Winter 96/97 Volume II Issue 1

CIGAR TYCOONS

ombined, Dan Blumenthal and Frank Llaneza have been in the cigar industry long enough to have been selling cigars to both Confederate and Union soldiers. And if they had actually lived some 140 years ago, that is just what a pragmatic, tough-as-nails New York Native and a soft-spoken Southern Gentleman who speaks with a slight drawl, respectively, would have done. Individually these two men have, for the better part of this century, seen all the cigar booms and busts that the world has had to offer. They are legends in the cigar industry. For the past twenty-five or so years, they have combined their special talents in the form of a company called Danby-Villazon. Drawing upon a Hollywood analogy, this company is similar to Miramax in that they are big enough to do things their own way,

but small enough that they do things exceptionally well. This past Fall, word had leaked out that Danby-Villazon was in negotiations to sell itself to the Culbro Corporation, the parent company of General Cigar Company. When this deal is consummated -- which all parties seem to agree that it will be -- Blumenthal and Llaneza will continue to run things; however, one can't help but feel that part of an era is ending. SMOKE caught up with these two cigar tycoons to bring you the following candid conversation about the way things were in the cigar industry, how they are today and where they are going; but, more importantly, it is a first-hand chronicled account of the cigar industry from two of the few men left to tell it.

See the remainder of this article in SMOKE magazine - available at a tobacconist or newsstand near you!