojo with Oliva. They're not quite a small company either. Perhaps the typical consumer perspective of the big 2 being the cigar equivalent of the "Evil Empire" is not shared amongst brand owners/manufacturers. General seems to have a much more progressive and respected position in the industry than their Spanish counterpart (Altadis) but I don't quite think they're as nimble and open as if he'd have continued on his own.

Is Sam worried about career stability with potential FDA regs looming?
Is this an existing partnership which is just now becoming public?
Was a large sum of money just thrown around?
Could this be General's attempt to become more "of the people"?
Did Sam realize that this may well be the biggest "buyer's market" he'll ever see and thus capitalized?

There are so many questions here I can't wrap my head around it. Kip and I spoke just after he got the release and I literally couldn't put a coherent thought together to respond. I had to wait a few hours but still didn't say anything worthwhile.

What are your thoughts? I'm sure we'll discuss later this evening but maybe you can put the rough draft of your own thoughts up here first

[Stewmuse]

Holy Shit.
Obviously this isn't breaking news but I still can't wrap my head around it.

There are so many questions here I can't wrap my head around it. Kip and I spoke just after he got the release and I literally couldn't put a coherent thought together to respond. I had to wait a few hours but still didn't say anything .)

No surprise there, Craig.

My guess goes along with your suggestions of $$$ and striking while the iron is hot. He doesn't have any pesky "competitive halting" to worry about and he get to set himself up for awhile, I'm sure. Unless you just HAVE to be your own boss and answer to no one, why wouldn't ya?

[Zedman05]

Well I am thinking that Sam looked around, saw that he had limited choices for production companies with tobacco that he either uses or is looking for, and went with General. For all we know, he had his cigars made with Torano and therefore now has all his tobacco being controlled by General already.
He can't got to DE as he has a competing fire-cured cigar against them. He can't go to Oliva ...obviously... he can't go with Rocky Patel ( he knows if anyone found that out he would lose the cigar geek crowd right away there). There is what left in Nicaragua ? Plasencia, AJ Fernandez, My Father and Padron left for bigger factories ? I am not sure what his dealings with those owners are, but I doubt they could offer either the money, or the future safety that he might be looking for. I wonder if he is just tired of getting thrown around and never knowing his future is safe for a few years ?
MAYBE he can bring something from the General coffers of tobacco in the future that can rival the boutiques, but I for one am sceptical and think we just lost a good cigar guy to "the man".

Cigar F^iend

[kurtdesign1]

Thanks for topping this again. It's got the wheels turning a bit.

If I recall correctly, we were all in the dark about exactly what General acquired when they made their deal with Torano. Let's hypothesize a bit about the impact. Torano distributed Leccia Tobacco (LT). All of Torano's brands/rights/tasks, ect were acquired by general so one could assume that the distribution rights were also acquired. I read earlier this week that immediately upon announcing Torano's partnership with General they began distribution of all 3 of Sam's lines. If distribution was absorbed and the LT line ownership was absorbed shortly thereafter, its safe to assume that all manufactured stock was also absorbed (granted, at a reduced distributors price-point). That's a separate check than the business acquisition (Well, you know what I mean. It's additionally factored into the value of the company and isn't separated literally) and I'm sure contributed nicely to Sam's compensation. Considering LT hasn't been around long enough to really establish a track record of mature gross value, I'm willing to believe that the amount paid was very "Sam friendly". It's not like 1 year of sales is easy to graph company growth from. That leads me to think this move was heavily weighted in PR value and was priced from a more qualitative perspective (i.e. General tried to buy cool because of the impact it could have over ALL of their premium brands).

If this was the case, how much value do you put on a face if you think it could boost sales across the board for the largest cigar manufacturer in the world? That's one expensive (and important) smile they just bought.

[IWinchester]

I can see these points. When I think about Sam, what I gather is 1) he lives for tobacco/cigars 2) he is creative 3) he's been harangued for about 5 years ever since the Oliva issue 4) he is business savvy 5) like everyone I bet he's worried about the FDA. With all those, and probably more factors, including $$, I think he's doing the right thing. Think about this (bear with the extreme example): if Pepin sold My Father to Altadis in the same manner Toraño was sold to General, what do you think Pete would do? I don't think he would abandon Tatuaje, his blends, business relationships, and tobacco supply. This is why I can't blame Sam. Sure I'm saddened that we lose Toraño and also lose LT as a boutique brand, but I would probably do the exact same thing in his shoes.


Kid Corona

[kurtdesign1]

if Pepin sold My Father to Altadis in the same manner Toraño was sold to General, what do you think Pete would do? I don't think he would abandon Tatuaje, his blends, business relationships, and tobacco supply.

I think you're off base with the analogy just a bit. If My Father Cigars sold, Pete would still own everything about Tatuaje. He would just have to have it manufactured elsewhere using the same "recipe". I am 99% certain that Pepin bought the tobacco to create the Cazadores blend and did not grow any of it originally. That being said, some of his other cigars MFG'd with leaf from La Estrella would certainly be subject to modifications considering their single source leaf would no longer be available.

It's just a minor detail but does represent a difference, should this ever come to be.