Joya de Nicaragua, Quesada Announce Joint U.S. Distribution, Bring Back SAG Imports

[JohnS]

Joya de Nicaragua, Quesada Announce Joint U.S. Distribution, Bring Back SAG Imports

December 12, 2025 - Charlie Minato

Don’t call it a comeback. 

Joya de Nicaragua and Quesada will once again be partners in the American market. The two companies were once connected before: Quesada’s SAG Imports distributed Joya de Nicaragua’s products in the U.S. until 2008, when Drew Estate became Joya’s American distributor, an agreement that is coming to an end later this month.

Going forward, SAG will once again be the American distribution company for both Joya de Nicaragua and Quesada, though this time, it is described as a joint venture between the Quesada family and the Martínez family that owns Joya de Nicaragua. Previously, SAG Imports was the distribution company for Quesada’s brands, including Casa Magna.

“For us, this moment is a continuation of our family’s story,” said Raquel Quesada, president of Quesada Cigars, in a press release. “As the fifth generation to lead the business, my sister Patricia and I feel a deep gratitude for the legacy we inherited and a renewed desire to express our own voice within it. Joining forces with Joya de Nicaragua through SAG allows us to honor where we come from while shaping what comes next: building a home where tradition and creativity inspire one another, and where every cigar carries a piece of our history and our hope for the future.”

SAG has announced three leadership roles:

    Joel Fernandez — National Sales Director
    Maria Fernanda Piuzzi — Director of Administration & Operations
    Cristhian Lanzas — Marketing Director, USA

Notably, Fernandez and Cristhian Lanzas are both Joya employees; Fernanda Piuzzi previously worked for AGANORSA Leaf. The company has plans for eight more people to serve in sales roles, a mixture of both full-time staff and independent sales brokers.

“This is a story of mutual respect and shared purpose. Our families have known each other for more than three decades. By coming together, we are not only honoring our histories but also taking an important step forward in the U.S. market — the largest and most influential cigar market in the world, a place that has welcomed our brands with warmth for generations,” said Juan Ignacio Martínez, executive president of Joya de Nicaragua, in a press release. “For Joya de Nicaragua, exploring the potential of our own distribution effort, and doing this in a way that is unique to ourselves, our history and our voice, has been a long-held aspiration; doing so alongside the Quesada family makes this moment even more meaningful. With SAG, we can serve our friends, retailers, and partners with greater dedication, staying true to the values that define us while building a stronger future together.”

While much has been made about how Joya de Nicaragua would sell its cigars in America after the Drew Estate relationship ended, the new arrangement might be a larger change for Quesada.

Under the old SAG Imports, Quesada once had a U.S.-based company with a warehouse and a mixture of full-time employees and sales brokers, but in 2017, that began to go away. For years, Quesada has operated without a U.S. warehouse, instead using a special UPS program to directly ship cigars from its factory in the Dominican Republic to retailers in the U.S. Almost every other company ships cigars from a factory in Latin America to a warehouse, typically in Florida, and then the orders are fulfilled out of the American warehouse’s inventory. Quesada argued the new program would allow for retailers to get their orders fulfilled quicker, because the inventory was coming from the factory and not the warehouse, but the lack of U.S. employees has been noticeable.

The companies say that the new agreements is only for American distribution and that there were no ownership changes for the two cigar companies themselves.

Source: https://halfwheel.com/joya-de-nicaragua-quesada-announce-joint-u-s-distribution-bring-back-sag-imports/458325/

[JohnS]

Joya de Nicaragua And Quesada Cigars Join Forces In New U.S. Distribution Deal

Dominican producer Quesada Cigars forms new partnership with Nicaragua’s oldest cigarmaker

 Dec 12, 2025 - By David Savona 

 

Quesada Cigars is teaming up with Joya de Nicaragua to create a new, U.S. distribution company that will handle the products of both companies, forging a closer relationship between the family-owned operations. Both have a long history in the business: Quesada has been making cigars in the Dominican Republic since 1974, while Joya de Nicaragua is the oldest producer of handmade cigars in Nicaragua, opening its doors back in 1968. In addition to making the Quesada brand, Quesada Cigars also produces Casa Magna. Joya de Nicaragua is known for its Antaño lines as well as Número Uno.

“The new generation is partnering together,” said Raquel Quesada, president of Quesada Cigars, during a video call yesterday with Cigar Aficionado that also included her sister, Patricia. “This is not an acquisition, but a commercial partnership.”

Raquel Quesada (left) and her sister Patricia Quesada, of Quesada Cigars.

Juan Ignacio Martínez, executive president of Joya de Nicaragua, was also on the call. “We are quite excited,” he said. “We have a lot in common, and a lot of differences.”

The two companies are going to jointly create a new distribution arm called SAG, which will bring together logistics, trade marketing and sales under one aligned operation. It will have a new management and sales organization, and is expected to be in place at the start of the new year. Team members include Joel Fernandez, who will serve as national sales director; Maria Fernanda Piuzzi, director of administration and operations and Cristhian Lanzas, marketing director. 

Juan Ignacio Martínez standing in front of the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Quesada formerly distributed its cigars in America under its own distribution arm, called SAG Imports Inc., which was replaced by the new SAG, jointly owned by Joya de Nicaragua and the Quesadas. Joya de Nicaragua had been distributed in the United States by Drew Estate.

This new venture is a reunion of sorts, as the Quesadas distributed Joya de Nicaragua’s cigars in the United States under its SAG umbrella from 2000 to 2007. More recently, Joya de Nicaragua served as international distributor for Quesada. The two companies—and the leadership teams who run them—have known each other for years. 

Both companies stressed that nothing would change in how each company makes their respective cigars.

Source: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/joya-de-nicaragua-and-quesada-cigars-join-forces-in-new-u-s-distribution-deal