Swedish Match, one of the world’s largest cigar companies, announces that its Executive Vice President Lennart Freeman will be retiring after 30 years with the company this March. Freeman is currently President of the Lights Operating Units, and prior to that served as President of Swedish Match International (SMI).

If you’re not familiar with Mr. Freeman, then perhaps you’ve heard of some of his accomplishments throughout the tobacco industry. As the newly named VP for Swedish Match AB in 2005, Freeman oversaw the company’s global cigar business, which included General Cigar, the maker of some of the world’s biggest premium cigar brands, including Macanudo, La Gloria Cubana, Punch, Partagas and many others. In September 2009, Freeman successfully completed a major restructuring of that operating unit, resulting in the sale of the South African business to Philip Morris International. He was also a part of the team to successfully execute the merger of the cigar and pipe tobacco businesses with Scandinavian Tobacco Group in October, 2010, creating one of the largest cigar companies in the world.

Mr. Freeman, from all of the cigar lovers out there, we salute you – for the large global impact you’ve made on the world of premier tobacco products. Now, we hope you can sit back, relax and enjoy a nice cigar. You’ve earned it!

Sources: Swedish Match.com, cigaraficionado.com

It looks like Spain is serious about keeping their New Year’s Resolution—no more smoking. Well, at least in tapas, restaurants, casinos, airports and other public spaces. There had been softer restrictions put in place a few years ago, giving restaurant owners a choice on whether or not to allow smoking, but that—and all the smoke—has gone out the window.

The ban was largely influenced by a government report that stated as many as 50,000 people die each year in Spain due to smoke-related deaths, 1,200 of those from secondhand smoke.
Violators of the new ban will be fined 30 euros ($40 U.S.) for first time offenses and up to 100,000 euros ($133,000 U.S.) after your third strike. And though we’ve seen restaurants in the U.S. foot the bill so their customers can enjoy a smoke—we doubt they will in Spain—being fined anywhere between 60–100,000 euros per violation.

Many restaurant owners aren’t happy, feeling this will make a bad economy worse; they expect a 10% drop in business, as well as thousands of workers being laid off. Some owners are petitioning in hopes the ban will be lifted, allowing a cultural tradition to remain. Others aren’t as worried after seeing similar bans in other European countries such as France and Italy without any long-term damage.

Even though 70% of Spain’s population doesn’t smoke, they are the world’s largest consumer of Cuban cigars.

Sending along care packages to troops that include boxes of cigars is not a novel idea, and the cigar industry has been working to take care of the men and women fighting in other countries in this way for years – even working with the USO to get stogies over to those who could really use some R&R. Nonetheless, Hero Cigar is a cut above – the outfit is truly dedicated to making the weekly military shipment happen. Those interested in sending troops a good smoke can jump online and order right through the Hero Cigar website,  www.herocigars.com, and choose between two basic donation options, include a personal message, and select a particular unit to receive the shipment. In the absence of a particular unit, Michaels will make the selection himself – checking off the next regular company set to receive their weekly shipment.

At the end of the day, who doesn’t deserve to kick back and take a few minutes to draw the simplest of pleasures from the end of an expertly rolled stogie? CigarLibre proudly congratulates Hero Cigar on the effort they’re putting in to taking care of the men and women who are taking care of us.

“I think I would rather be a tobacco executive now than an automotive executive,” Lennart Freeman, Swedish Match International President, told the Times-Dispatch.

Even though federal taxes, smoking bans, and the recession have hampered sales of premium cigars over the past several months ⎯ the Times-Dispatch reports sales are down 17 percent ⎯ Freeman thinks the cigar market is poised for growth, especially when the economy recovers.

On the subject of the Cuban embargo, which has been much-buzzed about inside the beltway since President Obama took office, Freeman believes if the trade ban is lifted, one thing needs to happen.

“What we are telling Congress is − if you are about to lift the embargo, you need to ensure that we also will have access to Cuban tobacco in good time, so that we then can make Cuban cigars and compete with anybody else here in the marketplace,” Freeman told the Richmond paper.

One such leader is Modesta Fondeur, “one of the most powerful women in the premium cigar industry,” so says Cigar Aficionado. Fondeur’s acumen will be missed though, as it has been announced she plans to retire as executive vice president of tobacco and operations at General Cigar at the end of the year. Her last day will be December 31.

According to a statement from General Cigar, Fondeur graduated from the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra of Santiago, and started working in the company’s finance department in 1975. She became the comptroller of General Cigar’s Dominion operations in the ‘80’s, and in the ‘90s, she moved up to an “executive level position within the formerly-male-dominated manufacturing division. Since then, Modesta made a swift ascension to her current role, in which she supervises nearly 6,000 employees in the Dominican Republic and Honduras.”

Referring to Fondeur as an “iconic businesswoman,” Dan Carr, General Cigar’s chief operating officer, expressed gratitude for her three-decade tenure with the company. Even though Fondeur lives in the Dominican Republic, she won’t be too far away; she plans to stay on an advisor to the company.