Pipe News

Savinelli USA Closes, Laudisi Dist. Takes Over

Kevin Godbee
Posted onOct 8, 2012 at 5:22 PM

It was just announced moments ago that Savinelli USA is closing its North Carolina-based U.S. subsidiary and appointing Laudisi Distribution Group (LDG) as their new American distributor.

LDG is a subsidiary of Laudisi Enterprises, run by Sykes Wilford. As many industry people are aware, Laudisi Enterprises also runs Smokingpipes.com. The two company divisions will operate independently, with SmokingPipes.com being a customer of the distribution company.

Over the 11-years that the retail division has been operating they have built-up a substantial logistics infrastructure. The processes that are already in place should well-serve the national retail tobacconist network, perhaps even better than the Savinelli subsidiary was able to.

The following letter just went out to retailers.


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    yohanan
  • October 8, 2012
According to this news release, If all goes as planned, we the customer, should not see a change as far as availability and selection is concerned. Best of luck to Laudisi Enterprises and Savinelli on their new venture. Thank Goodness this wasn't about another Pipe or Tobacco company going belly up. Thanks goes to Kevin for the news update.
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    Kevin
  • October 9, 2012
Savinelli is a good solid brand, and no offense to them, but their former US subsidiary seemed a little "sleepy" to me. I think Savinelli Pipes will see an increase in sales and market share with the marketing and business energy of my friend Sykes powering the brand.
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    cortezattic
  • October 11, 2012
It's great to hear that Sykes is taking over the distribution. Good news for him, Savinelli, and us.
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    pipeline
  • October 30, 2012
Kevin: Where did Ruben and Steven Ysidron land after Sav USA closed? Ruben was with Savinelli since 1969 and Steven was just recently handed the baton, I believe.
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    Kevin
  • October 30, 2012
@pipeline - The Italians took over the operation sometime around late-winter / early-spring of this year (2012). I put a call into Steven at the time to get the news of where he was going, but he didn't return two phone calls. Steven took over around this time last year, and left around March if memory serves me correctly. Giacomo Carlesi from the home office was running things from about March until now.
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    pipeline
  • October 31, 2012
Thanks, Kevin.
I re-read the Spring 2011 Pipes & Tobaccos Magazine article on the changes at Savinelli USA. It was a curiously unsettling piece when I read it then and turned out a forecast. Ysidron's comments made it sound like things were not "customer service friendly" at Sav USA but were going to change with Steven taking over day to day ops. It also mentioned Savinelli getting a new CEO in Ms. Rivolta. It really was not the kind of PR article that Savinelli USA probably intended it to be about new pipe lines, EVEN BETTER customer service, responsiveness to developing consumer trends, and reassuring the Savinelli customer that what they like about Savinelli products will remain unchanged. I would not have been happy if it represented my company.
Sykes: Read up, amici. Free and unsolicited advice above on rolling out the Laudisi-era of Savinelli distribution. You've got more glaring problems to solve. That consultation will cost you. (-:
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