How Does HSA Distributes CCs to Each Region?

[Connoisseur Kim]

I'm currently revamping Korean Cigar Wiki and I decided to add more details about how does HSA distributes CCs to each region.

Is it correct to say "HSA grants a single license to one company for each region, then exclusive distributor distributes CCs to official CC retailers including LCDH and exclusive sub-distributor. After that, exclusive sub-distributor under exclusive distributor distributes CCs to smaller shops like tobacconist." for explaining the way HSA distributes CCs to the world? I didn't know exclusive sub-distributor also involves in CC distribution along with exclusive distributor until I read it on the CCW.

Note. In my country, Pierre.Ltd (used to be LCDH in the past, but became Habanos Specialist nowadays) is the exclusive sub-distributor for Korea under PCC and distributes CCs to smaller shops including pubs and tobacconists.

[Ryan]

I think you have most of it there. I'm not sure if sub-distributors are exclusive to a region but I can't think of any examples of a region with more than one sub-distributor.

Sub-Distributors can also have their own sub-distributors (sub-sub-distributors)

In 1991/1992 Habanos reorganised distribution and allowed only one distributor in every market. There were some exceptions, NR Silverstone held out for a while distributing Saint Luis Rey after Hunters and Frankau got the exclusive licence for UK, Ireland, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Also Sauberli in Switzerland operated for some time alongside Intertabak. I don't think Sauberli distrubutes hand-made Habanos anymore. I could be wrong there. Greece also had or has a separate distributor for the machine made ICT brands but I cannot remember the name now.

Most, if not all, Habanos Distributors have a "Cuban Corporate Director" on their board, appointed by Habanos S.A. They get rotated fairly often. With H&F, 4-5 years seems the norm. 

Generally, distributors whose region include more than one country will have at least one sub-distributor for each country.

Often, in Europe especially, this is due to protectionist tobacco laws where a company importing tobacco must be incorporated in that country, for regulations and meeting various other requirements. Also, it's simpler for a retailer to deal with a local (same country) company for supply. For tax, currency, support etc reasons.

Ampersand (a holding of JJ Fox International) is the sub-distributor for Ireland. I know that Ampersand, a sub-distributor of H&F for Habanos, have sold wholesale to other sub-distributors for secondary channel sales (hotels, golf-clubs etc)

JJ Fox C.I. for the Channel Islands

Lewis Stagnetto for Gibraltar

Charles Grech for Malta

Camelot for Croatia (used to be a Habanos distributor, now a sub-distributor)

I'm not sure if any of that is of any help to you but well done on updating a cigar wiki!

 

 

[Connoisseur Kim]

27 minutes ago, Ryan said:

I think you have most of it there. I'm not sure if sub-distributors are exclusive to a region but I can't think of any examples of a region with more than one sub-distributor.

Sub-Distributors can also have their own sub-distributors (sub-sub-distributors)

In 1991/1992 Habanos reorganised distribution and allowed only one distributor in every market. There were some exceptions, NR Silverstone held out for a while distributing Saint Luis Rey after Hunters and Frankau got the exclusive licence for UK, Ireland, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Also Sauberli in Switzerland operated for some time alongside Intertabak. I don't think Sauberli distrubutes hand-made Habanos anymore. I could be wrong there. Greece also had or has a separate distributor for the machine made ICT brands but I cannot remember the name now.

Most, if not all, Habanos Distributors have a "Cuban Corporate Director" on their board, appointed by Habanos S.A. They get rotated fairly often. With H&F, 4-5 years seems the norm. 

Generally, distributors whose region include more than one country will have at least one sub-distributor for each country.

Often, in Europe especially, this is due to protectionist tobacco laws where a company importing tobacco must be incorporated in that country, for regulations and meeting various other requirements. Also, it's simpler for a retailer to deal with a local (same country) company for supply. For tax, currency, support etc reasons.

Ampersand (a holding of JJ Fox International) is the sub-distributor for Ireland. I know that Ampersand, a sub-distributor of H&F for Habanos, have sold wholesale to other sub-distributors for secondary channel sales (hotels, golf-clubs etc)

JJ Fox C.I. for the Channel Islands

Lewis Stagnetto for Gibraltar

Charles Grech for Malta

Camelot for Croatia (used to be a Habanos distributor, now a sub-distributor)

I'm not sure if any of that is of any help to you but well done on updating a cigar wiki!

Thank you for supporting my Cigar Wiki Project @Ryan! I decided to update Korean Cigar Wiki until this year, since it still has some room for further improvement (started from 2016). I didn't expect sub-distributors can have sub-sub-distributor at all (reminds me of Christopher Nolan's Inception TBH) 😮.

After I complete the project, I'll do CCW Korean Translation, which is inspired by recent CCW Goes to China post on FOH 😃. I was surprised and felt happy when I saw some B&Ms in my country use Korean Cigar Wiki as a reference for their blog posts 😄.